Lyrical Lavender Life

I recently saw the movie "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. WOW! What an amazing movie. This one definitely tugs at your heart strings and makes you want to run out and experience the adventures that life and our majestic planet has to offer. If this movie doesn't move you- see a cardiologist quick! The soundtrack includes the song "Say" by John Mayer . If you haven't heard this song before, you must be living under a rock. Well, come on out and it will be okay. Listen to the words of this song... and follow your heart. Having experienced a great loss in my life, with the death of my father, I understand what it means to have regrets. There are many things that I regret (with regards to my relationship with my father) including: things that I didn't say, but wanted to; things that I said, that I didn't mean and wished I could take back; times when I should have visited him more when he was sick and all alone; times when I sh...

This is my first attempt at adding a video to my blog. Right now I am using my camera phone for the video, so it is not great quality but it gets the job done. I'm just trying it out for now, so bare with me. If anyone has any pointers, tips, suggestions, whatever... please feel free to offer them up. I want to learn.

Today I'm feeling under the weather and just surfing the web. I ran across this article from last week where another blogger was talking about how a lesbian couple was not allowed to be together while one of them was dying in a hospital in Miami. I don't think I could do a better job than she did in expressing my feelings about this senseless, hateful situation. Keeping two people who love each other and have shared a life together apart when one is in her last moments of life is more than wrong... it is heartless, cruel, shameful and I hope God adds that to the list of sins of those who kept these two people apart. This is so sad. My heart aches for this family and I am devastated that our seemingly progressive societies in larger urban areas are still inflicting pain on gay and lesbians. When will this stop? We all have to vote! Call or write your congressman/woman! Speak out against those who try to count us GLBTQ as second class citizens. This makes me want to get married e...

Though we have not been close for years, I love you and I will miss you. Though our paths ceased crossing, I thought of you and wished you well. For all our lives and childhood, You were close to me like a brother. Though I will not see you again, I will think of you and what could have been. I know your life had been difficult lately, and I know you did your best to just get through it. We all have sorrows, regrets and troubles, and no one can know what your pain feels like but you. I wish you peace now, Cody. As you sleep your untimely sleep. You were so young, so full of possibility But now you can set aside your pain and be. You can join your little one there For I'm sure that your son Will be happy to have you with him Though it means that we all will miss you We hope that you rest in peace in the end.

Thank God for Inspiring Gifts This morning I found a bunch of unmarked CDs mixed up with some software CDs I had in a binder. Upon inspection, I realized that they were all CDs of a singer I know personally. These CDs included a few recorded voice lessons, a couple of performance ready pieces on CDs made for distributing as part of auditioning requirements, and a CD of pictures from a few of her performances. Looking through the pics, I remembered each performance vividly (because I was there for almost all of them). I remembered how many people told her afterwards how amazing she sounded and how inspiring her voice is. Many people say her voice is a powerful gift from God that blesses them every time they hear her, no matter how many times or how often. Her voice brings a sudden chill, then the "warm tinglies" that you feel in those best moments of your life. This inspiring voice is a gift . A gift from God that she cherishes, protects and uses at every opportunity. Listeni...

June 25, 1977 at 6:19pm , I came into this world. Looking back over the last 31 years, I can think of event that stands out from each year. These are a reflection of my life; they run a gamut of emotions, memories and sentiments. These are my life in 31 flavors: If you care to read on, great... If not, I hope you have as many wonderful experiences as I have had in my 31 years. Enjoy life! 1 - Spoiled by my Maw-Maw and a daddy's girl 2 - Sister, Kelly, born on my 2nd birthday! cute birthday present, but she didn't mind me and sometimes I wanted to exchange her ;) 3 - Started taking dancing... quickly grew to LOVE ballet (and still do) 4 - Loved ballet, won many pageants 5 -Bad year... bad things began 6 - Sister, Kayla, was born on my mom and dad's anniversary 7 - Played baseball with the boys team 8 - Mom sick while pregnant, first ballet solo 9 - Sister, Kora, was born two days before my daddy's birthday 10 -Sang in public for the first time at a festival 11 -Learned t...

Over the last 31 years I have had an amazing, random, assorted, interesting, adventurous, scarey, surprising and incredible journey. Getting older is a part of life that none of us really looks forward to, but the wisdom that comes with living is well worth the pain. Just some of the things I have learned on my own. If you feel that the life can be more.... go chase your dream! If you feel knocked down and can't pick yourself up again.... make a new friend. If you think you may never be happy.... make a change. If you think that you need no improvement.... look again. If you take life for granted.... visit the dying. If you are healthy, fed, clothed, housed, and loved.... be grateful. Time passes quickly.... use it wisely. Life is the ultimate journey.... travel on.

photo taken by J. Grimes I remember taking family trips as a child. Rather it was a weekend camping, water-skiing and roasting marshmellows, or a two week long vacation that covered six states and numerous famous national parks, monuments, or natural wonders, these were the best experiences of my childhood. Along with exposing me to many different kinds of people all throughout my childhood, I also developed a great love for traveling and learning about other cultures. Thanks to my father's vast knowledge, spiced with his line of bull that was always fascinatingly believable and creative, I was always enthralled to know what happened at each site we visited and what the people were like, or why they were "famous" or "infamous". This became the backbone of my interest in history, which begat an interest in anthropology, geology, geography, civics, sociology and psychology. Looking back on my travels with my family and the uninhibited ramblings, trivia and opinio...