A Year of Forgiveness (Down the Red Dirt Road)

2021 was an interesting year for sure. I recently heard the song Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn. I have heard it before, but it struck a chord with me recently. One of the lyrics says "I learned the path to heaven is full of sinners and believers. Learned that happiness on earth ain't just for high achievers. I've come to know there's life at both ends of that red dirt road."  I love that last line, there's life at both ends of that red dirt road. I think that speaks volumes to the times we are in. There's life at both ends of any road. And life worth living. Whether you are liberal or conservative. Republican or Democrat. Woman or Man. Black or White. Hispanic or Asian. Every end of these kinds of "roads" have life AND love. How about we all try to focus on that thought as we head into a new year.

While we are at it, let's also focus on forgiveness. I sure will. We have all done things and said things we are not proud of. God knows I have done and said more than my share. I try really hard to forgive myself of my short comings. This allows me to forgive others I believe. It is not easy, let me tell you! But I believe you have to forgive yourself to make it easier for you to forgive others. Just like you have to take care of yourself so you can take care of others. I really believe we MUST forgive others! Forgiveness is one of the easiest hard things to do. Easy because it takes no money, no time, and doesn't truly hurt anyone. Hard because it takes some humility, courage, and vision for a better future. 

Let's also try to remember that things can look differently through someone else's eyes than it does through your own. Every life on earth has had ups and downs. You can never truly know what another person has been through. You can never know why they think the way they do or make decisions you may not agree with. This does not mean their decisions are wrong. It does not mean your decisions are wrong. It just means they are different. Just like every person on the planet is different from another. I told my niece and nephew recently that there are over 7 billion people on this planet, and NO two people are exactly the same! This makes YOU an extremely unique individual. It also makes the person next to you an extremely unique individual. Consider that, and truly think about it... as you talk to others, as you decide on how to treat others, and as you decide what to say to or about others. Can we do it?  I am sure going to try harder from here on out.

Another great song that ties into these thoughts is "Nobody Right, Nobody Wrong" by Michael Franti and Spearhead. If you don't know his music, I recommend you look it up. He has such a great vibe and his lyrics are thought provoking. The following lyrics are from this song, and I personally love the sentiment. What are your thoughts on them? Any other lyrics or music you want to share with me? I would love to hear about it. These lyrics are 

They say you got to choose your side and, when its done.
Nobody right, nobody wrong.
It ended in a great big fight and, when its done.
Nobody right, nobody wrong.

But how many people never ever broke a rule.
And how many people trying to get their kids to school
And how many people praying they only find a job.
And how many people are afraid of getting robbed.
Whoa Whoa, nobody knows.
And whoa whoa, only god knows.
Numbers escalate, wall street, crime rate.
From the Baghdad streets, to my city by the bay.

I have had a unique experience this year with forgiveness. My oldest brother died this summer after a cardiac event. The past few years have been a little strained between us. We chatted some and were friendly enough, but there was a bit of "separation" between us. As I watched him die, I silently forgave him of all the things I felt he did wrong. At the same time, I asked him to forgive me for all the things I did he felt were wrong. 

At his funeral I reconnected with my other brother. I hadn't seen or spoken to him in 9 years. There was a lot of forgiving to be done on both sides of that fence. Our relationship sure isn't perfect, but it certainly feels better than it did the past 9 years. Forgiveness played a lead role in it I feel, as well as laughter. You could say my brother lives on one end of The Red Dirt Road, and I live on the other end. Yet there is life and love on both ends for sure. 

The whole year wasn't just about forgiveness and heavy emotions though. There has been a lot of excitement generated in our home. Even though we haven't traveled much the past year, we have a grand new adventure we are working on. We bought a new home and are in the process of turning it into a Bed and Breakfast! I can't even explain how excited we are about this new endeavor. It has been a lot of work already, with more work to come. We have enjoyed the process, and it is going to be great we believe! I will be writing a blog about it, but I will give you the basic idea here (in case you don't read all my blogs) :0). 

We will have 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms for our guests. 2 rooms with private bathrooms. 2 rooms to share one bathroom. And 2 rooms to share the last bathroom. We have 32 acres of land on a country road. We have a mix of prairie and pines on our property. So you can come and get away from it all and hide out at our place if you want. We also have some walking trails and a lot of nature to be enjoyed. We have various creatures on our property which include, but are not limited to... Deer, coyotes, fox, raccoons, rabbits, snakes, butterflies, and a plethora of birds. The birds include, but are not limited to... Eastern Bluebirds (my fave), Cardinals (Connie's fave), woodpeckers (4 different kinds), chickadees, nuthatches, finches, and two resident Great Horned Owls. Just to name a few. We also get seasonal birds like Juncos, Orioles, Grosbeaks, Hummingbirds, and more. We also get the occasional bald eagle flying by. Just 1 mile away there is a group of 3 Whooping cranes that hang out in the farmer's fields in the summer. Whooping cranes are a rare bird, and in fact there are only about 884 of them left in the entire world! Oh, did I mention we are big Bird Nerds here? Katie says she does not have a favorite bird and she loves all the birds. Of course Connie and I love all the birds as well! But there is something about an Eastern Bluebird that makes me smile. Maybe it is because I can actually see its colors. Ha Ha

Along with all that our B&B will have to offer, we feel it is a great location as well. Like I said, we are nestled in the country. We only have a few neighbors on our road. Yet we are close to action if that is what you seek. It is only 8 miles to The Wisconsin Dells, which is a big tourist spot in the summer. It has several water parks, go-kart rides, 2 animals parks, and plenty of restaurants to choose from. It also has some nature areas to visit such as Mirror Lake. You can even take a Duck Tour to see the Bluffs up close. We are 4 miles from downtown Baraboo. In Baraboo you can enjoy some antique shopping, wineries, breweries, a free zoo, and the famous Circus World Museum. We are about 6 miles from Devil's Lake State Park, which is a big attraction for nature lovers. We are 5 miles from a casino, if that is your thing. We are only about 7 miles from 2 ski hills, for the winter adventurers. Also, we are a short trip to one of the last remaining free ferry rides in the country. It takes you across The Wisconsin River in 7 minutes or so. There is ice cream on either end of the ferry ride, for those hot summer days. We have multiple hiking trails nearby for day trippers, including several sections of the Ice Age Trail. Parfrey's Glen is a popular destination as well. As you can see, we have a lot going on within a 30 mile radius. Most of it is within 10 miles. Yet we are tucked away a little, where you can engulf yourself in some serenity if you like. 

Our plan is to open in May of 2022. This allows us time to get some of the fine tuning done that we want. We want to paint all of our walls to a color scheme that Connie and Katie have picked. The colors they picked are beautiful! We want to add a bathroom and an outdoor patio with a fire pit. Plus it means we will open right before the busiest season for tourist. This should get us off on the right track. We will be running our B&B as a Family Owned and Operated business. We have 3 equal partners. Katie is The Talent. She will do all the cooking. Let me tell you, she makes some delicious vegan/vegetarian meals. Did I mention we will only be serving vegan/vegetarian options? We like the healthfulness of this option, plus it is what we eat. We only serve breakfast, so that leaves lunch and dinner for you to eat meat and whatever else you might want. Connie will be The Planner. She has already done a lot of that in setting up the rooms and décor, etc. Along with Katie's input. Connie will help our guests organize or plan activities if they like. Like I said, there is a lot to do nearby and it can be overwhelming. Not to mention time consuming. I will be The Bookkeeper. My only true skill is being good with numbers. As long as I don't commit tax fraud accidentally, we should be successful. Ha Ha. Don't worry, we do have an accountant on board to help us along the way. And each of us will help with the cleaning, laundry, yard work, snow removal, etc. We truly believe we are setting ourselves up to be wildly successful. We sure hope our friends and family come stay with us to share in that success!

The other thing we have done this year is host a few friends. This has given us a taste of what it might be like to have guests in our home. We have gotten great feedback on what we have done well and what we can possibly improve. So thanks to all of our friends and family who have joined us on this journey already! I would mention all the friends and family that have visited, but I am sure I would leave someone out. So in lieu of not hurting anyone's feelings; Know that if you visited us this year, we really did enjoy your stay and appreciated your feedback. Maybe we will even see you again when we are a full functioning B&B :0). 

As we move towards a new year, new beginnings, new adventures... I would like us all to consider our neighbors, families, friends, and enemies; And let us lean towards love rather than hate. Let us lean towards forgiveness rather than blame. And know that all humans are unique, worthy of love, and should be treated with kindness no matter what your beliefs are; No matter what their beliefs are. That is my Christmas Wish this year. Will you help grant it?

Of course, continue to count your blessings as well! I am continuing that from last years blog. My blessings fill my heart with Love, Laughter, Joy, Peace, and Happiness! 

Have a Happy Holiday Season, may it be filled with Love and Laughter!!!

My brother Robby and I at Todd's funeral. And his dog Bear Bear.

     

       Now Go Out and Hug Someone This Year!!! For Reals!!!

Life's a journey, not a destination...

Todd Daly, RIP brother. 

Life's a journey, not a destination... Those are some of my personal favorite musical lyrics. Sung by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Aerosmith was one of Todd's favorite bands. Along with Led Zeppelin, Blackberry Smoke, and a few others. Todd had a great love for music, which is one of the things we found common ground. The love of music! He was also a lyrical person, as I know a few of you have had to listen to him talk... and talk... and talk... Ha Ha Ha. Well, his journey is over. 

Maybe these two are above us smiling together again.

Another love of his was family. Above is one of the last pictures of my mom and him together. It is such a sweet memory. We will hold onto sweet memories like this as we mourn. His children were of course the true loves of his life. They will miss their dad, and I hope they find some comfort in knowing he always had their best interest in his heart.

His children, Nathan and Natalie

His death was somewhat sudden and chaotic. But in the end, it was as it should be I feel. He collapsed by his car after having a fun night of Euchre playing with friends. They brought his heart beat back and he ended up in ICU. This is not always the best scenario in my opinion, but it did give us time to process and say goodbyes. We had plans to turn off life support on a Sunday afternoon. His children were planning on being at his side to send him off. However, I believe he did not want them to witness that. And in good 'ol Todd fashion, he went on his own terms. It was around 9:40 AM. His best friend Larry, His fiancé Sherri, and I were at  his side. Larry said a prayer as his heart drifted from 80s, to 60s, to 30s, and then it just stopped. He was relieved of any pain and suffering he may have felt. That to me, can be as big of a blessing as having life bestowed upon us. May he now R.I.P. 

Now Go Out and Hug a Brother/Sister/Mom/Dad Today!!!

But First, The Birds...

A Cardinal greets us on our front lawn

We are officially moved into our new forever home. The birds were here to greet us right away. This blog will be focused on the birds that have visited us already. I will write a blog with photos of the house and yard after we get a little more settled in. The birds have been plentiful, and definitely different than our condo in the trees. Even though we have several acres of pines behind our home, we have not seen any woodpeckers yet. We have heard a couple of them, but mostly across the road. We have seen some familiar birds, like the cardinal, house finch, gold finch, orioles (as they migrate), brown headed cowbirds, turkeys, hawks, and one eagle fly by. Sandhill cranes are nearby, and we see them as we drive down our road, but none in our yard. We certainly hear them from our place though. They have such a beautiful "clucking" noise I think. We have seen a few nuthatches in the trees, but none at the feeders yet. We have heard a few chickadees, but we have not seen any yet. We have been introduced to a new bird. The chipping sparrow. They are cute little buggers and not that shy at all. They like to forage on the ground all over our front yard, where there are some yummy ants to feed on. 

A chipping sparrow

The orioles are beautiful and fun to watch

The first few days here we had a family of finches in a nest on our back porch. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get any photos of them! Sometimes I am a doofus. The babies were fun to watch. They grew so fast and flew the coop in a matter of days. The first day they were just little heads popping up looking for the mom. Their mouths would be wide open waiting for food. After 5 days they were fully grown, and on the sixth day they flew away never to be seen again. I couldn't believe how fast they grew. It sure was fun to wake up every morning and look out our back porch though. Maybe we will get some babies again next year? If we do, I will have my camera ready. 

It has been a fast and furious 10 days, but fun! We are really enjoying getting to know our yard and the birds. Connie has her infamous bird "cage" up already, with some nice additions. It looks lovely in our front yard, and we hope you all will come join us someday for some fun bird watching!

Our bird "cage" to feed the birds. It lets the birds in, but keeps raccoons and squirrels out!  Bird bath on the left. Humming bird feeder above that. An oriole feeder on the front left (bright orange). Peanuts in the middle. Black Oil Sunflower seeds inside on the right. And a low hanging feeder with mealworms, etc. This is our view from our front porch, just to tease you! So, come visit us when you can!

For those of you interested, below is a link to a few bird photos I have taken this week. Enjoy.      

 

                                          https://photos.app.goo.gl/z8TZj1MTMLSMbBSJ7

                   Now Go Out and Hug Someone Today!!!

There Is Hope

A sample of artwork from Life Pieces to Masterpieces

In these times of hate, violence, and cruelty I try to find glimpses of hope. If you look, you can find it too. Because There Is Hope! One place I have found hope is in DC, at an organization called Life Pieces to Masterpieces (LPTM). I had the pleasure of volunteering at LPTM a few years ago. I was in DC as a traveling nurse, and a friend told me about it. I only spent a few months with these fine young people, but they have made a lasting impression on me. I receive their newsletter and updates. Their latest newsletter really touched me, and so I wanted to share it with you as I tell you more about this wonderful program. 

LPTM was started 25 years ago. It was co-founded by Mary Brown, Larry Quick, and Ben Johnson. They have created a safe place for young black men to come and be creative. Creative with art, and ideas to change the world. Below is a quote I took from their mission. It speaks volumes to me.  

Our vision is that our boys and young men will be catalysts for positive change in the world.

Sadly, change doesn't happen quickly. And, a single person can't make the changes for everyone around them. However, anyone can be a catalyst for positive changes! This is what LPTM is creating. Catalysts!

I love that concept! We can ALL be catalysts for positive changes, so let's work on that! 

Below are some thoughts from some young men who are in the LPTM program. There are also thoughts from a teacher, who is part of the AAPI community. Read their words. Listen to them. These young men, and this teacher have a lot to share. They can teach us if we listen. Our world is blessed to have them in it. 

David Adams: "At Life Pieces To Masterpieces we strive towards creating a future of shared humanity. Creating a world where all people can live in peace and unison, where people aren’t judged by their race, religion, gender, sexuality, or social class. We believe in providing all people of all backgrounds with love, warmth and compassion, making them feel valued and appreciated. With this love comes security: when people are treated with love, they find comfort and a sense of belonging with the setting they are in. After the love and security comes expression: when people are placed in an environment with love and security, they are able to be themselves, share ideas, and express feelings. This is our premise here at Life Pieces To Masterpieces, a premise that we want to put out to the world. It is our duty to make people of the AAPI community, and communities all across the globe to feel valued and safe, and allow them to be free with who they are."

 

With people like David in the world, There Is Hope! David's message is so strong. We can all live in peace and unison. We should be creating a world where people aren't judged by race, religion, gender, sexuality, or social class. And I especially love how David says "It is our duty to make people of the AAPI community, and communities across the globe to feel valued and safe, and allow them to be free with who they are". Whew! That is powerful. It is our DUTY! Everyone should be allowed to be FREE with who THEY ARE! Thank You David!!!

"I appreciate Life Pieces To Masterpieces as a safe space not only for children, but for the staff as well. Both my coworkers and the boys we work with have made me feel truly a part of their family, which I'm especially grateful for during times like these. Life Pieces has been an oasis of love in a world divided by hate and fear." - Minami Hofmann, LPTM Kings Lead Teacher & LPTM Art Teacher

With teachers like Minami in the world, There Is Hope! I love how she acknowledges that LPTM provides a safe place to children, and for the staff. It is sad to me that people need a "safe" place to be. But until the world changes completely, that is our reality. I also love it that she says LPTM is an oasis of love. Let's all get rid of the divisions in the world and come together on an oasis of love. Thank You Minami!!!

Below is an excerpt from the LPTM newsletter. I feel it really speaks to the core of the program and what it is all about. In the most basic of terms, it is about showing the world that black men are NOT the problem, but are actually the Problem Solvers! They are and always will be part of the solution! We should all keep that in our minds and hearts as we navigate our futures. 

At Life Pieces To Masterpieces, we believe that
Love + Security + Expression = Life

Despite the hate and violence that plagues our nation, our boys and young men every day provide love, security, and expression for one another and give thanks. Each time they do, they change the narrative pushed by so many in our country who seek to define Black males as “problems” instead of an understanding of them as “problem-solvers.”

But in acknowledging our struggle for the world to discover our shared humanity, it is clear the hurt and pain felt by so many Asian American people, especially Asian American women, in the wake of yet another senseless hate crime that has left eight people dead. A few of our Brothers In Power - our high school and college Apprentices - wanted to share a message. These are their messages to Sister Minami, to the many outstanding volunteers of AAPI backgrounds that have served at LPTM, and to the world.

Cateo Hilton: "Life Pieces has been a home and a safe place from the harsh reality for everyone ever since I was young. It hurts everyone whenever a certain racial group is targeted, and it especially hurts when it affects someone like Minami, who is a part of LPTM and who has had a phenomenal and strong impact on my life and others as well. We need change, and we need to show respect for anyone of any race, color, shape, or size."

With people like Cateo in the world, There Is Hope! I love how Cateo says it hurts EVERYONE whenever a certain racial group is targeted. That is so true. He says we need change. I am with him on that! We all need to listen more to people like Cateo.  Thank You Cateo!!! QueSton Bell: "My message to the Asian community is that I see your individuality. I know how easy it is for them to overlook your humanity like we are not all a part of the same family. I know what it's like to not be seen, because far too often I am only seen through a lens that distorts and destroys my individuality for a White man's fantasy. But we are in this together."

With people like QueSton in the world, There Is Hope! I love how QueSton says he sees the individuality of the Asian community. We are all definitely individuals! There are over 7 billion people on this planet, and no two are exactly the same! Each person is their OWN person and should be allowed to BE that person. None of us should distort or destroy someone's individuality for Our fantasy. We are in this together. Thank You QueSton!!!

Tory'elle Coleman (who sat down to write his statement of solidarity during the evening of Monday, March 22): "Writing this right now while watching the Colorado shooting..all this violence is shocking. Although violence has spiked nationwide, I will continue to provide as much love, security, and expression as I can in this world, no matter who the individual is, because we all are family."

     

With people like Tory'elle in the world, There Is Hope! I love how Tory'elle works through the shock of another violent act in our country to express love. He will continue to provide as much love, security, and expression as he can in this world. And I will continue to do that with him. Will you join us? After all, as Tory'elle has so eloquently put it... We all are family. Thank You Tory'elle!!!

As I close this blog post, I want to encourage each of you to listen to the young men and women around you who express love and kindness. They will be our catalysts to a better future. LPTM only works with young black men for their own personal reasons, but there are as many young black women, asian women, hispanic women, and white women out there to change the world as there are men. We just need to take their cues, listen to them, and pass on the torches of love and kindness!!!

If you are in the DC area and are looking to work with amazing people who express love and kindness to all, I highly recommend that you check out LPTM. Their website is below. They welcome all people who want to make the world a better, and more loving, equal place!

                                                                     https://lifepieces.org/

         Now Go Out and Hug Someone Today and Everyday!!!