Bridges

The day dawned into a lovely spring day. Not a cloud in the sky, a day meant to be spent outside. I had the need for a little Louisiana road trip, so my sweetie and I got in the car and took off for the day. The only goal was to cross the new Mississippi River bridge at the sleepy little town of St. Francisville.

St. Francisville is a quintessential southern river town. It’s a town that bridges the past with the present. The rolling hills that surround it are dotted with stately plantation homes and gardens, which are all in full bloom this spring day. This is the area that the famed naturalist James Audubon painted the local birds and fauna in the 1800’s. The area has a rich past and a strong preservationist spirit. Beautiful homes and cottages abound in this small town with its tree-canopied streets.

My sweetie and I have been together for three years and this short drive from our hometown is rich in stories from our separate histories. We tell each other our stories from this area as we pass each of our memory milestones. A great meal from a restaurant here, a memorable stay at a B&B there, stories of fishing, hiking and camping.

For me this area is rich with Girl Scout memories. This is the area where the overnight Girl Scout camp  is. Not only did I go there as a young Scout, but it’s also where I brought my daughter’s troop for years as their troop leader.  Oh, those memories are so sweet and tender.

I pop in a Carol King CD that I haven’t listened to in ages. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a bridge to the past is open and I can’t stop crying. This was the CD my daughter and I listened to and sang to, most days that I drove her to school my first year as a single parent post divorce. There was a show we loved to watch, The Gilmore Girls. It was about a single mom and her teenage daughter and Carol King’s song “Where you Lead, I Will Follow” was it’s theme song.

My tears were not sad, but poignant. I have forgotten how these songs were once such a part of my life and how the words spoke to me. The words still speak to me.

It is a strong healthy bridge to the past, even if there were some bumps on that road. My daughter is now a talented and beautiful young adult in her twenties creating her own path. I know wherever she’s goes, we will always be connected and she will always know the road home.

My sweetie and I do finally cross that new Mississippi River bridge. It is a beautiful, strong structure that crosses that mighty river. Today’s road trip took me to an unexpected bridge, one that connects me to my past. And one that still takes me home.

Where You Lead I Will Follow

by Carole King & Louise Goffin

loving you the way I do

I know we’re gonna make it through

And I will go

to the ends of the earth,

’cause darling, to me that’s what you’re worth

Where You Lead

I will follow

Anywhere that you tell me to

If you need – If you need me to be with you

I will follow

Where you lead

If you’re out on the road

Feelin’ lonely and so cold

All you have to do is call my name

And I’ll be there

On the next train

I always wanted a real home

With flowers on the windowsill

But if you wanna live in New York City

Honey you know I will

You never know how it’s all gonna turn out

But that’s ok

just as long

as we’re together

we can find a way

Oh baby, ohh, I’m gonna follow where you lead

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The Importance of Doing Nothing

I’ve been told that I do nothing better than anyone else. I usually have a very full schedule. My lunches and evenings are filled with need-to-do-this or need-to-meet-them. I’ve lots of interests outside of my day job and I’m admittedly, very social. I never turn down a meal or a glass of wine with friends. My brain is always whirling and my sweetie has come to dread the phrase…”I’ve been thinking” because it usually involves some task for him.

But I also know that I need quiet time to counter that. The quiet meditative time, when I still the monkey mind chatter. I also know that my sweetie and I need quiet time together. As a couple, we need time to just be.

I’ve written about my friend’s camp before.  That special Zen oasis she calls the Flying Alligator, less than an hour from my home.  It’s perched on a quiet bluff overlooking a mighty river. The Atchafalaya River is one of the deepest rivers in the world and from her pier; I can sit and watch it’s fast moving current flow by for hours. It’s too fast for waterskiers or even fishermen, so only occasionally does a boat go by. You don’t see other homes or people from that pier. You can only see the mighty ancient trees that line it’s banks. It’s a real connection to the past as we quietly sit and listen to the sounds of nature surrounding us.

This is how this spot has looked for eons. We watch the eagles and the hawks and the rosy-headed spoonbills soaring high in the sky, as well as the tiny chickadee hopping on the branch that shades the pier. We’re in the middle of the Atchafalaya Basin  which is the largest swamp in the country and it still feels primal. I’ve seen migratory geese flying over so high in the sky they looked like hundreds of shimmering ribbons that undulated with wind currents; those ribbons appearing and disappearing depending on the wings catching the glow of the sun on their journey.

We watch the frogs and the lizards and the snakes and see the occasional fish jump out of the river.  We see a bird dive into the water to catch its dinner. I feel connected to the world as I watch how nature has been since the beginning of time.

I’m still connected to technology and it feels appropriate that I see the words of the Dalia Lama being posted by friends.  He’s only a short ways away—as the bird flies—in New Orleans, his first visit to my favorite city. (I hope he eats well while he’s there). I read Tamyra Bourgeois post about his Holiness, “the recipe for happiness is pretty simple, sleep well, eat well, meditate and connect with people who value your opinion.”

I know I’m where I’m meant to be in this moment of time. Feeling connected to the larger world. Sitting in happy silence with my love, occasionally touching hands and yes, a glass of wine in the other hand.

Part of my doing nothing is reading the book “My Stroke of Insight” from a powerful TED talk. This neuroscientist talks of recovering from a stroke and how important sleep and quiet and the kindness of others were to her healing and recovery. Her words and the Dalai Lama’s, being content and happy in the presence of love and being connected to nature, have all resonated with me this weekend.

I’ve come to believe that I’m meant to help people connect to their creativity. I’m still working on exactly how to get that message out. But maybe it’s by showing someone how to do nothing—something I’m very good at. It sure has connected me to the glorious, creative world today.

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Being Colorful

I’ve recently made my sweetie join the business-networking group, BNI  for our brand new business, Greenview Designs.  I have a day job and he’s semi-retired and this group has mandatory weekly meetings, so I don’t have the flexibility that he has. It is, however, against his nature. I’m the social one; the love-to-talk-to-everyone person and Steve is …well…not. He’s the doer. Need a bookcase, he’ll build it, need a video, he’ll film it. Who does my daughter call when she discovers her car is flooded? You guessed it, and he shows up and fixes it.

He’s at the networking social getting to know the group and I join him after work. He doesn’t even have his business cards with him, so I’m handing out mine. He’s way more interested in the game that’s on in the bar while I’m happily doing the meet and greet and enjoying the conversations I’m having with everyone.

When we get home that evening, I immediately email a few people in relation to the conversations I just had. (This has more to do with the fact that I won’t remember the conversations if I don’t respond immediately, than me being that on top of it.)

It is as soon as I send the last email that I think about how diverse these conversations were. I laugh at myself thinking I was probably the only one at that meet and greet that could have had these separate conversations in one evening.

1. There was the techie guy with his web business. He was full of the latest lingo and anachronisms. I’m a marketer so I at least know what SEO and ROI means. We talk for a long time about business. I talk about the book “Tribal Leadership” how this book impacted me as a leader. I send him the TED talk link  and the free download and I just blogged about it, so I sent him that link too. 

2. The next was a friend who I enjoyed catching up with, our kids even went to Bonnaroo together. She has a side business teaching what I call gentle yoga. It’s for people who have some type of physical issue like MS (multiple sclerosis). I immediately thought of a blogger friend who I know from my Generation Fabulous blogging group, I know she’s a health advocate for MS as well as a woman who is living with it. I think that these two great women should at least know each other and may be able to share resources even though they live at different ends of the country. So I send them an email introduction to each other.

3. I even got into a conversation about auras. I realize that this is not normal business conversation, but this is really the types of conversations I get into all the time. I’m open to many possibilities. I’ve never seen an aura, but I have people near and dear to me who have. So I believe the validity of this energy that we all have. I also know for many this is a little “WOO WOO” out there. I discover my new BFF reads auras. Just days before I had a conversation with a woman who wanted her aura read while she meditated. So naturally I introduced them via email.

We are a sum of our life’s experiences. I can go from tribes to Bonnaroo to auras without skipping a beat. This is what networking means to me, simply sharing my life experiences and trying to connect people who should know each other. The term networking seems so formal and not me, I like to think of myself as connector of colorful friends.

 I wonder what color my aura is right now.

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Mother’s Day

I am Connie Lee, daughter of Jimmie Dee, daughter of Jimmie Coreine, daughter of Minnie May, mother of Jade Lei-Mei.

Today I celebrate my female lineage.

My grandmother holding my mom.

May’s Generation Fabulous bloghop was about our mothers. If you missed my post here it is. The bloghop link to the 50+ other stories can be found at the end.

Wild Woman

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Happy Mother’s Day, Connie