We have much to chronicle here today, so let’s get started. Beginning with the recognition of Carolyn’s special day. This is the woman who gave birth to some of my absolutely favorite people. When I married her son they all added me into the family as a bonus kid. Happy Happy Birthday to my Mother-In-Law! Hope it was lovingly festive and filled with joy.
From our Special Occasion deck we have a super cool card, for our special and super cool day honoring our special and super cool Mom.
Dragonfly ~ Illusion ~
Like the Butterfly, Dragonfly embodies the regenerative powers of rebirth.
After mating, Dragonflies deposit their eggs in water, where they hatch and develop into ferocious aquatic larvae before transmuting into adult Dragonflies. The Dragonfly emerges from a fully aquatic lifestyle to a creature capable of full aerial flight, no longer restricted to the confines of the pond or river into which it initially hatched.
Dragonfly experiences a symbolic death at the midpoint of its life. After a period of obligatory dormancy the Dragonfly re-emerges as an apparently completely new creature, with deceptively iridescent wings that seem to glisten with the changing light – a transformation Dragonfly is yearning to see you make today.
As children we may be taught values and beliefs that are based on cultural or family tradition and morals that may be simply regarded as outdated in today’s society. These illusions seem so real, though, that we accept them as our reality.
As we mature, these ways often contradict our self-discovered principles and we learn to adapt them accordingly. However, depending on how deeply these beliefs are ingrained, sometimes we cannot shake them in order to make way for our own. When this happens we find ourselves in turmoil because we feel as though we are dishonouring our culture or family by trying to follow our own truth.
If Dragonfly has darted into your cards today, you are being urged to break through self-endorsed limitations that hinder your development and growth. Look at yourself and acknowledge the illusions you may have woven around yourself as a form of protection.
Ask yourself if these illusions were put in place to prevent you from seeing a truth or to prevent others from seeing the real you. Have you started believing in your own deception, in a falsity created originally to protect your sense of security or self-esteem?
Your view of the world may be restricted to your tainted perception of what is real and what is not and as a result, the view the rest of the world had of you may also be unfairly tainted.”
Dragon Fly?! Wow, the themes in my life are so obvious sometimes. I love this one because I’ve been a very loud advocate of not doing what everyone else says you SHOULD do. Great message.
Next item on our agenda is a matter of opinions and safety. We’ve had a bit of a discussion going on in yesterdays comments. No, I do not wear a seat belt in cars. I am short (they choke me), I voted no (when the option was on our ballot some years ago), and I feel it is my prerogative to make that decision. (There is also a long story involved, similar to Judy’s, in that someone died, due specifically to not being able to escape because he was belted in.)
I also do not wear a helmet when I ride the bike. If I had a motorcycle I wouldn’t wear one for that either. (Yes, I know what the law states, one of the reasons you don’t see me ON a motorcycle right now. And won’t, until that law is rescinded.)
No lecturing here please, I am 50 years old, and have seen all the pamphlets, watched all the films, know all the arguments. This is a choice I make of my own free will. Your care and concern for me, your outrage on my behalf, is very much appreciated, and I honor it. However, at this point I won’t be changing. Can’t say one way or another if I will change in the future, but for now, this is where I am.
Yesterday, as I rode past the park where that dog water bowl is set out, I saw a group of kids. Later, as I made the loop around the other side, I saw them again. One little girl kind of called out to me as I rode by the second time, “we like your….uhh,” and she put her hand to her own hair, then waved it as though indicating MY hair and head, on which was a brightly colored new sports band (also big long story, but for another day).
Then she sort of stood there shocked, I could see her mind putting pieces together. Her hand fell to her side as her brain dropped facts in to place, “you’re not wearing a ….” then she turned from looking at me, to face the direction where her mom was sitting on a bench, and screamed, indignantly outraged over my scofflaw attitude and reckless demeanor, “SHE’S NOT WEARING A HELMET!!!”
On that note (yes I pedaled away laughing, I know, I’m terrible and a really bad example to all impressionable children), look at these cranium covers we saw today. Daniel and I went on a leisurely wander after we did some investigating, and walked past a cycling shop with this window display. Too amusingly ironic.
Here’s what we were checking out, the place I found yesterday when I picked up our lunch/dinner sammiches. Yogurt eXtreme! (Not sure if you are required to make the arm gestures, but I like to.)
It’s a local company, with a very informative website here. Read about it when you get the chance, and if you are near any of their shops, go there. I have to say though, I am so NOT a fan of all that vision-searing pink, but otherwise, totally delicious and very nicely run (we got ours To Go, not entirely due to the decorating choices). Disclaimer: I don’t love frozen yogurt. I don’t MIND it, but it certainly ain’t ice cream or frosting.
Knowing this about my own wee self elf, and my dessert ideals, I still recommend going if you can. The selections are very good, and the toppings are much more varied than I thought they would be. (Although, as I said, NOT ice cream nor frosting, so what is the point of the sauces and toppings?) Also, Anna, the delightful young woman who Dan and I met, said she’d read the blog and put my card up on the wall. (No joke, awesome employees!)
My selections were Georgia Peach (which was outstanding), chocolate (to which I added maraschino cherries, because I adore them and there are NEVER enough offered when you eat out), and Praline (not grand, not bad, just not one I’ll get next time). Bottom line, go there, support them, have a healthy treat, and tell them I sent you.
Foreign license plate sighting du jour: Florida. Still oddly sparse around here for a college town well into the school year. I don’t make this shit up ya know, simply report it.
And finally, back to the costume of the weekend. I have not heard how the wedding went, but I did get to see Jade in person. We took this shot with my phone because his father was talking on his phone to the birthday girl, and I was informed that we needed to send the picture immediately. 
In the original view he appeared to be glowing. (I’ll show you that one if anyone is interested.) Now we await photographic evidence of/from his pal Whitney, and validation that there really WAS an event, for which he needed to purchase a new gun (and hat).
Loads to catch up on!
– more I always need to feel I’ve got every eventuality covered! My handbag weighs a ton.
Love the photos of the firstborn – looking fine.
Seat belts / safety gear – you’re an adult and you’ve made your choices with the information out there. Personally I have a nifty little thingy in my car that has a blade to cut belts and a hammer to break windows. It’s not so much that I’m an OCD coward/ control freak.
Love dragonflies so beautiful and inspiring.
I’ve heard of these tools, very cool!
You ARE prepared, nice.
I really like Dragonfly. We had a lot of them around the place this year, and Mrs. Denial took a boatload of photos of them. Very fun to watch. I did not realize they had a second metamorphosis in their mid-life. Guess that would handle any mid- life crises fairly well.
I am on the other side of your fence, but I also believe in letting people make their own choices. There is a saying in the motorcycle community of mine: ATGATT. All the gear, all the time. Dress for the crash, not the ride. I also wear a bike helmet. Don’t dress for that crash, but still…
JD looks great! I would love to see Whit’s picture!
No word on how Whitney’s pictures turned out, or in fact, if she even exists….
I’ve worn seat belts since long before they made the law. I figure I’m statistically safer. I have one of those items to cut the belt and break the window, but it’s the window I’m most worried about, in case the car ends up in water with me in it. (Mythbusters showed that this particular item works exactly the way it’s supposed to!)
For bikes, I’d rather not wear a helmet, but I have a few people who would chase me down and forcibly put one on me. Not an issue right now because I don’t have a bike. If I rode skates, I’d put on the knee and elbow pads because I fall a lot and those joints are really important. I wouldn’t go fast enough to need a helmet.
Beautiful card. I definitely need some of that magic in my life right now.
An idea: print off a picture of the card and have it handy.
We’re gonna have to just agree to disagree on the helmet/safety gear/seat belt issue. In fact, I’m going to have to practice denial that you ever wrote anything like that. It just makes all my sMothering instincts leap up and down and shout things. Okay, moving on . . .
I personally would love to see JD glow. I took a good picture of girl child this summer all backlit by the setting sun and it makes her look like some kind of heavenly visitation.
Dragonfly – a message I’ve been struggling with a bit recently. Thinking of things I don’t do because I have a family, responsibilities, or people I love that might get hurt or upset. There’s a certain amount of give and take there and I’m not sure I’ve figured out just where the line is.
“…it makes her look like some kind of heavenly visitation.” I love that.
True, responsibilities are a tough one, but the “give and take” deal, as a mom, is the key for making it work.
I’m with KarenB, but it’s not my sMothering instincts in overdrive, it’s my financial liability receptors. Anyway.
I love the melon for your melon.
Wasn’t the melon helmet idea a cute one?! So much more creative than most I’ve seen.
Also, I have taken to calling my Beloved by your name, as in, “I don’t gawdamn know Delia, just google it and then it won’t bug you because you don’t have ALL the freaking information!” Said in the most loving and kind way possible, obviously.
Dude. I’ve become a swear? Rockin.
It is the highest compliment, truly!
Good morning. Great pic of JD. Off to work.
Good evening! And thank you.
Well, you know my opinion from yesterday on the seat belt thang. As for the girl yelling about your lack of helmet, if she was like my kids, it was because she -had- to wear a helmet. And there you were without one! (Look, mom, -she- doesn’t have a helmet, why do I have to wear one?) I got, hmmm, I was going to say ‘lucky’ but now I’m not so sure I should apply that word here. But my problems ended when my daughter lost control of her bike before I thought to teach her to ditch it if she was going to crash and she went head first into a tree. (have I mentioned our yard is on a hill?) Neither kid argued with me after that.
You cut your toe on the car door. From someone who spent their grade school years in southern CA on skates, please get elbow and knee pads and gloves. Yes, gloves. The first thing you put out in front when you go down are your hands, and having all the skin taken off your palms is nooooo fun. How would you blog to us?? (snort, laughter) My brother wiped out one time in a basketball court. He was wearing green cords and landed on his butt and left a green streak across the concrete. Now where in the heck did that memory come from?
Re Dragonfly: I second KarenB. And just where is that line?
Your son had to buy a new gun and hat? (snort, choke, laughter) Ah, boys and their toys!
If I can score the skates, I will totally concede to the gloves.
Love the dragonfly – I like the meaning this card – it is a bit different from ones I found when I went looking a dragonfly meaning a couple of months back.
I would love to see JD glow.
Seatbelts / Helments – dunno where I really stand – My brother is alive because he was not wearing a seatbelt that would have held him in place while the top of the van crushed him. – My parents were in full riding gear, leathers, helmets etc. when a microburst knocked their bike over at a stop light – they were stopped. It knocked them over and both ended up in the hospital for a long time. *Shrugs* I suppose I’d say protect your children to the full extent of your ability to do so and let the grownups play how they will.
I put up the glowing picture tonight.
no comment on the seat belt thing. I honor your stubborn-ness, because I know you need it sometimes for other things. I, too, hate wearing a bike helmet, and with the kind of bike riding I do (very sedate, around the neighborhood-type stuff), don’t consider it necessary. But I wear one anyway because Dean is absolutely insistent. Sometimes he is stubborner than me.
I don’t exactly collect dragonflies, but I’ve ended up with several dragonfly items over the past couple of years, so even if there hadn’t been a relevant message, I would like this card. But there is, so. bonus.
I’m with you on the frozen yogurt. I eat a lot of yogurt, love it– but the frozen stuff just reminds me that it’s not ice cream. I’m always just a little bit disappointed. But my boys love it, so we are frequenters of our local spot, which is called something different from yours that I can’t recall at the moment.
There have been many things you’ve said that I wanted to print and hang on a wall, or memorize and chant for hours, but THIS was by far, one of the most delightful “…so we are frequenters of our local spot, which is called something different from yours that I can’t recall at the moment.” Thank you, for being you and showing up here, for me.
The Big Guy loves, loves frozen yogurt. Me, not so much. We almost bought a melon helmet and a union jack helmet then we found these looks like a riding a horse helmet which we bought in Portland. I’m so safety conscious and I have the tools in the car too. I do love dragonflies.
More photos of the sheriff.
Deputy photo up now.
My biggest safety gear hate is airbags in cars. Have you seen one of those things go off? They’re nasty. You’d be deaf for a week afterwards and i’m sure all the powder you’re breathing in from them can’t be good for you.
As for the rest of it…it’s your body, you know the risks, do what you want
I think I may have mentioned my mother induced fear of dragonflies before, but a nice card anyway
So with you on this one. Wanna know what else those “supposed” safety bags are doing? They keep the injured person alive, true. They also CAUSE more spinal and neck injuries, on top of massive back, hip, and leg breaks… all landing these crashed folks in permanent care, or comas, or vegetative states, that otherwise would not have happened.
AND if you are less than average height (hello? everyone I’m related to and ME!) they have been known to DECAPITATE drivers! Fact.
There seems to be a recurring theme….letting go, limitations, restrictions. The twilight zone music is playing loudly. I need to get some things in order and then move on.
JD looks fantastic
So often these themes help us with clarity, and then yep, best to move on.