Women Rise Up!

I am tired of the primarily white, older male dominated society. Ladies? Anyone else? For too long we have been oppressed. Told what we should look like, act like, dress like, sound like, speak like, smell like, and perform like. "Women can't be comedians." "Women can't be strong." "Women can't be in the military." "Women can't be as educated." "Women can't be breadwinners." "Women can't be politicians." They've told us to be soft, sweet, gentle, quiet, sexy, model-thin, meek & mild. They've told us to accept that we are "not less than, just different in our roles.", and then oppressed us even further. We are capable of whatever we set our minds to do! Better still, we are capable of fixing what the testosterone dominated elite have screwed up! And unless we women bring our "emotional, sensitive, nurturing" qualities into the mix (along with our strength, determination, and brains) then this world is doomed to continue on the downward slide toward extinction that the Patriarchal world has bequeathed us. Enough!  For centuries we have been controlled, shamed, manipulated, used & abused as the "weaker sex" and I AM NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE. We women need to get pissed off. Speak out! Stand up! Make noise and don't take no for an answer. Form discussion groups. Get involved in your political community. Write letters to your Senators, congressmen/women, to the President! Demand respect! Teach your daughters, nieces, friends & coworkers that WE ARE EQUALLY VALUABLE. In votes, in marriage, in the workplace, in LIFE. No Man can limit the supreme potential of women which the great creator has bestowed upon us. 

See more to BE more.

     Imagine you are looking a point in space. Nothing but a black, empty, pit of darkness. Pulling back, you see edges of brightness. Straight and sharp, the edges grow larger, contrasting the lines between light and dark. As you pull further back, you see that these forms are a letter, then several, revealing a series of letters that form words, then phrases, then sentences. Soon, those words and sentences develop more- into a thought, an idea. Moving further back, you begin to see that these thoughts and ideas are the fibers of LIFE, weaving and flowing together in colors, sounds and shapes. Grass, trees, animals, buildings, vehicles, and people...each hustling and bustling at different rates of speed and with different energies and vibrations, but ever connected by the very molecules that create them. That create US. With perspective we can see the Divine connectedness of all life. 

     When we stop focusing on the smallness that is right in front of us and take the time to step back and gain perspective, we become more lovingly aware that WE ARE ONE. What is done to even the smallest speck of life is done to ALL life. Separateness is an illusion created by a world that has forced us into segregation. Isolated communities, castes, races, peoples made to feel alone and afraid of one another. Engrained and indoctrinated by greed and gluttony. Taught to live defensively, protecting self at the cost of all else. It is time we gain perspective. Step back and truly SEE  more to BE more. Travel. Meet people in other lands. Feast with strangers and know their plights. Listen to their music and feel the pulsing rhythm of their drums. The rhythm is our heartbeats, our eternal spark. We must step outside ourselves in order to truly see ourselves. 

     God gazes on the earth from a higher point, and so too must we.  

           It is the only way we will heal this world. ~P.Frye

Childless- Mother's Day Emptiness

     Today is the one day of the year that SUCKS. I have to constantly fight overwhelming sadness and emptiness on a day when so many of my friends are being celebrated. Despite promiscuity as a teen, two failed marriages and 17+ years with my current husband, I never once experienced pregnancy. Being from such a fertile family (the eldest of five children myself, and sisters who got pregnant easily) I felt my body betrayed me. Now, as I get older, I feel betrayed even more. I will never know the joys of little ones bringing me breakfast in bed, homemade cards and hand picked dandelion bouquets. No one will ever run into my arms and cry out "Mama!" I won't see joyous laughter and surprise at birthdays and Christmas. As I get older, I realize that I'll never feel the pride of watching my baby become a mother or father, and beam with joy as they learn to parent.  I'll never hear myself referred to as Grandma or Nana. I'll never have that. 

     I hate that my body failed me and yet still "looks" like a mom's body. My "birthing" hips, voluptuous breasts and strong lifting arms...pointless. And I know that until I stop hating my body for this, hating myself for my life choices, hating Mother's Day, I am never going to love my body enough to want to BE healthy. After my hysterectomy four years ago, it was FINAL. Permanent. Forever.  I know that I have to forgive myself of the life choices that brought me to childlessness, to make amends with the "female" parts of me that haven't proven themselves worthy through motherhood. I know I should celebrate all the things that I AM, and be happy with that. But on Mother's Day, that's just too hard. 

Old Souls

    I'm sitting on my porch, as I often do during these sweet spring days, and I look up at the tree in my front yard. Truly an "old soul." Glorious in form and function, it's hundred plus years of life evidenced by the height and breadth of it. Branches reaching toward the sun and bark rippled with the folds of time. It is a wondrous thing, this monument to nature. A home for birds and bugs, shade for the weary, cleaning the air and providing nourishment for wildlife. Taking nothing more than it needs and giving so much. Oh, that we would be so wise! 

     As I study this beautiful tree, I'm reflecting back on this morning's gathering. Life is such a funny thing. Really it's just the flicker of a flame. A nanosecond in the hugeness of eternity. A blip on the radar. We are only here for a few precious years. Today's fellowship was a moment of clarity for me. An opportunity to pay tribute to all our beautiful female residents this Mother's Day, and to honor their families. A chance to look into the faces of those who have lived so much longer than I, and who are clearly nearing the last years of their journey. To gaze into the eyes of my elders, to hold a hand, listen to, hug, kiss and thank each one for the blessing they are in my life. These precious "old souls" teach me something new every day, and I am filled with gratitude. For them, for my life & for the opportunity I have each day to serve.

     Breathe in this life my friends! And when you breathe out, be sure you are breathing life INTO those around you. Take no more than you need and give abundantly. I pray we all may live our lives as nobly as the Maple in my yard. 

God Bless, Namaste, and as always SHARE THE LOVE. ~P.Frye

Cameras, Selfies and Real Self Esteem

I kind of envy today's youth. With the invent of the cell phone camera & Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, etc, girls today have more confidence and awareness of what they look like. When I was a little baby we had Kodak Instamatic cameras, but the film was very expensive. When we did use a "regular" camera, you had no way of knowing how the shot looked (or even remembering WHAT shots were taken) until you dropped off the film at the local pharmacy or Five-n-Dime that shipped them off for development. Picture taking of an official nature was about the only way history was being recorded. Picture Day at school. Family photos with the photographer from Olan Mills (remember when they came to the home?) and then later at the JC Penney portrait studio. Photo day was an event to be dreaded, and you still didn't know how they'd turn out until they were developed. Then, there began to spring up places that did the development IN THE STORE. You still had to wait for days, sometimes weeks, and then go in to pick them up. Again, COST was always a factor and there was yet the element of surprise. ("I don't remember taking that picture!"). 

By now I was fully aware that I was "fat & unattractive" & cameras were to be avoided. I was sure that I always looked as hideous as a rushed, underpaid, bad photographer always captured me looking. Yes. I have/had mirrors. But obviously my vision of how I looked was not reflected in the yearly photos scheduled to ruin my life. 

Fast forward to today's culture. The "Selfie" (next to photos of food and fashion) is THE main photo shared on Social Media. But I can't get into it. I've become the bad photographer and still loathe any snapshot of me (unless it's in a group I'm hiding behind.) I guess the ratio of "Selfies" to other shots in my profile will be the gage of whether or not I ever truly develop any self esteem. 

In the meantime, I'll keep sharing Memes designed by someone else and reposting shots of great food I've made.