SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder

Caribbean Ocean at Casa del Sol, Puerto Morelos, Mexico

SAD, that is what is described as happening to to some people who live in parts of earth where there is little sun from November to April.  I trust is is a real diagnosis for many people and know it makes for true suffering for those whom it impacts.

Well, SAD has an entirely different meaning for me and has since my first visit to the Yucatan in February 2002!  I have no interest in moving to the Yucatan or Florida or Arizona or even California.  I truly love my little 1951 bungalow in St. Paul, being close to my family, friends and my job.

And yet I know that SAD is a reality for me.  I experience it when I close my eyes and remember my incredible rejuvenating 2002, 2006 and 2011 trips to the Yucatan!  My form of SAD has its own unique definition - I "Sure Am Determined" to return for another eight days surrounded by the warm beauty of the Caribbean in the company of other women from around the United States who gather at Casa Margarita, in the spring and fall, guided by expert travel planners and guides, Connie Delgado (Minnesota), Margo Hinnenkamp (California) and Beatriz Mirabent (Cancun, Mexico).

I have learned just how hard it is to relax and refresh without truly getting away to a place that is safe and serene, with superb beautifully prepared and presented local food, optional side trips with Connie, Margo, Bea and other tremendous women (in the fall these women ranged in age from 35-83) who choose to give themselves this truly priceless gift that needs to be a more than a once in a lifetime experience!

The next trip is planned for March 3-10, 2012.  Visit www.travelinggoddesses.com to learn more and register for the Spring 2012 Goddess Trip!  I SAD to simply be there by anticipating this amazing time with truly wonderful, enlightened, brilliant, exciting, fun and passionate women. 

First Snow 2011-2012 Season

On July 25 I had a total replacement of my left knee.  I knew I wanted to have the surgery so I woud be healed with good strength and balance before the first snowfall, before ice coated sidewalks and streets returned.  Ya, well that was a real smart decision!  I am so glad my new knee is almost four months old.

The snow came yesterday - it began as sleet - then about two inches of beautiful white snow covered the layer of ice.  This morning I left the house before 9:00 to pick up a friend to join him for church.  His congregation was hosting a US Citizen who migrated from the Sudan in 2004 who was speaking about his first trip back to his home village since he left it about 17 years ago. 

Walking and driving were both challenging.  The ice looked like frozen milk!  And it is SO treacherous. Vanity went right out the window.  I wore my winter fleece lined snow boots with deep cut tread that in the 1970's would have qualified them to be official "waffle stompers."  I didn't even think twice, safety was all that mattered!  Most of the people at church also wore sensible footwear - at least those over the age of 50!

Tim Conway "Old Man" Character

Then this afternoon my friend and I went to the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts for final performance of the world premiere of the opera, Silent Night.   The sidewalks downtown were even more dangerous because the sun was melting the surface of the ice.  My friend and I clung to each other as we did the the "Old Man Shuffle" made famous by Tim Conway on the Carol Burnett Show.  We were in good company!  Many of us heading to the Ordway would have made Tim Conway proud!

Oh, you are too young to know about the Conway's "Old Man Shuffle?"  Well, there are critical elements necessary to successfully "do da shuffle":  1) Never pick up your feet 2) hang on to a friend or loved one tight enough to cause serious bruising on their arm 3) slide one foot then the other over the ice at a pace of no more than two inches per slide 4) do not look up, keep looking at your feet 5) pretend you are deaf if people behind you want to get around you cause you are shufflin' too slowly 6) grumble loudly that the the city did not do a better job of clearing the sidewalk 7) enter the Ordway, turn immediately into a sophisticated opera goer and go into immediate denial that you could have won the "Old Man Shuffle" contest had there been one today!

And what about the World Premiere of SILENT NIGHT?  If someone managed to video my friend and I shufflin' to the Ordway and put it on YouTube, I really wouldn't care.  Silent Night, the opera,  was worth every teeth clenching, eyes glued on the sidewalk, shufflin' slide it took to get there!  The cast and staging were astonishing, the script wrenching as it depicted the Scottish, French and German soldiers before and during the Christmas Eve Truce that illuminated the connections and intersections in their lives prior to the war. The human cost of war was profoundly presented. 

When the curtain came down on the final scene a sense of the sacred was so present that it almost felt sacrilegious to applaud.   It felt like I needed to be silent, still, very still and pray ... one person said it was like being in church.  Another agreed.  For me it was simply sacred and still is. 

The Reality Roadhouse: Who Wants to be a Homeless Millionaire

St. Stephens Human Services in Minneapolis is "home" to zAyma Theater Project which writes, directs and produces plays highlighting the reality that people who are homeless or as one of the actors in the play states "residentially displaced" live every minute of their lives.  Many of the actors, singers, musicians are either currently "residentially displaced" or once were.  The stories that the play gives life to are their stories or in the case of the 2011 play (performed 11/13-11/18) some of the stories are from interviews three weeks ago of people at Catholic Charities Opportunity Center in Minneapolis.

What did I learn from the play?
...1/3 of people living homeless are under age 12
...a significant number of people living homeless are college educated
...a significant number of people living homeless are veterans of the US military
...one of the main causes of death of homeless people in Minnesota is that they freeze to death
...their friends in the homeless community often do not learn of their death until they hear the name of a friend read as part of a litany at a candle light vigil in December
...that there are people who have homes who pretend to be homeless
...homelessness knows no socio-economic boundaries...even trust fund babies have been homeless
..."my daughter is seven and she has never had her own bed or bedroom
...when you are able to get a car and can sleep in it, put a pole in the back so you look like are in sales
... get used to being invisible
... ... ... and so much more.  visit St. Stephens Human Services

Paka I'm Back

Those words were spoken by Paikea the young girl in the film Whale Rider.  She speaks them after returning to live with her grandparents instead of going to live with her father.  I am reminded of her words often when I or another comes back from a time away.

I have been away for several months and now I am back!  After several years of left knee bone on bone pain, weakness and knowing that my knee will give out again any time, the time was right for a total knee replacement.  The surgery was necessary because of an injury way way back in 1962 which necessitated the removal of the inside left knee cartledge.   Over the years the knee grew weaker and weaker.

The surgery was 7/25/11 and one of the best gifts I have ever given myself.  Though there is still stiffness and swelling (which can be expected for up to 12 months) my knee is strong, I have my sense of balance back and for the first time in several years I am sleeping the night through.  I haven't felt this good overall in a very long time and it feels very good!

October 28 through November 5 I basked in the sun, sand and the Caribbean near Puerto Morelos, Quintanaa Roo, Mexico.  It is there that I began to sleep the night through and it is there where I rested and refreshed and renewed warmed by the sun, other women on this "goddess trip" and took time to take time out to just "be."

Yes, Paka, I'm back and it is very good!