...Log Cabins, Sweet Red Wine, Laughter & Bats

There are some people in life who bring out the best in you. With them, you are able to say whatever’s on your mind. You connect with them in a way that’s easy and unforced. ~M

Pick any one of the title words and there will be a story to follow. Ask any one of the four middle-aged, once hippie types females who spent a week together in a log cabin with one bathroom and uninvited midnight visitors, and each one will tell you their version of exactly what happened. The short of it is, (sorry girls) we once again became little screaming girls coving our heads with beach towels as we dodged the unwelcome flying critters.

I often wonder when things happen in three’s if there’s a symbolic meaning to it. In my life it has, it’s usually been either good or bad and rarely anything in between. But, being the curious woman I am, I wanted to know what the meaning of being visited by bats on three separate occasions meant. Let's face it; the bat isn't the most popular of animals. In fact, it's largely misunderstood and so therefore, many of its symbolic meanings are inappropriately fear-based. So together, we delved into the meaning of bats from the Native American perspective and this is what we found out about them after the last sleepless night in cabin number one.

The Native American animal symbolism of the bat comes from keen observation. These spiritual people recognized that the bat was highly sensitive to their surroundings and so therefore was considered a symbol of intuition, dreaming, and vision. This made the bat a powerful symbol for Native American shamans and medicine people. Often the spirit of the bat would be invoked when special energy was needed, like "night-sight" which is the ability to see through illusion or ambiguity and dive straight to the truth of matters.

The bat is a highly social creature and has strong family ties. They are very nurturing, exhibiting verbal communication, touching, and sensitivity to members of their group. The bat also symbolizes awareness of your surroundings and sensitivity to the feelings of others and perception on a psychic level. The bat is a symbol of rebirth and depth because it is a creature that lives in the belly of the Mother (Earth). From the womb-like caves, it emerges every evening at dusk; and so, from the womb it is reborn every evening.

Native Americans view the bat as a commitment to spiritual growth and self-improvement. It helps us reap some of the most profound rewards like:
· Dying to our ego
· Loving our enemies as ourselves
· Going within to touch our inner demons
· Exploring reality (which can be scary)
· Renewing our thoughts and beliefs on a moment-to-moment basis

All of these tasks can be harrowing experiences. This is why the Native American symbolism of the bat deals with initiation, because this creature takes us to outlandish extremes, and rest assured, the bat is never leaves our side while we are journeying.

Interestingly enough, our small group of like-minded women saw the symbolism of our nocturnal visitors. We came together after thirty-five years to a familiar place and put our differences and our pasts behind us. We touched and buried the demons that made us who we are and what we have become today because of them. We forgave one another for acts of betrayal. We talked, we cried, and we drank a lot of wine. We held onto one another and we laughed sometimes in a stupor for the lack of sleep. We did this until seven days passed.

These are a few things I leaned from this experience; incidentally, most of them are intrinsic of the Native American bat animal symbolism:
· Illusion
· Rebirth
· Dreams
· Intuition
· Initiation
· Journeying
· Inner Depth
· Communication

We were up early that last Saturday morning, our faces hurt from smiling, our throats sore from talking, our eyes red from the tears and lack of sleep (or was it from the burning sage and cigarette smoke?) After an emotional goodbye, we all went our separate ways hiding our tears behind our dark sunglasses and will ardently await our next reunion.

“It takes a while to earn the title “girl” friend and a lifetime to know its true meaning. But once this person enters your soul, she will walk forever beside you…”



... May The Force Be With You ...

Luke and Ben Skywalker, on the diverse training of the New Jedi Order…

Luke: "Ben, what is our purpose as Jedi?"
Ben: "Well… to keep the Force in balance and to help people stay in balance with the Force. To detect wrongs and make them right. To serve as models for very attractive lines of boots."


I wish I were an artist who could paint a portrait with ease. I would love to be an artist so talented, my brush could portray the true essence of the person posing before me. Unfortunately, I am not. My mind holds the vivid image of the little dark haired, five-year-old boy leaping off a chair with his light sabre. The Jedi Knight wore a pillowcase cape around his neck as he leaped from the couch to the floor to the chair. He was the guardian of peace and justice, and righteously defended those in my brother’s home from Darth Vader’s evil plans to control the universe.

Oh yes, he knew the script and was amazingly good. He memorized the lines and had the characters voices down to a tee. He could throw his voice and become the main cast members of Star Wars. Yoda, is the one that is the most memorable. My nephew may have not been green like Yoda, but with the allergies he had what came out of his nose was! We tagged the oozing substance Green-11, I’m sure you got the picture! I shake my head now, with a smile on my face thinking of him at that age. The shy freckled-face kid with a huge toothy smile had a many universes to discover.

The knight resurfaced years later when my son was small. There were nine years between the boys, and in his protective mode, he told my son that if anyone ever picked on him, he was to tell them his cousin would take care of them. My son believed him and the bond between the boys began without ever having met each other. I see them both together today, and feel equally as proud.

The story how my nephew and I eventually became close is a long and personal one. We hung onto each other with encouraging words through a few hard times. He is married to a beautiful girl with a loving heart and has three gorgeous daughters. He made the life altering decision to join the Army after nearly two years of weighing the odds. I didn’t understand it at first, why at his age and marital status would he want to do this. Then he told me this, “There is a big idea which is at stake, the principles of liberty and justice. The thought of doing what is right is what makes it easily borne.” Serving our country in troubled times was exactly what he felt was right, also his duty.

My nephew, Tom is being deployed to Afghanistan tomorrow morning. I asked him if he was okay with it and he calmly said, “There is nothing pleasant about where I am going, nor about soldiering, but I can endure its privations.” I thought that was a noble statement. I won’t be seeing him board the plane or numbly watch it as it disappears into the clouds, but he knows how much I love him and how very proud I am of him. So, tomorrow, I will stand a few hundred miles from him and look proudly towards the sky, my thoughts, my heart, and my prayers will be with him. I will envision his freckled face smiling back with the confidence of a Jedi Knight.

Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hands… ~Aunt Monica

Girlfriends...

Girlfriends 2…

What an awesome find to discover your first besty’s whereabouts. Forty plus years flew by at the speed of light, but every year around our birthday’s I feel her presence and know she’s probably thinking about me too…

My bestest friend was Sue. We were born three days apart and lived one house over from each other. When we were young there were very few experiences we

didn’t share, including the same Sunday morning we were baptized. Our mother’s were friends so it was natural that we did so many things together. We were little tom-boys who loved to climb trees. We made “forts” within her dad’s prized gooseberry bushes and terrorize the boys on the block by throwing rotten fruit at them and calling them names. We were always together and we did everything together. I was contented to be around her and so pleased to be her friend.

I can still hear Sue playing the piano. No one was allowed in the house while she practiced. I wonder if she ever knew I used to curl up next to her front door and daydream while she played. My fingers playing the notes she played on the invisible keyboard before me. When I insisted my own children practice their instruments, I thought often of her diligence...

Then, the saddest day of my life came…The sky was overcast with layers of heavy clouds waiting for the perfect opportunity to unload it’s contents and drench the workers loading the last of the furniture and the boxed remnants of the only home I have known. Every box was methodically labeled to which room it will be placed once the moving truck arrived at our new home and the workers began to unload the van’s contents. Why shouldn’t it rain today? My tears were brimming in my eyes, I wouldn’t allow them to flow as I was feeling a little frightened to leave a home that I knew every inch of, from the first step I took and every square of the sidewalks where I roller-skated, rode my bike, played endless hours of hopscotch and years of walking to school.

I sat in the middle of the front yard with my legs crossed in front of me plucking one blade of grass at a time and as I split the blades of grass into curling little slivers, I wondered what it was going to like to live in the country where most of our neighbors would be seasonal residents and any shopping a teenager would be interested in was miles away. I sat on this lawn hundreds of times making clover necklaces and having Kool-Aid tea parties with my little friends who have lived on this street all their lives too. No tea parties today, nobody was invited and nobody came. The closeness I shared with my friends as children drifted into different directions, as we became teenagers with diverse interests. Some went to public schools, while some of us stayed in parochial schools and all explored new groups of friends…

I don’t remember saying good-bye to Sue on that humid day in June, but I remember saying “Hello” again when I asked her to be my Maid of Honor a few years later. How could I not, she was the one person I knew all my life and it was important to me for her to know how much I loved her.

Ours lives moved forward…college, babies, careers, marriages, and grandchildren… years ticking by with the constant tempo of life’s metronome until recently when I found her again.

“Hi Sue, how have you been? You know what? I’ve really missed you!”

Girlfriends...

“I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore.” ~Georgia O’Keefe

In many ways there are similarities between becoming friends and finding romantic love. Just as there is love at first sight, a friendship can began with a blink of an eye or the initial click of the send key. Every woman remembers when she found her girlfriends ~that special moment when she recognizes a friendship will bloom. The common characteristic that sets them apart from our other acquaintances is when we recognize them as mirrors of ourselves.
We’ve known some friends for years meeting and sharing under the same roof and yet have never met, then one day, out of the blue, you find that someone at first meeting and knew deep inside you were old friends. Those unique soulmates come into our lives unexpectedly and unannounced. We understand each other immediately without explanation as if we’ve known each other before we met.

“You meet your friend, your face brightens~you have struck gold.”
~Kassia (c 840)

Special thank you..

I want to thank a very dear friend of mine for giving me the courage to forgive and move on with my life.  The quote, "Butterflies don't carry rocks," will be forever with me.  You know who you are...