A year ago today

A year ago something I thought was really terrible happened and I thought I would die.

I sort of did die.

There was this bizarre two week purgatory where I was nowhere. When I discovered I had lived, I started living. Then I lived some more.

I looked for a quote this afternoon that might be appropriate for Vaguebooking. For acknowledging this important date. I found one I loved, but it seemed to be too easy misconstrue and what point is Vaguebooking if you have to add a disclaimer?

“When love awakens in your life, in the night of your heart, it is like the dawn breaking within you. Where before there was anonymity, now there is intimacy; where before there was fear, now there is courage; where before in your life there was awkwardness, now there is a rhythm of grace and gracefulness; where before you used to be jagged, now you are elegant and in rhythm with your self. When love awakens in your life, it is like a rebirth, a new beginning.” 
― John O’Donohue

This seemed to perfectly describe what happened to my heart this past year. It has zero to do with anyone I’ve dated or am dating (which is why the quote wasn’t suitable) and everything to do with my true self. It’s been a magnificent year of hurt and healing. In the rearview mirror, I’m a little proud of how deeply I was devastated, because I am proud of how deeply in love I was. I don’t know that I’d had that before. Even more spectacular was how hard I dug in to recovery from that shatteredness. Is that a word? It is now.

I learned to not only be alone, but enjoy alone. Thrive alone. Travel solo and dine solo and sleep across the whole damn bed littered with too many pillows like a total chick. Solo. Decadently dream all my own dreams with polite considerations for no one. 

Several people held me close for those first few months. I wasn’t ok. I wasn’t ok by a whole long shot but their love kept me safe until I could take over and once I took over, that was some shit. That was the best shit. 

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Since then I’ve held people close for their first few months. I have become nearly addicted to throwing out that lifeline to the broken heart dying in the dark. We are all in this life together. 

I don’t know much where I’m going with this. I just knew that the date had to be acknowledged. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, more secure as Sheri than I’ve ever been, I’m ridiculously smitten with myself and the life I’m living and so totally grateful that I died last year. What was born from that wreckage was my best version.

30 Days of Thankfulness

I thought it might be nice to round all these up from my Facebook meme. As I copy and pasted these in here I only found one missing day and one day where I accidentally posted twice. Not bad! Near the beginning of the month I asked Facebook if I should do one of these lists and thought I probably wouldn’t because they can get pretty trite. But then a friend asked me if I could really do it… with no duplicates. There was much scoffing in my head at the notion of someone having trouble coughing up 30 pieces of gratitude. Pssshaw. I could do one everyday for a year and not repeat, I said. Thus my November meme was officially born.

1. Hashtags.
2. Strangers who reach out to me on my blog who then become dear friends.
3. French rosé.
4. Free sunglasses.
5. The soundtrack to Inside Llewyn Davis. Especially track 2. Holy cow.
6. I’m thankful that thoughts become things and that I finally figured that out.
7.  I am thankful for Laura Marling.
8. We have a kick ass art scene. Soon it won’t be the best kept secret & I’ll be bragging about owning a ____ for $150.
9. I am thankful that Lyons, CO and Planet Bluegrass are in recovery.
10. …that I discovered the music genre of progressive bluegrass.
11. I am thankful for discovering This is Spinal Tap, which only gets funnier as I get older.
12. That Oklahoma finally legalized tattoos several years ago.
13. That I got Fullbright tickets today for the two nights I wanted them.
14. That I found the work of Brené Brown, Eckhart Tolle, Martha Beck and Byron Katie. The timing could not have been more perfect.
15. That I found my cowboy boots in Lyons, CO, late this summer. Again, the timing could not have been more perfect.
16. The scrapbooks of my Grandma Avis, who died before I was born. I browsed them today and met the girl who would eventually be my mother’s mother. An aunt remarked that those books were laden with things she never even knew. Pretty magical.
17. These house shows.
18. Oysters on the half shell, drizzled with mignonette, touched with horseradish, slurped and finished with a sip of bubbly wine.
19. The love I get from my friends, old and new. Y’all are rad.
20. This here business.
21.That family doesn’t need to be genetically related.
22. Numbers and signs from the Universe.
23. The nerds in my life who help me understand things. Or just plain help me. A lot of nerds crossed my path on Saturday (glorious!) and the day ended with me learning about Phi, which is still blowing my mind.
24. Weekends that slow or stop me.
25. Butter. I currently own 20lbs of it and by the weekend those golden sticks of heaven are going to be toffee. Mountains of delicious, perfect toffee.
26. This place I work. It’s pretty freakin’ awesome. Y’all think you know how great it is…but I promise you this place is 10 times better than anyone in the public realizes. It’s a family.
27. 2013 started out terribly, then life got as black as night for a brief little stint. But you know what? It got better. Then it got good. Then it got amazeballs. I’m so grateful for all the lessons I learned. I’m glad I got all the way broken because the rebuilding has been nothing short of miraculous. So thankful for this year. 28.
28.The classic Thanksgiving meal.
29. The little boy who looks like my dad’s baby pictures, loves Legos, breathes Minecraft, prefers his apples sliced and lives to charm every person he meets.
30. The young lady who believes in herself, inspired me to believe in myself, wants desperately to meet Katy Perry or Pink, begs to drink coffee, adores her friends and loves Funyuns. A lot. Just like her mama did when she was 12.

Avis Wellington from Oilton, OK

I went to Chandler, OK, on Saturday for Thanksgiving with my family on my mom’s side, though my dad was there because he’s always welcome. After lunch we were sitting around jabbering when my mom’s sister, Linda, busted out a blue bag filled with treasures that are right up my alley. Scrapbooks. Not just any scrapbooks, but the scrapbooks from my grandma Avis, who died before I was born. I know nearly nothing about Avis as my own mother died when I was 14. There were two, one of which was a high school scrapbook….like a senior book. Most of the stuff from the first book was all dated 1928-29. 

Homegirl was all kinds of sentimental. I feel like I know a little bit more about myself after browsing these books of this stranger from my family. My mother’s mother. What a treasure.

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