A tree that could be found
in Sequoia National Forest

On one of my trips back to California from Phoenix, possibly after visiting my son or getting a haircut, (yes I drive 700 miles roundtrip to get my hair cut, but that’s another story) I read a flashing sign ** Interstate 10 shut down **.  When it’s 110⁰, this is not something you want to see in the middle of the desert.

I called my son, since I was close to Phoenix, to see if he could research the road closure.  He found that it was indeed closed and all I could envision was a million cars stopped ahead waiting for whatever to be fixed.  I asked him to find me a detour and with his engineering expertise, I was off the freeway in 5 minutes.  His instructions were turn left, and then left again and then…. NO SERVICE.   Now was not a good time for my cell service to die, pictures of parched cattle skulls flashed through my head.  Siri, my new best friend since moving to California (yep Siri on my phone – don’t hate) was also out of commission.

Panic set in as I drove on to what I thought was my detour and didn’t see one car, not one.  Didn’t anyone want to avoid one million cars on a very hot freeway?  I kept driving, as my breathing increased, to find no mile markers or signs on how to get back to I-10 and no road to turn left.  I started to sweat even with the air on.  As I continued to drive deeper into the desert I noticed how the road wasn’t flat anymore, but undulating with small curves every so often and signs warning of ‘cattle crossings’ or ‘flash flooding’ started to appear.  I may be close to civilization…

As I started observing my surroundings and how unexpected the drive had turned out, my panic started to subside and I really wanted to see some of those cattle, free-ranging cross the road.  I drove into a very small town, wondering if my left turn would appear at some point, when I started to smile at the charm of the police station which was located in a former drive-up restaurant.  The main street was congregated with horses and cars, and there were quite a few people standing outside the quaint mud brick diner, which looked like it had been there for over 100 years.

My left turn appeared with an I-10 sign illuminating the way.  As I continued on, I didn’t want my adventure to end and was a bit embarrassed as I thought back on how fearful I was on the onset.  How could one little detour cause me such discomfort?  What had I learned?

When detours arise, it’s all in the perception of the situation.  I need to take a deep breath when those uncomfortable feelings arise; the ones of helplessness, being out-of-control or the unknown and let the situation unfold.  If not I may be missing out on things I have never witnessed before, like unique experiences that are waiting just for me or the sight of a couple free-ranging cattle crossing the road.

Grateful for you,

Sheree

It’s all in the perception…
In reality it’s a hedge found on our walk

So, about creating and getting help with this Blog…

There is SO MUCH information available in the www, http, .com world that it’s truly overwhelming.  I just wanted to find a place to share my insights and in doing so, down the rabbit hole I fell.  I was amazed how much information I pulled was SO outdated, (2008, 2009, 2011…), when all I wanted was the current year 2014.  Even giving parameters to the sweet little search engines meant nothing, they pretty much gave me what they wanted me to see, geez.

After reading 3 trillion sites on “what the heck I should do” I found one author who wrote about what she didn’t do correctly and how she found a site that gave step-by-step instructions to do it the right way.  I felt like I had just fallen into a fluffy pile of goodness!

As I continued to search how to link this, add on that and be noticed there, came the should be’s, ought to be’s, better be doing it this way articles and once again I wanted to head for a nap or a handful of potato chips to dull the overwhelming sense of ‘why the hell am I doing this?”

Eventually the articles I did find, that weren’t out-of-date, were incredibly helpful and user-friendly.  Everyone was willing to share ideas, their sources, their successes and failures and it wasn’t about fear of losing readers or who was more successful, it was about helping someone like me. The faceless, well-written, funny-looking gravatars** (a globally recognized avatar) eventually helped me create a blog, a place to unzip this crazy brain and share all my quips with you. Were these people going to be my new tribe?  I was sort of excited…

The lessons learned here are:

1. Don’t believe everything you hear or read; it really could be out-of-date or hurtful.
2. The feeling of being overwhelmed will pass; just try not to finish the bag of chips while it’s happening.
3. Help can come from anywhere as long as you’re willing to ask and accept it, even if it’s from a cartoon character that has excellent grammar.

If I don’t get linked correctly, or added on there, or noticed around here, I will still be grateful for the help of strangers and hopefully I can keep that movement going!

What have you done lately to help someone in search of assistance?  Send me some examples of your awesomeness!!

Grateful for you…

Sheree

My new Gravatar **

My Marilyn Mantra

This quote from Marilyn has been my mantra for years and little did I know it would get me through some pretty tough times….

Welcome to my “Just Observing” Blog!!  Please stop in often, bring your cup of coffee and visit with me, so I can share what I’ve been observing!

Before we start this journey together, you should know a little bit about me.  I have three sisters, I was married right out of high school but soon learned that I wasn’t quite old enough to “be” married.  I married my current husband 35 years ago and we have two wonderful adult children, well, they’ll always be my babies.

For six years my husband had been commuting from Anaheim to our home in Phoenix, making the six hour one-way drive back and forth nearly every other weekend.  The housing and job markets in Phoenix were awful and this is what we did to keep things going.  I stayed in our home helping the kids finish high school and get started in college.  I worked different jobs while trying to keep my design business going, and at the same time kept things running in our home.

Then two years ago I was in the kitchen of a dear friend when I snapped!  I had just been laid off and the realization of what we had been doing for years had finally sunk in.  I, (you notice I said “I” not “we”), decided to sell the house and get our lives back together and finally live in one state.  After hearing the tone in my voice, my husband didn’t question the decision.  Plans started to form on the big life change when I met with my naturopath for a regular visit.  She discovered something hard in my lower belly, oh the tapping on your stomach that doctors perform actually does mean something; they’re not just pretending to look busy.   The hard something happened to be my kidney, which should have realistically been located in my lower back.  Boomer, as we fondly called my tumor, was discovered after two hectic days of testing and it was found that it had displaced my kidney and quite a few other organs and needed to be taken out quickly.

At the end of two weeks that will forever change my life, all 3 lbs. of Boomer the benign, had been removed.  The effect (he) had on me was not just physical, it was to change me emotionally forever.

I no longer look at things the same way, or hear the same or feel as I used to.  I’m still working through some of the lingering effects, but as I do, I also look at the many courageous individuals I have been blessed to know who deal with or have dealt with much, much worse things than Boomer, and how their energy inspires me.  I can only hope that while I look, hear and feel differently, that I never forget the gift that I was given, or the strength that I have witnessed.

My hope for this blog is to share with you the new sights, sounds and emotions I am filled with since ‘Boom’ was removed and I got the news, “we thought it was cancer, but it’s not…”.

Grateful for you…

(And Court Tuttle at the Blog Builders for helping to create this blog!!)