Gotta love the freebees...

Yesterday, I did my fair share of tree climbing. We have this great avocado tree in our backyard that is just FULL of the most delicious avocados. And as much as I LOVE eating avocados...I have my limit. They are too good to NOT share with people. So, with my backpack heavy with those bright green beauties I made my way to the Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts for the free market bazaar. I also brought a box of random things that were really just taking up space in our little house. As I was walking toward the Armory I saw people heading the same direction, boxes and bags of STUFF in hand. I saw a girl leaving the event with her own bag of new found goodies AND a snowboard! Hosted by the Arroyo Time Bank, this event brought many together to give their unwanted or unneeded things a loving home. All kinds of things were set out on tables, where they were sorted and snatched up by enthusiastic participants. One persons trash really is another persons treasure

There was definitely a good vibe going on. After all, how could there not? There were free clothes, shoes, books, household items, toys, and jewelry among other things. And to top it off there was an impressive food table where people set out bags of fresh fruit picked from backyard trees, cakes, and salads. I saw a couple people bring in trays of sandwiches they had so generously made for everyone.

There is something so cool about the redistribution of goods, especially when you are directly involved. As I put out my stuff people immediately gravitated.

"These are BEAUTIFUL dishes!" one woman said.
"They're yours for the taking." I said.
"Wow! Thank you. I needed some of these." she said.

Now she wont have to buy any. When Erik showed up after he got off work we spotted another woman who found the stuff I set out. You could tell she was excited to have found them. And they were just sitting on a shelf at our place. Unloved and unused.

Most of us have so much STUFF that, when we get totally honest with ourselves, we just don't need. We all hold on to our stuff for lots of reasons...
Guilt is a big one. That sweater mom gave you for Christmas 2 years ago that you've maybe worn two times (when she came over for dinner or something :)), yeah...get rid of it. Someone out there could use another layer. Why not give it to someone who thinks it's the best sweater in the whole universe? I promise I wont tell Mom.

So, I told you what I gave away. Those avocados were gone before I could turn around. Want to know what I got? for FREE?! only the best thing I could have found there...

a cast iron skillet!!!

I've been wanting one for a while and it literally just appeared before my eyes!

Ahhh the beauty of redistribution.

Jake the model

So, I turned around and caught Jake acting like a human again. It's funny. It weirds me out sometimes though. He sits like this in the back seat of our car too. Just staring out the window...looking human-like.

He's a good pup.

Happy Birthday!

As I bid farewell to my twenty-seventh year I wonder what twenty-eight will bring.

It’s funny how life is always changing from moment to moment let alone year to year. But I believe people stay the same. Obviously our appearances change. We gain or lose weight, height, muscle mass, hair, good posture, and teeth. The way we express ourselves often changes. We learn or forget how to gather our thoughts and feelings down on the page, into music, through movement and on stage and in conversation. Our interests will change. We pick them up or toss them aside like stones. Some more precious than others. Human relationships inevitably change and can trick us into believing that we are somehow better or worse because we are accepted or rejected by, or date or are married to “so and so”. They are all leaves on a tree. Growing. Dying. Falling. Drying up.

But we are the same. I am the same person I have always been. You are the same person you have always been.

Thank God the entangled mass of choking vines of great expectations, insecurity, failure, fear, death -to name a few- do not and have never defined us! Our losses and our gains are but leaves. Withering grasses. Our greatest achievements are but dust. We are free from it all!

Now, to learn to simply be. Just be.

I hope that my 28th year is everything it is meant to be. Life abundant!