Upside Down Cats

Wondering what NaBloPoMo is? Read this to learn all about it and why (and how) I'm participating!

What a difference a  year makes - #2

2009: I had an elderly but still spunky and relatively healthy mom. I called her as often as we were both comfortable with. We discussed the family, the weather and my work (or sometimes the lack of it).

It was a comfortable relationship - at last. We'd had our share of being too close for comfort and complete estrangement. Neither of those extremes ever felt right. It turned out that we did our best mothering and daughtering from a distance, interspersed with some pleasant visits across the miles.

The highlight of 2009 was in August when I got to join the family at Mom's 90th birthday party. It was uplifting to celebrate her life and reminisce. That experience seemed to put a lot of "Mom and Me" into perspective.

2010: In March, I lost my mom. I had the chance to say goodbye (but mercifully not knowing at the time that it really was goodbye) a couple weeks before she passed away. She was not the type to complain about her health but I could tell she was not doing well. I got to put on my brave voice from my end of the phone and she got to put on hers from her end. I know in my heart that she decided it was time to die - and she did. Yes, she did.

What 2010 has brought me, though, instead of grief, is renewal. I realize that Mom was ready to go and while I miss those phone conversations, I am left with memories that sustain that relationship within me and always will.

Mom's passing created an opportunity for me to reconnect (or connect for the first time) with family I'd never had the chance to spend time with. I am enjoying newly forged relationships with my sisters, my brother, my nieces and nephews. In the span of a few days spent with them as we laid Mom to rest, this whole new sense of family sprang forth within me. Then and now my family is a source of connection to Mom and to my past - and a bridge to my future. I've developed a new and deeper understanding of the things that are really important in a family - and made some true friends of these remarkable people.

From loss I have found more than I ever imagined.

Wondering what NaBloPoMo is? Read this to learn all about it and why (and how) I'm participating!

What a difference a  year makes  - #1

Autumn 2009: I had lost all my daycare clients and was officially deciding to close Love and Learn Child Care after over 20 years operation. It was the only job I'd ever had. In reality, it turned out to be less of a loss than I anticipated. Perhaps on some level I knew that, while it had a good run, it was time to move on to the next chapter of my life.

The choice to pursue writing professionally was a natural one because I have always wanted to write. Here was my opportunity to go for it.

Autumn 2010: Writey Tidy has half a dozen fairly steady clients, a website, a business phone number (on which I talk to said clients), business cards...the whole shebang - just like a real business! My two favorite parts of my content creation business are the flexibility I have with my time and the potential to grow my business, experience and reputation.

Oh, yeah, and I get to write for a living!

My life is remarkably different since 2009 in more ways than I can imagine. I'll continue writing about some that have occurred to me each day this month as I participate in NaBloPoMo.

Stay tuned!

Wow...another National Blog Posting Month is done! NaBloPoMo '09 has been fun as I searched back through the archives of our cat photos and wrote a haiku about one every day of November. Here's the last one...

Gina's Hai-cat #30

Cooper says it all
NaBloPoMo is over
Good night and sleep tight

This is the next-to-last day of National Blog Posting Month. I do believe I'm going to follow through to complete the challenge for my third consecutive year! For NaBloPoMo '09 I've been posting a photo of our cats and a haiku I wrote about said photo.

Gina's Hai-cat #29

Abbey on the shirts
Great help folding the laundry
Never puts away

National Blog Posting Month is almost over! I only have a few more opportunities to write a haiku about a photo of our cats to post for NaBloPoMo '09.

Gina's Hai-cat #28

Who says cats can't fetch?
Mama throws Desi's green ball
She carries it back

There's only a few more days of National Blog Posting Month but I still haven't run out of photos of our cats to write haikus about! Here's my 27th entry for NaBloPoMo '09...

Gina's Hai-cat #27

What a pretty face
Beemer could be a model
So perfect looking

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are reading along throughout National Blog Posting Month! Here's today's NaBloPoMo '09 haiku about a photo of our cats...

Gina's Hai-cat #26

A very sad year
Said goodbye to a best friend
Thankful for Abbey

National Blog Posting Month is chugging right along! Here's today's NaBloPoMo '09 haiku about a photo of our cats.

Gina's Hai-cat #25

Lie down and hold still!
So I can lick your head clean
Abbey bathes Desi

This is the first of "Gina's Lost Works" to be published on Upside Down Cats.
Originally written September 9, 2008

I feel a distinct coolness in the air today. Maybe it is too early to hope for a permanent end to our sweltering Midwestern Summer, but it's pleasant to ponder the possibility… That crisp, invigorating air of Autumn always awakens my senses, making me feel more alive and ambitious than at any other time of the year.

It’s no surprise that Autumn is my favorite season.

Ladies are probably familiar with the system of choosing colors for clothing and makeup that suit your skin tone. It categorizes you in terms of one of the four seasons. Well, if I could literally wear a season, it would be Autumn.

When I conjure up the perfect Autumn image I envision the rich golden colors of the season all around me as I ride my bike along the leaf-strewn streets of my neighborhood. I can smell the earthiness of the fallen leaves as my wheels crunch over them on the ground. Mix in the scent of a distant fireplace and it smells like paradise to me! The cool air blowing against my skin invigorates me – enticing me to go that one mile farther.

It’s easy to get a little philosophical when thinking about the seasons. Perhaps we prefer a certain season because of a memory or a mood we experienced in that season. Maybe we are tuned into the natural “life cycle” as it plays out each year from Spring to Winter, associating some aspect of the season to a “season” of our life.

For myself, I prefer the “nesting” urge I experience as the heat wanes and the brisk air arrives. I look forward to wearing cozy sweaters, snuggling under an afghan and warming the whole house with simmering pots of hearty soups and stews.

Poet Samuel Butler expressed my feeling about Autumn quite eloquently when he wrote, ”Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits. “

It’s the mellow aspect of Autumn that is attractive to me. I relish the sense of Autumn as a time to rest from the relentless pace of sun-bathed Summer. Where some may consider Autumn as the “beginning of the end” of the year, to me it signifies a time to reflect and appreciate the bounty that Summer has produced. I think of it as a time to gather up the fruits of our labors, sit back and reap the rewards. I wonder what that says about me? I hope it says that I am a person who delights in the yields of diligent work.

Whatever my particular feeling about a season, I always have an emotional connection to it. I believe it’s a way to connect to my life and to the world of which I’m a part.

What is your favorite season? How does your favorite season fit your personality?

A little over a year ago I was honored to be chosen as one of the contributors to a new web site. I was thrilled because it was my first opportunity to write for a project other than my own blog. I enjoyed writing these essays very much. Each one was written from my own heart and mind, which was another aspect of the project that appealed to me - it seemed the perfect vehicle for my natural writing style

Unfortunately, this web site project never got off the ground and the pieces I wrote have been in limbo; remaining unread and seemingly written for naught.

Until now.

I've decided that since these articles - fifteen in all - are the products of my own talent, that I have every right to give them the opportunity see the light of day. Better they be published here than sit, unread and buried in some abandoned graveyard of a concept.

So I'm proud to publish these essays - which I believe to be among my best work. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

The articles will appear individually and on no particular schedule. I would love to hear your opinion about them - every literary work should have the opportunity for critique.

Happy reading!