the kindred project
there are 12 days in the spring that have become the 12 days that created this little family that lives in this little house in the pacific northwest.
today, may 27th, is jon's birthday.
my birthday is in almost two weeks, on june 7.
and right in the middle is the day when little eleanor jane took her first breath.
12 days that created this little family.
so for these 12 days, i want to have a celebration with a little project. i want to do something to honor the way that we choose joy, hope, love...the way that we choose to live in the true home inside ourselves.
An Invitation
Please share your stories of love and hope and joy. The stories where you have stood in the light within. I challenge you to see this light and claim it, to give yourself the gift of being seen.
Please share the stories of others who have pushed you to see that you can choose the beauty and possibility and love.
These stories can be simple. They might be one sentence. They might be a link to a blog post by another.
These stories can be anonymous.
These stories can be shared in whatever way calls you.
If you feel moved, please share your stories in the comments. I would love for this spot to be a place where your stories can rest...where your stories can become teachers to all of us. Perhaps you will decide to share your story on your blog, and if you do, I hope you will come back here to this post and leave a link in the comments.
A Shop Special
For these 12 days, I have listed the "hope," "joy," "love," and "home" simple soul mantra necklaces at a special price in the shop with free shipping for this item. But here is the catch: I would love to send this necklace to someone in your life who needs to be honored and reminded that they can choose hope and that they are loved and that they can live inside joy. Maybe they need to be given the gift of remembering the beauty of standing in the light of the true home that is inside them.
When you purchase this necklace, just indicate which word you would like on the necklace (choosing hope, love, home, or joy) and then include the recipient's address in the notes to seller. You can also let me know what you would like the accompanying note to say. (And, if you want to send it anonymously as a little surprise of hope in the mail, just let me know and I will include an anonymous note.)
And know this: If you are reading this and know that you are the one who most needs a message of love, hope, joy, or home as a talisman for your journey, well, the special is for you too.
A Blog Series
Today, in another post, I am sharing pieces of what brought me to this moment and this belief that I can say "yes" to the beauty and the joy while standing tall in the real truth of my life (this originally appeared in this post but I have moved it to its own spot here). Then, beginning tomorrow, I will share a few of the lights along my path that have pushed me and taught me and held me in the midst of it all.
Thank you (yes you) for being a light on my path...
Sending blessings to you across the miles,
Liz
soul mantras, the kindred project in studio stuff, yes.
Reader Comments (10)
amazing . happy . good.
sitting here in middle earth
and body is filled with those
prickly little bumps named
after a goose. my heart
is soaking it up. yes it is.
Liz, the other day I happened to reread a post I made in 2008 and I am moved to share it with you-I think it's a message from the universe for you.
Here it is: http://tatterededge.blogspot.com/2008/02/beauty-of-truth.html
My son and my dear friend Anna in NYC, who is the most kind and loving human being I know both share a birthday on June 6th, so you're in good company. Happy Birthday to you, to your sweetie Jon and little peanut Ellie. May you all be happy and well.
i am a forest stream
i was born in the cold
tippy top of a faraway mountain
i will end in the frothy
mouth of a faraway ocean
only to be born again as snow
on another mountain far away
ever changing and becoming
i am nothing and yet everything
i am a bringer of life
i nurture those around me
i make music with my soul
i glitter like diamonds
under the gaze of the sun
and shimmer like silver
as i dance with the moon
i do all this day after day
even as i evaporate into nothing
nothing more than mist and memory
i weep at the twists
and turns along my journey
i laugh as I tumble
over stones and obstacles
i give my gifts never asking
for anything in return
nothing but your touch
and tender loving care
i am a forest stream
alway flowing somewhere
new every moment of my day
i can become anything
or nothing more than me
a student whose parent has given me a fit all year came up to me on the last day of school and said " i will miss you so,so much" and my heart burst and broke all at the same time. when they ask me what i make, i say i make a difference. ❤
i am so moved by the words, the thoughts behind them and i feel so inadequate to express all that i want. so for tonight, i will say "thank you" for warming my heart.
it's a little hard for me to see joy & love around me at the moment although i can't say why. so like you said i'm keeping an open heart & looking forward to your posts & comments of others. may it all find the entrance into my heart.
I was inspired to write...here is my story about a kind heart and the lessons I've learnt. http://nichohn.blogspot.com/2011/06/validation-is-inside-job.html
Friday, June 3, 2011Liz Lamoreux Inspired...
http://www.lizlamoreux.com/be-present-be-here/the-kindred-project.html
I am inspired.
I will tell the story here. The story I haven't told before. The month of June & then July, which made the story of my life.
June 28, 1988, Sophie Laura born. I gift her to her adoptive parents. I am 21. I think this will kill me; the pain, the grief, the outrage at myself for being so weak.
June 30, 1992, Ariana Rose is born. I hold her. I nurse her. I count all her fingers & toes. When I look into her azure eyes, I see an old soul staring up at me. She has a calm in her. She is the Calm. I will larn this calm from her. Her father is drunk @ a bar whn she is born, I try, will enthusiatic stupidity to love him into th man, father, partner & have convienced myself is needed to make a happy family.
June 1995, 3AM, I let go. I breathe in the calm Ariana has been trying to gift me.
We are truly happy. Poor, but calm, loving & happy. It does take very little to make for a happy life, as Marcus Aurelius said.
May 31, 1999. Kismet, intuition, the Universe push out our front door to my neighbors who are walking across the street, to bold & sounding somewhat insane, "The Universe told me you have a new best friend for me. Is this true?" Bill walked away, shaking his his head. Nan, "looked up, twisting her lips, & then I saw the flicker come across her freckled Irish face. His name was Bo. His birthday is June 29, 1948.
Bo, Ariana & I become a family. We live in the canyon, we are very happy. At first. Things happen, people change, but love was never the question, it was sacrifice. How much am I willing to live with a man of tremendous heart, intelligence, generosity & Temper. Before I can sort through all of these complicated questions, he is diagnosed with Stage 4 bile duct cancer. He enters a state of true grace. His temper is vanquished. He sees, as he is dying, the cup is three quarters full. He is sorry for his temper. We make love one last time. We make peace. We are as happy as we were in the gooey beginning. Because everything, including our family, is new again. New with the story of dying.
February 2, 2007 weeks before Bo dies, Gail dies, suddenly following knee replacement surgery. (This is also my favorite sister Karen's birthday) Gail is one of his oldest & dearest friends. She's married to George. They've been married since high school. The have a daughter with whom I attended high school. They are Ariana's Godparents. Ariana loves George. We all loved Gail.
9 months and 14 days later, in April 2007, he transitions in my arms. He is gone. Grief comes, stays a while, & then Bo's words resound in my mind: There is no grief in heaven so don't waste your life grieving for me. Move on, be happy. These generous words are spoken to me often while he is diminishing. I listen. I take them to heart.
July 26, 2008. George & I are married. Ariana is happy beyond words. We make a new family.
We are living everyday happily.
Today is June 3, 2011. Sophie will be 24 this month. Ariana will be 19. I don't know Sophie, but I know Ariana. She's still an old soul. Her calm bathes me in my hyper distressing moments. She takes my emotional temperature often. She's always spot on.
There is a new chapter to this story, but it is not my story to tell. It is Ariana's. Perhaps, with her permission, I'll share it later this month.
This is the family who inspires me.
I am grateful.
Finding my own light in a very dark circumstance of my ex-husband dying unexpectedly, I wrote:
The lyrics from the Eagle’s song New York Minute, hit home this past week. They read:
And in these days
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love
You better take a fool's advice
And take care of your own
One day they're here;
Next day they're gone
Literally, in a New York minute everything can change and does. As those words floated through my head along with the lyrics Don Henley hauntingly sings, my mind drifted to days and times when HE was still here.
I remembered leaving work, going to my car and having it all decorated, with love notes HE left all over it. I thought about the bill that HE must have run up at Peg’s Flower Shop in Sunland for sending me flowers every 9th of the month. I remembered going to the Eagles concert and HIM racing Lee Majors. I remembered HIM sneaking up behind me at Hober’s Pharmacy and snuggling my neck with a stuffed animal, and later finding that same stuffed animal in my car with a note that said “Please take me home and love me” more referring to HIM than the stuffed animal. I remembered our honeymoon, and the flowers HE had delivered the next day to MRS. Cindie L***. Then I remembered the sign HE painted “It’s a Girl”. And then ditto when the next one came. I remembered HIM in the brown sweater, sleeves pushed up, HIS long legs, and HIS curly long hair. I remembered THAT MAN, not the one HE became. I mourned HIM. I wept for HIM. I loved HIM.
My mom's birthday is June 6th. My older son's is May 26. Mine-July 2nd Husband's-June 30th -26 year- old baby son-August 20th. We are all related. Gigi, our princess daughter rescue therapy dog-July 14. She's not related. She's royalty and she will let you know it.
I'm never sure when I'm happy. I'm joyful, not sad.