yes!

i talked with a homeschool mom yesterday who mentioned,

did you see my ad?

until yesterday i edited our homeschool newsletter. the ad she mentioned was an art show/lecture she is going to give at the local library.

she said,

you inspired me. because you do something with your poetry.

you know, if i never become nothing, i will be so grateful to have influenced one mom to pursue her gifting. i think it so easy to prefer everyone to the peril of a mom's soul. i could have received no greater blessing than that yesterday.

two best friends arrive today to help me begin the purge. we have so much stuff, hey, we're american. but it is time to downsize in a major way. we've got four vehicles, two houses, and enough stuff to fill the astrodome (do they even call it that any more?).

my friends will help part me from my junk so i can move into the promised land unencumbered (or slightly encumbered), i found a small cottage with a basement for storage. hey! there you go.

but truly, i feel like it is a forced purge and much needed. we've got to lose the excess. we've got to. no one needs as much as we possess. and while i've pissed and moaned about how hard a time we are having making ends meet because truly, i don't spend but a fraction of what i used to spend, books are piling up again. i had to clean off the kitchen table and my girl had five books she was reading spread across it. she is a bibliophile too i guess.

looks like a home in nj/ny won't be a problem, now it is the getting there that needs my attention.

i mentioned on my ma blog today that i am a finalist in a local poetry contest. i would have gotten to meet the texas poet laureate, but no, i'm moving.

such is life. there'll be plenty of poets to meet in new york. i can't wait. i remembered receiving a poetry society of america notice, with upcoming lectures for poets in new york and thinking, if only.

well, if only has happened, and i can actually go to those lectures if i want.

what a boon, what a blessing. i may get eaten alive. or i may find more of my tribe. more of my people. i think it will be the latter. i do well with poets, it seems. tonight is my swan song open mic at a local barnes an noble. if any of my friends in the area want to go, it is your last chance to hear me read.

maybe not, my best friend wants to put together a women's luncheon for me to speak at before i go. not sure if i can swing it, but it is the kind of thing i'd love to do. so i may try. i will read some of my works there. she called it, my goodbye. and i thought i was going to slink out of town without being noticed.

much to do. peace!