Me Me Me

It's a lazy Sunday tapping me on the shoulder to tackle too-much paperwork. This is what I've been doing for the last three hours but it's time for a break. And what better way to relax and change the tone of things than to enter the treasures of the blogs. :)

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Barbara has very kindly given me a blog award that requests that I share seven things about myself. I haven't done a meme in a long time and the distraction from my taxes and bills and counselor re-certification is welcomed. So here goes:

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1. I read tarot cards. My Madame kj career began when I was 14 years old and I asked for a tarot deck for Christmas. My Mother, who knew nothing about anything occult and cared even less, bought me a James Bond Tarot deck (hee hee). I used it for a long time before I graduated to a standard deck, and I used that for a long time until I found myself in a Big Sur California gift shop and there was the Tarot Deck of my dreams. It is an herb deck and I use it to this day.

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It has taken me years to build up my confidence and my acceptance that the cards really do provide an ability to look ahead and to advise wisely. I can finally say I feel skilled. And I believe. I have enough experience behind me to say without reservation that I believe.

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2. When I was 13 I and four of my friends were arrested for breaking and entering into a closed-up mansion. We meant no harm, just curiosity, but it started me on a path of sometimes bending the rules with a smile. In high school I was occasionally sent to the Headmaster's office for talking too much or a little prank here or there, but I was always good natured about it and I accepted my punishments with a grin.
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Now a bonafide adult, I still have trouble behaving. I think someday I will be arrested for chasing down a police car and trying to make a citizen's arrest because the officer was ignoring the speed limit for no good reason. I get jumpy about hypocrisy and jumpier still about injustice. I don't see that changing any time soon.

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.3. Emily Rabbit first appeared to my partner JB and has been blabbing nonstop ever since. I rolled over laughing when she left this thank you note made from jellybeans. And honestly, I admire Emily's spunk. I wish I were as confident and clear about things and people as she is. Sometimes I am, but my feelings can be hurt easily. Most of the world knows my heart just about fell apart last year, what I can now say and view as a betrayal from someone I loved and trusted. Emily's solution has been to cry, whine, yell, throw frozen vegetables, and be done with it. She cannot understand my laments, and I actually welcome her point of view!
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4. One of the most precious moments of my life was seeing my Jessica give birth to Mr. Ryan. JB and I were at the hospital with her and my good-guy son-in-law, Mike. Now, three years and one Baby Drew later, I shout from the rooftops that this daughter of mine is an incredible mother. INCREDIBLE! It is an amazing thing to watch, to be part of. When Mr. Ryan does something he shouldn't, she stares at him and says, "Ryan, you are being a bad listener." It makes me laugh. It really does. And it works. :)

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5. For the past four years, I live in a farming community that is also culturally diverse because there are seven colleges and universities nearby. I don't like snow, cold, winters and because this is a valley there is all of that from November through March. I do my share of complaining.

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But come Spring, there is not a better place to be for a gardener-type like me. And come Fall, the colors pop in classic New England style. This field is less than a mile from my house, just behind the hotdog stand and golf range.

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6. JB and I have been together almost 25 years. I have her permission only sparingly to post her picture on my blog. :) She is a wonderful woman and a talented artist (collage and fiber) and she never fails to support what's important to me.

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I don't write much about being a lesbian but I can tell you that the advances in gay rights in the last decade have been monumental for me. There was a time when Jess was young when even as I was well liked and well respected, I would feel awkward, different, sometimes 'less than'. It was not until Jess was in college that we all relaxed and affirmed how lucky we are to be a family, to be ourselves.

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When Jess and Mike became engaged, they wrote JB and I a letter. In it Mike said that maybe we don't know it but he and Jess planned to model their relationship on ours. That letter is safely and forever tucked away in my sock drawer.

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7. And last: I was in New Orleans three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, working in a mental health center for the American Red Cross. I will never forget it. The devastation was impossible to describe, then and now. But I saw courage and humanity everywhere: families who lost everything, volunteers like me who worked 16-20 hours a day. The experience changed my life.

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Love

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kj