The GLAM

One of the things that Di was known for, loved and immersed herself in was fashion.  She was the queen of the scissors, the style, the encylopedia of the do's and dont's when it came to the latest trend. 
I absolutely LOVE this photo of Di.  Isn't she the glam of glam?  The total 80's cutting-edge wanna-have-that-look-can-you-give-me-that-look.......

Di, you were a trendsetter.......

Kindred Spirits

Living, Loving, Experiencing, Knowing, Caring...It is a Determined Destiny

It’s all about that; being and knowing and accepting and willing to bring yourself to know and understand that among the chaos that is life you know what’s real and genuine and honest and you can read between the lines and pick the weeds out of your garden of life and keep those beautiful flowers sheltered from the elements....

Knowing who is important rather than what is important is integral to living a whole life. I’m thinking that I’m not there yet; but I had a great start and a great pal through the many years I had been given to spend with Di. I lost my kindred spirit; we all lost a kindred spirit that day in November...

Storypeople.com

According to the 'Urban Dictionary'  kindred spirits are defined as:

Two people that make a special connection by sharing a bond that

has joined them by the means of an experience that has drawn

them together on a higher level of consciousness. This connection

can be from the same experience at the same time or two separate

experiences similar in nature.

Other examples of kindred spirits can be:

      If two people were in a dramatic situation and had to depend on each other in order to get out of the situation or one had to help rescue the other, they would become bonded as kindred spirits. Or two people will meet for the first time or again and a bond is formed through an understanding of what the other had been through and with this, they have become kindred spirits.

 

Another way to look at kindred spirits in my life path with Di is with the soulmate that I have chosen to spend my life with.  Destiny and forthrightness played a huge part in the path that my life took when I met Ken.

There is a quote that I’m fond of that I’m sure that Di was found of too because she sent me the email many years ago from the Story People website:

You're the strangest person I ever met, she said; I said you too; so we decided we'd know each other a long time.

This is exactly who, what and why I loved Di so much. She shared and she gave and she always worked so hard to surround herself with people that she loved and who loved her. She made room for kindred spirits in her life. The perfect summation of a perfect friend, a kindred spirit in kind with me and the world. And she would always call me a weirdo for no reason whatsoever; just because she could....

I think alot of people that knew Di felt that kindred spirit vibe, especially those crazy women that created the
Ya Ya's with their vibrant hats, their crazy gatherings and their fanciful laughter and their unconditional love....just for Di.

Smiles

That smile is what I remember the most.

The Calm After The Storm - The Beauty That Surrounds Us

This is the shot I grabbed right as the sun was at it's brightest

The other day, we had a furious storm that blanketed our lives that first began with a violently hot and humid day with temperatures in the high 90's and heat indexes reaching 110 +.
It was a day that started hot, progressed through the day with increasing humidity and then a bang of storms with wind shears of sometimes 70-80 mph and rain and hail.  No tornados, thankfully but sirens blaring announcing the introduction of high winds coupled with heavy rains that lasted for hours among the dark and ominious skies that were lit only by the intense lightning show.
 
When I finally arrived home, the rain had subsided to a calm, steady fine mist, the clouds and dark skies changed quickly to open up and the sun enveloped the world in bright blinding oranges and red hues which provided an amazing view.  I noticed as the sun was welcomed in it brought with it a beautiful rainbow that appeared as a double rainbow and then prominently displayed itself as the magnificent beauty of a single rainbow stream that was able to be viewed from one side to the other.
I quickly ran and grabbed my camera and darted through the rain soaked grass to grab a few shots of the wonderment of nature and all that it gives us each and every day.  The rainbow was so large and view was just a speck of the rainbow but I managed to get some good shots.

This was taken after the sun calmed and left the beauty of a magnificent rainbow, nature's bounty at it's finest

When I see rainbows, I think about Di. 
There is not much these days that doesn't reminid me of her though...
My life will never be the same and the bad days seem to be very bad and the good days are good, but it's hard sometimes to pull the 'really good' out of those good days. 

Of all the years that we drove together to classes, sat in parking lots waiting for parking spaces and wandered the campus together, the Arts Building was one of our favorites.  One semester, a class was doing advanced printmaking and one student did an entire collection on rainbows.  Di loved that collection, her eyes lit up and she had that crazy little giggle as we looked over the collection. 

A few weeks later, we were sitting in my car, waiting again for a parking space in the lot and there had been a tremendous thunderstorm and as the storm cleared, a rainbow appeared.  Di and I always talked and sometimes we had crazy conversations about many silly things.  We started talking about the pot 'o gold that might be at the end of that particular rainbow (we could only see one part of it), and I told her that I would give anything up to go and fetch that pot 'o gold for her and she told me that I'd have to keep half of it....always Di, always thinking of others, always offering her little 'piece of the pie' and her part of the pot 'o gold to someone else.

A rainbow for Di; even though I'm sure that she has already found that pot 'o gold and she has already shared it with everyone she has met.........along with that crazy little giggle and her big smile.

Post Freedom Day

I have memories of all of the holidays that bring me back to Di.

The Fourth of July is one of those memorable holidays for me with Di and her family. 

Many years ago Di invited me to come with her and Jerome and the kids to her brother's house in Keystone to celebrate the 4th.  It was the first time in a very long time that I had been among so many people who were related and loved being a family. 

When I was younger, we used to make monthly trips to see family and on holidays when the entire gang got together and it was a bustle of people and faces and loudness. Over the years  those trips stopped and I became accustomed to small gatherings with friends.

 On that July 4th day, I was introduced to all of Di's family including her crazy brothers who taunted me and teased me. It was an overwhelming day, but it was a good day. I was officially introduced to Di's side of the family with a "bang" on the 4th.

On this post-fouth of July (July 5th), I am remembering, recounting and refreshing my thoughts knowing that the politically correct "version" of the reason for July 4 is our country's independence but in the back of mind I know that Di gained freedom at last and I celebrate that....for Her....and for me.....

I know that somewhere up high in those clouds in one of the twinkling sparkling vibrant  magnificent shows of light and fire on the eve of the 4th Di was smiling at me and I'm sure that I caught a little piece of her when I danced in the light among the stars taking photographs last night....or at least I hope in my heart she was....

Peace.

Love.

Freedom.

A Rant ... A Rave ... A Prayer

“A Prayer”

the difference between a rant and a prayer lies only in the position and delivery

Raising yourself to the skies facing either the biggest laugh

or the only great eye

Hands up and open in surrender or supplication or fisted in the fiercest demand

the voice modulated between a thick strangle and the soft, humble hang time of pleading

Personally, I prefer prayer

It’s not that I know someone is up there

It’s that I can’t bear to think that there’s not

Prayer is the knot at the end of the rope that keeps us from finally falling.

Prayer is the small tug at the end of the robe of a myth that always stands at your shoulder

with it’s comforting color and it’s irritating politics

Prayer is small and tentative and set against the whispering background of hope

and so we pray...

I won’t kneel, that will bring me closer to what defeats me now.

I won’t bow, because I can’t cower in the face of a question

But I can ask and hear my plea flood the air

and take comfort in the fact that I still have the strength to want

I am so tired, cliches about weight aside

the world has nested on my shoulders for a long winter’s nap

my life follows the coldest road, dark and indifferent

and quite happy to roll on without me

And sometimes it seems that I’m the only rider and that rests in me so heavily

I can only sit down and hope for a deep breath

You, who know the true meaning of the word beyond

You, who holds the lives of so many in your strange justice

You, who promise this life will be justified, send some of that folkie old narcotic this way, can’t ya?

And let me stand back a while

I ask for peace

I ask for patience

I ask for health

I ask for beauty

I ask for company

I ask for love

Amen,

Omen,

Whatever...

By Lisa Buscani

Lisa Buscani got her start in Chicago's performance poetry scene and ultimately became a National Poetry Slam Champion as well as a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has published one book of poetry, Jangle (Tia Chucha Press) and has produced three critically and publicly acclaimed solo shows, Carnivale Animale, At That Time, and Solid Citizen.

She has been featured in poetry anthologies such as Alive from the NuYorican Poets Café (Holt) and Word Up (Keyporter Books/EMI). She has appeared on HBO, CNN, PBS, Much Music and NPR. She is currently the executive director of The Poetry Center of Chicago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8sGXNJyiWM