DNR-JTI: Take 3

Dear First-Born Of My Womb,

You are figuring things out. Like, how the world works, and all and, like, stuff and things. Whatever dude, you are a Tween. For the record, "Always" and "Never" are not better than "Usually" and "Sometimes" in any sentence you construct to speak with me. 

Do not start any sentence with "But." 

Believe me, for the love of all beings what breathe. I want to hear what you think and feel, but please consider your words. 

Extreme rarely works in relationships. 

Hashtag I love you.

Love,

Me

Dear Caffeine,

You are a drug and I love you. When I ingest you (usually in the form of caff and decaf coffee), I am quicker than the Internet. My ideas are brilliant and I love all people. 

Thank you so much for the morning delusion.

Love,

Me

Dear Alanis Morissette,

How did you invade my brain in the mid-nineties and wait there until this Thanksgiving 2015 when I couldn't stop watching your Thank You video on You Tube?  Thanks for being raw and out of tune...and a deep feeling yogi. Yes, Thank You India and you are Good and choose life.

Love,

Me

Dear ThxThxThx,

I always want to write the Thank You Note. Then I am troubled by the death of trees and ink dyes and the pen I write with and I settle into being Generally Burdened With Human Impact on the Earth (Hooray for the Summit in France today)...

 So, in the meantime, THANK YOU for reminding us to give thanks. 

Be One of the Ten, people (Luke 17). 

Hashtag Not To Get All Biblical, Just Trying To Keep It Real.

Love,

Me

This Is The One Precious Life, And It Doesn't Matter What Your Butt Looks Like.

It happened, y'all. Anne Lamott showed up, fully and present, unashamed to be scattered and spaced out.
One of her many mantras to herself is, "Even though you are scattered and spaced out, I fully love and accept you."

What would happen to us as people if we said, "I fully love and accept you" to ourselves everyday? Some people don't need that, clearly...but those who do...what a gift those words are.

She began speaking as if she wondered why we had all asked her here, bought all the tickets within 24 hours and then created the need for an overflow room. Her only answer was that maybe it's something about the way she talks that gives us a sense of relief...YOU THINK? YES, INDEED, ANNIE, YOU DO.

I was writing as fast as I could to record her every vowel, and these gems gave me and those around me a sense of relief tonight.

Anne said:

This is the one precious life, and it doesn't matter what your butt looks like.

Look up! You don't have to look at your feet. You don't have to look at your stomach. Yes, it sticks out. We got older. Sue us.

"Me too!" is the greatest theological line.

Do you want to be RIGHT, or KIND?

I make up almost all of my own problems, then I punish people around me and extract vengeance...but I make most of it up.

Where do we start? We start by stopping.

When we are in the abyss, Jesus doesn't say, "For Pete's sake, snap out of it."
He says, "Well why don't I come down there with you? I have a little bit of water to drink. It's not much..."

I insist on doing the grief, doing the angry.

You get to start over - it's the Christian tradition! You get to start over, just as soon as you remember that you do.

I have this family that lives with me...oh wait. MY family - my family lives with me...

Every single person's heart gets shattered in this life.

And I just said to God, "...WHATEVER."  (It's the fourth grader's prayer.)

God has to love you; that's God's JOB...no matter how secretly awful you are.




For those of you beautiful people who are ready for more words and truth from Anne Lamott, she has written 15 books. Google her. Then pick a book. Then go to your library or an INDEPENDENT BOOK STORE owned by a local yokal who loves trees and fair wages, and pick out one of her books.
She is also fabulous to follow on Facebook and Twitter. Real stuff, y'all.
And it still doesn't matter what your butt looks like.