Who ever becomes a ballerina or a fireman?

The other day in church the youth group spoke about using your talents. I have to admit that hearing an idealistic teenager speak about the purpose of their future life gets me every time.What did you want to be at five years old? At ten? At eighteen?

And how close did you get?

I suppose it also matters what scale of "success" you are shooting for, whether it is the scale of how others see you or what kind of person you are and how you touch the world.

There is a song by Switchfoot that has the lyric "This is your life, are you who you want to be?"

Pretty powerful. It chokes me up every time I hear it.



When I was five I wanted to be Wonder Woman. When I was ten I wanted to be a writer. When I was eighteen I wanted to be a teacher.

I have been a High School English teacher.

I am a published author but still strive to find my voice and use that talent more.

Anyway, I got to thinking about how I got from dreams of being a teacher to working in an office with numbers and 401k's and health benefits.

Who among us becomes the exact dream that they imagined at five? How did we go from wanting to be a movie star to getting up, driving to work with one hand on the horn and sitting at a desk being um, in my own words, mediocre?

When I truly think about who I am and some of the amazing things that I have done to save myself and save others, the truth is I am Wonder Woman. Too bad I only get to wear the costume one day a year.

Good Will Savings

I credit my creative thriftiness to my father. He grew up on farm in Jersey where he worked from the age of twelve. He had three shirts in high school, one red one blue and one green. My father was smart and savvy with his money. And while I also inherited his pack-rat capabilities, it is amazing what you can reuse if you keep stuff long enough. Two years ago it was smart and quirky to shop thrifty. Now it is downright necessity. A friend of mine recently told me "forget being in the black, everyone that I know is just trying to get back from a mound of debt to a nice even zero."

Good Will and Salvation Army are two of my favorite stores. As a rule major chains like Target donate a lot of post season surplus so be familiar with their seasonal merchandise because then you will recognize it. I have scored pocketbooks, wrapping paper and baby gifts with the tags on at my local Good Will. I always shop February and July for men's clothing. Every single man gets a ton of shirts and sweaters for Christmas and Father's day that are not his style or size (medium, sure!) and they arrive unworn.
When we visit my brother-in-law and his wife I am always amazed at what different things are in their Sally's (what we call the Salvation Army because his grandma used to deceive her husband into thinking it was a department store). We get tons of household trinkets there, ceramic planters, shelving, etc.
My favorite thing to scope out are 1980's floral rayon dresses. I usually pay about three to seven dollars a dress and can wear them to church or work. I get tons of compliments and they are comfortable and easy to wash. And when I pay less than ten dollars an outfit, I can stretch the rest a lot further.

Queen of the May!

Happy May Day!

I have long celebrated May Day (not because I am either Pagan or Communist as some who look at those who have historically marked this day) but because it is often mentioned in British poetry.



"But I must gather knots of flowers

And buds and garlands gay,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother,

I'm to be Queen o' the May!"

-Alfred Lord Tennyson


I have even had May Day's where I have actually danced around a May Pole. One year in 4th Grade we learned it in gym class. I think it was because we were learning about the Renaissance but any excuse to get out of floor hockey was welcome.

Another year they had a festival in Tuckerton, NJ when I was on Long Beach Island for vacation. They had a bunch of us at the street fair join in and attempt the dance.

What I will tell you about that dance is that it must be done by professionals, when the rest of us attempt it, it tends to look a lot like what would happen if you drank a few pitchers of Sangria and tried to rig up Christmas tree lights.

To celebrate May Day I went for a walk early this morning. I saw bouncing robins looking for the worms that thrive near the water spout. I fed a peanut to the the chipmunk that lives near the mailboxes. I breathed in the morning and felt how good it is to be alive.
Then I returned home to drink tea and read poetry while wearing my May Day wreath of flowers. Most delightful.