Daily Life – Sunshine Lane

Waiting on Baby, dVerse Haibun #29

I wake up slowly and the first thing that pops into my head is that I’m not only still pregnant, but I’ve seemingly grown larger overnight. As I try to extricate myself from the waterbed so I can go to the restroom, I find myself wailing, “I’m as big as a house and still no baby? Ugh! I’m so tired of being pregnant!” My husband of two years reaches over to kiss me and automatically makes the same reply he’s been making every morning, “You’re not that big and eventually this baby will come…when he’s good and ready.” He’s heard the same litany for weeks now and is inured to compassion or sympathy. He’s just as tired as I am of my final weeks of pregnancy.

These weeks haven’t been easy on anyone. I try to be sensitive to his feelings, truly I do. It aggravates me to no end that I must rely on him to put on my socks and shoes, help me sit and get up again, and dang it, get out of bed! I’m stuck between the water mattress and the side of the bed. “Honey, I hate to bother you, but can you help me out here? I can’t get out of the bed.” He looks over at me, sighs, and rises out of bed like a gazelle or something. He comes over to my side of the bed and starts laughing. I guess the sight of a whale-sized woman stuck in a waterbed is funny, but instead of laughing, I start bawling. “I’m going to be pregnant forever! I’m as big as a whale and keep getting bigger. I’m so tired of waiting! Why can’t this baby decide it’s time to be born?” My husband stops laughing and leans down to envelope me in his arms. “Babe, you’re not going to be pregnant forever. You will deliver this baby soon I’m sure. Maybe even today! Here, let me help you up, ok?” As I putter over to the restroom after I’m free of the cursed waterbed, I pat my overly large abdomen and whisper to my baby, “Ok baby, we’re ready for you, anytime to make your appearance. No pressure, but can we do it today? I can’t wait to see you!”

Winter arms are long.

Icy fingers hold too tight.

Trees start blooming, free and bright.
D. Elaine Wood-Lane

1/26/17

This week’s haibun prompt from https://dversepoets.com/2017/01/23/haibun-monday-29/ was to write about waiting. I’ve waited thousands of times over the years, but I can recall no impatience and discomfort more intense than waiting for my first child to arrive. Said child, a son, will be 33 in May, but I can recall instantly those final weeks of pregnancy and my frustration every morning at having to wait for him to be born.

Try your hand at writing a haibun! They are a fun challenge to mind and form. I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my worst “waiting” story ever. For more information and to take up the challenge, go to https://dversepoets.com/2017/01/23/haibun-monday-29/ for more information.

Talking to the Animals

Walk with the animals, talk with the animals… I walked out of my client’s house today and saw two of my very favorite regularly seen animals across the street. I know. That sounds odd to say “favorite regularly seen animals.” The truth is, I DO regularly see many animals though. Here at my house, last year I got to know Freddie and Freda, my friendly squirrels. This year we’ve become friends with Eddie, their progeny. At each of my client’s homes, I have animal friends I see every time I go to visit them. In the Rockrimmon area, I have 2 rabbit friends who get under my car in cold weather and who hop up to the window and “talk” to me when the weather isn’t cold. Then there are my deer friends. These two bucks. One is the patriarch of the herd. One is a faun I met early in the spring. It has been neat to see the faun grow up. I haven’t seen the does lately. Maybe they’re staying in a warmer area. There is the possibility that they were killed. There was someone in the neighborhood who poisoned several of the herd in the fall. It was terrible and broke our hearts. I don’t know if they caught them or not.
So, today I walked out of my client’s home and there are my guys. They started to cross the street to see me. Yeah, I know, sounds unbelievable, but it happens! The papa buck was about to walk across the street but there was a car coming up the hill much too FAST. I did something any parent will recognize–I yelled, “Deer!! STOP!!” (Except as parents we yell the name of our child, of course.). Deer stopped! He looked at me and stopped immediately. I yelled, “Stay, deer! I don’t want you to get run over!” That dang deer stayed until the cars went by, just like a chastised kid! Hahaha! Then he ambled across the street towards me and made that weird little sound deer make, almost like he was saying “thanks!” Then baby buck came across the street. He’s the one you see on video. They have such great personalities. I never knew that before I moved to Colorado. Today, interacting with these beautiful animals was one of the very best moments of my day. Alan calls me Dr. Doolittle because I “talk with the animals.” Hahaha! I talk, they make weird sounds or just stare at me. To me, that’s just incredibly awesome and reminds me that we’re not the only live creatures on this planet.

Election Day in the U.S.A.!

What day is this,
that all are nervous,
speaking in shouts,
or tones hushed and querulous?

Why do people so much
wish for tomorrow,
anticipating great joy,
or dreading such sorrow?

The truth is we’ve had many
such election days,
when people were nervous,
fearing the worst,
yet never, so far,
have we become eternally cursed.

In spite of the fears,
we’ve endured on,
we’ve made it through wars,
depressions and worse.

Why fret so today,
we’re going to be okay,
because, people, we live
in the grand U.S.A.!

Elaine Wood Lane sharing her little two cents worth. Hang in there people! We’re going to be fine if you just keep calm, hang your hopes on God and not man, and keep on keeping on! Spread the joy, spread the love!

Red, White & Blue — Enjoying the moment with joy!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere, over the rainbow,

on the other side of the wall,

days are bright and sunny,

no matter winter, spring,

summer or fall.

If my clothes could talk

at the end of the day,

they’d tell of the rainbows

I saw today.

Some rainbows I noticed,

Others I passed right by,

because I was too busy

feeling serious with a sigh.

There are rainbows nearby,

not on the other side of a wall,

but right in front of our eyes,

if we’ll simply slow down and

look up, whenever the bright colors call.

©D. Elaine Wood-Lane

11/3/16

Let’s not be so serious and worried about the news, the election, the environment and ourselves that we miss the bright, colorful moments hitting us right between the eyes. I’m not advocating irresponsibility or not caring about the world we live in, but let’s remember that it is important to take the beautiful moments seriously too. Here’s a scene I saw thousands of times while I lived the first 45 years of my life in the southern panhandle of Texas. I took these scenes for granted because they were so common. I live at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado now, which are also beautiful and easy to take for granted. When I saw this photo below, however, this is the scene that made my heart ache and my eyes mist because this beauty is part of my soul.

Between a Doze and a Daydream

I came out to my studio to write this afternoon. I started off writing a quadrille poem (44 words long) that would include the word spark or sparkle for dVerse Poetry’s weekly quadrille challenge. I wrote as the breeze wafted through my open door and the sun slowly shifted to highlight the artwork on the wall opposite me. The air was not too hot and not too cold, but just exactly perfect. Missy Cat came inside and found a comfy place to snooze and suddenly I realized I had been staring off into space, halfway caught between a doze and a daydream. What a perfect afternoon and a perfect feeling of peace. I realized I was more relaxed than I’ve been in ages. Did I get a lot of writing done? No. Did I get a lot of plotting and planning done for the 50,000 word novel I’m writing for NaNoWriMo? I have to say I did. Isn’t it amazing how much one can accomplish when we simply take the time to get halfway caught between a doze and a daydream? Happy Monday everybody! Elaine

My daydream wall…

Missy Cat’s place to doze…

I’m Coming Back–I Promise!

Sorry I haven’t been writing much here lately folks, but I promise I’ll be back!
It’s been one of those months where either the mind is full of brilliant ideas, but the body doesn’t have the energy to take dictation;

the body is full of energy, but the mind is totally blank.

Ever have one of those periods in your life?

I feel the two parts coming back together, however, so, please stand by!

Love and blessings,

D. Elaine Wood-Lane

10/5/16

Finding Joy

Philippians 4:8-9 (NLT)
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Where does your mind wander? Does your mind focus on the positive and good, on light and hope? Or does your mind focus on the negative, the dark and the despair of life? I tend to believe that where our mind wanders, whether it be on truth, honor, love, light and hope or whether it be on deception, selfishness, hate, darkness and hopelessness, that’s the way our day proceeds and our life unfolds.

I know the world right now seems crazy and hate-full, violent and rushing toward destruction, but this is nothing new. People through the history of the world have thought the exact same thing. Yet, we are still here, the sun comes up new every morning, and despite what is happening in our lives, today presents a new opportunity to think differently, to believe differently, and to act differently. Are you focusing on the destruction, worrying every moment? Or, are you focusing on the positive and then working to make the positive a reality?

Where does your mind wander? Wherever you mind goes today, it will determine the outlook and outcome of your day… Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, pure, right and lovely. Fill your heart with love. Look for the good in others.

God loves you! I love you! Be happy!

D. Elaine Wood-Lane
7/25/16

Walking Through Life

I walk through life,
wandering, wondering,
what really matters,
what makes life sacred
and why are so many people
angry and alone?

We all want and need
to be understood,
to be seen,
to be accepted.

What if…
instead of seeking
to be understood,
seen,
and accepted,

We instead choose…
to understand,
see,
and accept others?

What if…
instead of thinking,
me versus them,
or we versus them,
we realize we are
all them?

None of us are so
very different from
one another.

We are all on
a path to learn,
grow, share,
love.

Sometimes on our path,
we find another soul,
at the same place,
at the same time, and…
our soul smiles and…
breathes.

We learn from these souls,
we connect, learn,
grow, share, love.

Then we continue on
our paths, seeking
continually to see more,
learn more, love more.

If we never seek
to understand others,
to see them as we
want to be seen,
and never accept
others,

We will only grow
angry, embittered,
isolated.

What if…
instead we open up,
dare to love one another,
see each other,
and stop the madness?

Let us love one another,
seeking peace instead of
seeking being
right.

For in the end,
“The love you take, is the love you make.”

7/9/16

If you’re like me, you’re so tired of hearing of the hatred and violence on the news all the time. It’s heartbreaking. This poem arose out of that heartbreak. What if we tried something different? Quote at the end is taken from The Beatles’ song, “The End.” I’ve always loved that line in the song. It really resonates with me.

Log Jam

My life is so crowded,
It is jammed like an old dam,
when the river runs faster
than the narrow strait will allow.

Ideas, like logs, get bottlenecked.
Feelings move so swiftly,
it is hard to know which one
to let through first.

Chores stack up like cordwood,
all needing to be burned through,
but it’s hard to know which one
to pick up first.

People, like the ephemera of
the River of Life,
get stuck on the big logs,
awaiting a chance
to move through the dam,
free, happy, healthy,
floating or flowing
as they are meant to do.

Ideas, feelings, chores.
I guess the only thing to do,
like dealing with a jammed up dam,
is to remove the first log
and see what comes next.

Always do the next right thing,
for the person nearest you now.
Love one another.
If you have love,
the next right thing
for the next right person,
will come to you,
and the dam will become unjammed…

With 24/7 news coverage, work, home and family responsibilities, we can easily be overwhelmed. There are too many problems or opportunities for us to be able to focus on what comes next.

I’ve felt a wee bit overwhelmed as this week started with bad news about the shooting in Florida and the realization that so many people could be killed by one man with condemnation in his heart. I want to have all the answers so nothing like this happens ever again. I want to love family and friends more deeply effected by this tragedy. I want to know how to show my love and sympathy without seeming to be a rubbernecker looking at a horrendous car accident. Uncertainty slows down my responses, just like logs slow down and jam up in a beaver-built dam. Then I realize I still have clients to see, work to do, housework to catch up, writing to do, and the next thing I know I’m completely blocked. Ideas, emotions, work, housecleaning, all get jumbled together and stop. What to do, what to do? Set priorities. People come first. Then emotions and ideas. Then action. The dam unjams. I’m praying your personal dams remain clear of debris this week. If not, do the next right thing for the nearest next person. (This idea, I must admit, came from Leo Tolstoy.)

John 13:34 (NIV)

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (This command came from Jesus.)

Peace and love, Elaine

Waking Up at 4:49 AM (dVerse Haibun Monday)

Monday at dVerse Poet’s Pub, they were writing Haibun to the theme of an ordinary day–one paragraph and a Haiku that includes reference to nature and a season. I’m two days late and a dollar short, but hopefully I’m not too late to participate.

Each morning I feel a stirring by my side and then hear a fake cough or sneeze from my 12 pound bundle of Chihuahua mix joy known as Buddy. This is his first signal of telling me it’s time to get up. I keep my eyes closed until I hear him fake cough a couple more times and comes up to touch my face with his nose. I open my eyes and say, “Right on time, aren’t you Buddy? Give me just a minute.” He immediately goes to perch on the end of the bed, waiting for me to sit up, put on my glasses, and then grab his collar. I stand up and Buddy stretches his neck out, tilting his head to make it easy to slip the collar onto his neck. I pick him up with one hand under his belly and lower him to the floor where he immediately scampers to the back door in the kitchen. I open it to let him out to nature’s call, feeling the cool moist spring air rush in and seeing the fingers of dawn peeking over the horizon. Time for coffee!

Cool moist air wafts by.

Fingers of dawn peek over.

Spring time has broken.

D. Elaine Wood-Lane

6/8/16