Weekend Magic: The World Danced

Happy Monday.  Is anyone else sleep deprived from watching World Cup games?  My husband couldn't believe I got back into bed this morning while I blow dried my hair.  But the electric atmosphere of the Cup is worth the bleary eyes and loss of communication skills beyond grunts and nods.  I celebrate for every player because of the years each one spent pursuing his dreams, pushing himself when the odds seemed impossible, and ignoring the criticism and naysayers.  When you put it that way, they seem awfully like artists.

So let's stand up and celebrate.  For your favorite team.  For the dream realized.  For the part of yourself you can see in them.

And let's dance.




South Africa after the first World Cup goal scored on African soil.  The nation banned from play for decades because of internal division unites the world.  That is reason to dance.




And world leaders celebrated, too.  People who changed and healed the world danced.  Fast forward to the 44th second.  I think watching Archbishop Desmond Tutu dance is worth following the link.


And others danced, too.

Weekend Magic: Back to My Roots

The husband and I enjoyed a sunny Easter weekend back home with family. My sister Kimberly and I dug up daffodils and daylilies from the edge of Grandma’s yard to transplant to the flower bed here in Richmond. In Grandma’s yard the brick borders have fallen and lay covered in weeds, but working in her garden brought back memories I hadn’t thought of in years. I remembered childhood afternoons spent playing among the irises and hyacinths while Grandma created Eden inside brick borders.

My family has lived in our small town for about seven generations, a time spanning over two hundred years, and my parents' farm has been in the family about a century. It is our place. We see our ancestors as clearly in the creeks and fields as we do in the old portraits Kimberly and I found in Grandma’s spare bedroom. Are you rooted in a place? What about it draws you? Would you be the same person if it wasn’t for that place?

Weekend Magic

The title says it all.

Weekend Magic

Adam and I spent Saturday at the Virginia Festival of the Book. Every year hundreds of people meet because they love books. There are readers and authors and thousands of great titles. There are readings and panels and signings and book fairs and kids' parades. I geek out just thinking about it.

And there are great people. I reconnected with Sarah, Michelle, and Alison of Slushbusters, a Charlottesville critique group I met at the James River Writers conference. I follow their blog, but I haven't seen them since October. They are creative, funny people who are just as warm in person as they are on their blog, and I loved talking with them.

On Saturday I couldn't stop saying awesome, amazing, fantastic, exciting. The festival was that good.

How was your weekend?

Me, Sarah, and Michelle

Impediments post coming tonight....