Keeping On....

For whatever reason it seemed the right time to reconstruct the quarter collection.

Since 1999, I had been filling in the red white and blue folders with a place for each state's quarter-- both front and back--as a kind of historical travelogue. Feeling a little confined and committed to making my dreams come true and fulfilling my call, they represented opportunity in the future to me.

Then the day came in 2012 when, desperate for any money I could find, I took out all 96 quarters--both front and back-- and used them , for gas I think.

Empty for years, today I pulled them out of my top desk drawer and carefully emptied the zippered coin section of my wallet checking for the right quarters, the commemorative quarters. There were four: Nebraska, Rhode Island, Missouri and New York. It was a wonderful start.

In a few minutes I'm going to start working on my holiday column. The topic is "Greed".

I have had to learn to be a stander-up-er in the last two decades. I have had to learn to not fear it, standing up for myself. It still doesn't feel comfortable to me.

Yet, if I am to be honest about a world where there are people so empty  inside they would do anything to keep their world in deceptive order, then I must learn to stand up for doing those things that add good to the world from the inside out.

For several years now, I have believed that life is just about one piece after another slipping away because I was not able to stand up and on the things that would steal my life.

I found that I could make the changes necessary to be stronger in confronting "eeldoer's" as 'Nell' called them in the movie of the same name. I CAN stand up and still maintain that core part of myself that plants hope for the future by collecting quarters.

I am a gentle person in a dog eat dog world. Primitive, still, in confronting and setting limits, life has taught me there is much to be said for focusing on my little hobbies that keep me grounded and nurturing.

If someone has touched your life in a positive way, be sure and share that with them. I think most everyone is just keeping the riverbanks loaded with sandbags and a little bit of good that would lower the floodwaters of narcissism with which most people have to deal, is a great idea.

Ninety two quarters to go. Keeping on....
Love,
Deborah