Less Tech

"Now Look at Me, I'm Sparkling.  A firework, a dancing flame. I'm Glowin"

There's a Katy Perry lyric that goes,
"I just wanna throw my phone away..
find out who is really there for me"
Such a simple line but ohhh the valley of thought behind that little phrase.  Can you imagine? Who would be there if you suddenly slipped off the grid? In a technically advanced society where we're ALL so constantly connected.. it's a powerful thing to think WHO
 is really part of your life? 
Present in the here & now.
I want to cherish my friendships, my family & those who hold my heart. May I always remember that text,  fb, twitter updates & instagrams can NEVER replace sunshine & laughter.
I want good food & giggles,
walks along mountain paths &
 fresh air while discussing the silly
& serious things in life ..
WITH a good friend.

May I make the effort to listen with my ears & my entire heart.
I hope to never accept typed characters across a cell screen as a substitute for the beautiful sound of a human voice,
 or the amazing rhythm
 of a heartbeat

I long for the imperfect interactions of a life low on technical support

I think it's called

Real


Hepburn Hugs & Ric Ocasek Dreams

xo

Birdee Bow

Slash N Sass

"Risk isn't a word in my vocabulary.  It's my very existence.."   SLASH

I have often joked that I live my life backward...with my pants on fire while wearing arm floaters. YES quite a humorous visual, but also exhaustive, confusing with sprinkles here & there of confetti mania. When I awoke this morning my head was filled with the opening words for a poem I'm writing entitled, No, I can't Swim, but I'm a damn good dancer.  Writing all the things I truly am horrible at ( i.e. swimming)  also forced me to think about all the things I truly am ok at. I think dancing is one of them along with sass.  (I've got the button down on sass) But I never knew I was also good at The SLASH. 

Recently perusing over LinkedIn I found it to be a true nightmare for me. Writing out the laundry list of my varied skills slash experience seemed to resemble The Carnival Life much more than I had imagined. After looking over many other LinkedIn accounts they all seem so serious & so seriously pulled together.  Boy goes to college at 18 receives PHD at 24 begins outlandishly successful career by 25; Now owns small island called Manhattan.  I'm amazed by it. Truly.  In fact so amazed I forgot it existed!  I'm a fan. A fan whose mind does not compute the same.   I mean it started out simple enough...  country girl goes to college to become psychology major maybe teacher.  I'm not sure how that turned into strange girl becomes sideshow act slash writer slash model slash rock singer slash songwriter slash ice cream scooper slash entrepreneur.  I never realized I was such a SLASHER! Who knew?  Maybe there's hidden strength in the slash?  At any rate, I think we slashers gotta stick together..

Can I get a HECK YEH! Slash OMG! Slash...

;)

Hepburn Wishes & Ric Ocasek Dreams

xo

Birdee Bow

Pushovers & Expectations

"My expectations on other people..I double them on myself"            James Brown

Mrs. Dugan was cool.  Not the typical hipster, young & happenin' acquired kinda cool. Nope, she was just born cool.  Created from the type of universal collision that must only happen once in a million years or so. Clearly that had to be the case, how else could such an old broad rock slim fit polyester pants & a matching polyester button up blouse with an over sized bow no less & still pull off the cool? She did it, and on the daily.  Wealthy beyond any of our 6th Grade wildest dreams, it was not uncommon to see huge oil tanker trucks bearing her family name streaming down the highway just outside our 2nd story class window. I always thought it fascinating to see them in the background while she was in the midst of a class lecture; like a huge moving billboard advertising her very existence as a brand for success. I often wondered why someone like Mrs. Dugan chose to spend her days with a bunch of bratty 6th graders.  Clearly she could have been gallivanting across France or sipping tea somewhere with royalty. She just had that air about her. Intelligence & brassy wit, Mrs. Dugan was no pushover.    It seemed to me that somewhere along the way Mrs. Dugan must have decided to make it her lifetime ambition to turn large groups of country kids into kids with big plans.  I felt a positive force of strength from her & so I made it a point to listen closely whenever she would speak. At the beginning of each month she placed scenic photos side by side above the chalkboard, probably 30 or more.  When we arrived in the morning we were to put our things away, take out a clean sheet of paper & write one entire page describing a story or a scenario taking place in one of the scenic photos.  "If I can't pick out the specific photo from your description?  Then you fail the assignment.  The quicker & more easily I am able to fully identify the photo from the scenario you are describing?  The higher your grade".  What an amazing concept, I thought.. "ingenious idea!"  I set out to blow her mind.  I wanted her to discover my scenario photo faster than any other 6th grader ever.  Writing & rewriting I worked diligently to use as many descriptive words as possible in order to make it easier for Mrs. Dugan to find my proverbial story needle in a haystack.  But, each time I received my grade, I was disappointed.  A-, B, B-, C in red pen slashes across my beautiful stories.  "What do I smell?" she would write.  "What do I hear?" in cursive lettering along the margin lines... "Why do I want to be here?" "What makes this so unusual?"  I viewed those red squiggly letters as angry red blotches across my cheery, happy paper & as sad as it made me?  It also made me that much more determined to reach an A+. I quickly obtained a Thesaurus & carried it to class. I searched for new, thought provoking words as I painstakingly orchestrated my morning paper.  And even though I tried with all my might?  I never rose above an A-.
On the day before summer vacation she returned the last paper she would ever grade of mine. Written in the margin in her signature cursive red ink were the words  "To receive an A+ in writing one must be flawless.  Flawless does not exist, but we must always strive for it's attainment.   Enjoy your summer & write on!"

Nope. Never a pushover.
I think Mrs. Dugan may have been a badass before the word badass existed.

WRITE ON.

Hepburn Hugs & Ric Ocasek Dreams,

Birdee Bow