Dedicate Your Day

I stand and look down at the plaque near my toes

The name and date

of someone I know

It hits me that as time goes by

This name and date

their life signifies

Our future was in their hands for years

So make their efforts for us be clear

Do something in honor of their life

Shed no more tears

Alone

I suppose there are quite a few like me. Suddenly single and not knowing how to be alone. I could pretend I'm comfortable with it and sometimes I even fool myself.

But life is supposed to be shared with others. We need the conversation, opinions and engaging rapport. There is a need to do something for others. Sure there are many places to go and enjoy alone, but after awhile, it's nice to be home in a safe zone and feel that your presence is wanted by another human being. 

Daughters and sons with parents. Lovers on a stroll.

A hand to hold or someone to hug when you are cold. Touch.

There is the need to care for someone. They will heal quicker knowing they matter. We want to cheer them on and run beside them during a challenge. They need our cool hand on their fevered brow.

Hard work to provide food and comfort is done unselfishly. Time is your gift. The giving of your heart to please them is your goal.

Do on to others. Golden Rules. Patience and love.

If you have that you are going to be ok alone.

Cathy Windham

Kodachrome Memories

When I think of my most precious moments I have had, I just want to have them suspended in front of my mind like a virtual window of mini pix. Just like when I pull up my photo gallery on my phone, there they are. I click on one. I am there. 

It stresses me out to think any photo is wandering out there in cyber space and I can't find it yet know it is there. 

I wonder why this is with me? Am I afraid that time will steal my memory forever? All those wonderful moments I saw through a lens are my mind. I consciously thought that was a moment worth preserving.

I have thousands of digital photos and others in print.

I love all of them for one reason or another. 

Sometimes when I go through old ones that my father took or others I see a time they saw through their lens. It was expensive to get professional prints made. Casual Kodachrome slides ruled for a while and 8 mm home movies. We sat on the beach squinting into the sun. Parents sat and smoked on Christmas as we tore into gifts and threw paper.

Family reunions had us gathered in tight groups to get everyone in. Sometimes we hated our hair or that we were a little overweight and hid behind someone else! You know that's true. 

But in the end, we were enjoying our lives. Living and having fun. 

So, next time you browse through the old photo boxes at mom's house, remember they were preserving their happiness for you to enjoy today!

Cathy Windham 

Universal Tears

Tears Are Universal

I just saw something that made me smile and think of the joy of being a mom. It was a newborn baby crying. That cute wail with it's mouth wide open. Looks like a starving baby bird in a nest.

Melts my heart every time.

Chubby hands & feet. Multiple jelly rolls. Soft down hair. Your child.

All babies thrive on love and it matters not that maybe they receive that love from their birth mother or from another mother. It's the bond that  they know they are safe and loved that matters.

There is no difference in tears shed of an infant or a mom. They cry together whether out of pain, sadness or joy. They are as one.

It's ok to cry on Mother's Day.

Miss you, Mom

Cathy Windham

5/2/16

Purple Piuse

When we lose an icon there is sadness all around

The world weeps its tears 

Staining purple on the ground

The love that he shared was his life unveiled

Some could never see

Including me, to no avail

A painting of bright colors

His  mind was a rhapsody 

Of blossoms in full bloom

We were only the seed

We held back and did not dream 

At the same pace as his mind

Only too late we will learn

the message he wanted us to find 

So sing your hearts melody

To an unfamiliar tune

What you want understood

Unveils itself too soon

Cathy Windham

4/22/16

Fire Pit Plans

There were days when we could go all day doing our own thing.  I'd get together with one or both of our girls or a friend and go get lunch and do some shopping.  You'd get greasy and dirty working on restoring a classic car. I'd get home and come in with several bags of deals. Often it was for the grands or someone's birthday or other celebration gift.  I'd show you my kill.

Then you'd rev the engine for me to hear it roar.  I'd pull up a lawn chair out in your garage chock full of tools and car parts. You hand me a beer from the little fridge. The radio is playing our local country station loudly above the huge fan blade noise. I look around the walls of this  three bay garage you built. A girl wears Daisy Dukes and a tight fitting crop top on a calendar 

and there are things hanging on nails, stuff scattered in the floor and a flood light underneath the car. You lay on a rolling board and only your legs and dirty jeans and shoes are poking out. I'm asked for a tool. "Somewhere over there!" Miracles do happen and I find what he's looking for!

In a little while I go inside and start to fix something for dinner as you finally stop for the day and come in to shower and throw your clothes in the washer. 

We sit out on the porch and eat enjoying each other's presence, music and another beer.

Later, after dark, you light a fire in the fire pit.

The glow of orange and yellow flames somehow soothe the spirit. Seems kind of primitive in a way. We talk of what is coming up for our few days off together. Where we might go and do. Many times plans were made very quickly without much notice. "Let's go to the Keys! Or, want to make a trip to Midland City?" Right then and there we'd set our minds in fast motion to make a reservation or call the folks and tell them we'd be there the next day for a visit. Spontaneity ruled the wild spirit!

I miss those weekend impromptu trips. Hard to get through a weekend now without thinking of those days. Nothing fancy, just fun times.

When people remark "Life is short." They are absolutely right.

Don't wait. Just close your eyes, dream and go! You'll think back one day just like I am now and be happy with memories made while you could.

Open Heart

At night I lie in wonder

With my broken heart

Guarded and protected 

Crying in the dark

Expensive wine flows in my glass

I take a little sip

Time is forgotten for a moment 

Want to taste this on your lips

So in my solitude I wait

The moon glows on my skin

I turn over the tear stained pillow

In my dreams I let you in

Cathy Windham

4/7/16