Year of the Dragon

I'm a Dragon in the Chinese horoscope; Sagittarian in the traditional (?) astrology. I have a friend in Philly whose birthday is a week after mine (literally) and we call ourselves "SagDragons". Fran and I raised our babies together and we totally rocked community development in our day. Ain't nobody gonna mess with a white mom and a black mom, both with babies on the hip. We got things done.

I'm kinda feeling an inner stirring in that direction; in that mood. We weren't bitches unless a situation warranted a return volley of equal or greater bitchiness. Fran and I were about softening the edges of our respective communities and letting our kids grow up without prejudice or malice. Our Title One school lay on the border of our neighborhoods and by golly, we were gonna have peace so we could have a quality education for our children. There was grant money to utilize and we were gonna insure that it was used well so we would qualify for more. I miss that vitality; maybe it's an urban thing. People here seem in no hurry to fix any racial divisiveness. I've lost respect for a few people because of it, that's fer sure.

Thank God for the new company I'm working for. I get to provide massage therapy to kids with disabilities, mostly CP and brain injury, and it's paid for by Medicare. (How cool is that?) I travel twice a week through Tank Town to a trailer park and work with a young man who was shot at age 3. Most of the time, unless they're talking to me, the family speaks Spanish. I am the minority in this place and that's just dandy. His mother and I kinda have a little of that SagDragon energy but...not. It's a very positive situation and the kiddo is brilliant in so many ways. I meet my first CP client next Wednesday.

I went to our Chamber of Commerce banquet last night and stayed longer than I did last year. It was interesting. I asked a friend to save a seat but I ran late so we found me one close by... I accidently ended up seated next to our mayor, with his wife, the owners of the local paper and the manager of a national drug store chain at the table. Makes me laugh. A random woman "friended" me this morning. We have two Friends in common: the mayor and the membership services person for the Chamber. I don't recall being introduced. I accepted her invite and also included a note. I just gotta know why! It was good to mingle and better to catch up with people I truly enjoy. Our town has some really awesome and influential folks. The "bad guys" in our local government are gonna have a tougher time in the years ahead...

I guess that SagDragon feeling has to do with my lightened emotional load. I can't spend my time and energy fretting over people who 1) could give a rat's ass and/or 2)have more control over my quality of life than they should. I feel like I've put down a sack of rocks and still don't know all of the reasons I decided to carry it for so long. It was nice to convey to a few folks last night that life has taken a better turn even if it meant things being a little messy. No ill-will to give. 'Don't know what exactly will phoenix out of the ashes of burnt bridges... kinda sorta don't care either. Sweet indifference. I miss it.

And church ROCKED today. We've had a substitute preacher for the past two weeks and both Sundays I left feeling totally jazzed. The man is retired but he's still got that Certain Something. (And we aren't even Evangelicals!) We've also added more singing to the services since the church hired a new choir director. (He's done wonders to improve my voice...!) Pretty sure the higher endorphins are from the aerobic/mental/technical endeavor of singing. I'm so awake and then to hear REAL words of encouragement is just downright joyous. (Not a word I hear often enough.)

So maybe this is "my" year. Naw... sounds too much like I'm waiting for the Prize Patrol.

Cyber-Self: Good to see you pull yourself together after the crime you witnessed...and after the newspaper report contradicted what you saw. It's so tempting to charge at the powers-that-be at full force but this is a time of great restraint. You did meticulously put together a timeline of the event and the reporter now knows that the authorities lied and for now that's good enough. Today's nap was proof.

Punkin-Chunkin: I feel like I'm being enticed to some degree to pick up "rocks" for a new sack to carry; to warn others of potential emotional/social danger. So....I really gotta chunk that urge out ASAP! And now that I've pretty much laid out the Chunkin field, if someone gets "hit" by a Punkin, I have no sympathy for you. Move out of the way for Pete's sake. Geez. Find something less important to do. It ain't all about you.