Get Your Greer On!

As I write this I am looking out the window of a beautiful cabin. The elevation is about 8200 feet, we are surrounded by big ponderosa pine trees, there is snow on the ground and my grandkids, my husband and I just spent most of the morning reading - in The Big Quiet. We are in a magical place called Greer, Arizona - a place where I come to feed my soul and, yes, to continue the healing of losing our own cabin nearly two years ago in a major forest fire. But stay with me because this newsletter is not about that.

It's about remembering to get your Greer on. It's about remembering that we all have a soul to feed. It's about consciously unplugging from the myriad of electronic devices that vie for our attention each day and returning to that spot that makes you want to be quiet -- and listen.

For some of my friends, that place may be where you hear the sound of the ocean, the beating of the waves, the cries of seagulls, and the smell of salt is in the air - a place where you are willing to sit for hours and just take it all it in. For me, it's a place where I listen to the wind, the birds, the squirrels, and if I am lucky enough, the sounds of elk chatting back and forth. (Please don't think I have come undone - my two grandchildren and I heard them last night at dusk.)

"That place" is where you play Chinese checkers and charades and where you might stay in your pajamas until noon. It's a place where you play cards, go on picnics, stop the car when you see antelope (or a whale breaching). It's a place where you take walks for reasons other than getting exercise. It's a place where you can sit in a fishing boat or by the shore for hours and not care if you catch anything. It's a place where you take naps. It's also a place where you are willing to put all your winter gear back on at 11 o'clock at night and go outside because the stars are THAT bright and THAT magnificent and because it's THAT quiet. It's a place where you visit some of your favorite eating places and the people who work there remember that you love eggs Benedict.

It's a place where you forget to comb your hair and nobody seems to notice or care. It's a place where you reconnect with the ease, beauty and grace of nature. It's a place of being truly present, not having a schedule, and your to-do list consists of "fun stuff" only. It's a place where you feel gratitude. It's a place you can return to in your mind when a trip is not in your immediate future. It is a place that truly sustains your soul.

Very personal share that kind of says it all: Yesterday we went on an excellent adventure to one of our soul sustaining places called Sipe White Mountain National Wildlife Area. On one our walks, my granddaughter Madison found a beautiful dead bird and called us all over to see it. (We found out at the Wildlife Center it was a Northern Harrier.) I boldly admit with no bias on my part (ha!) that my grandchildren are special and have been taught to love and appreciate nature and the outdoors. My eight year old grandson, Liam, was very upset that it was "just laying there and things could eat it." He started digging a hole in the somewhat frozen muddy ground and, together, we buried it. They marked the spot by putting a very special circle of rocks around it. How much would you have given to see this precious boy try to carve the bird's name on a piece of wood (he named it Hawkie) with a sharp rock? Hope this picture is worth the thousand words I could write about it.

At the risk of belaboring the point, Spring is on its way. Summer is around the corner. No matter what your season, no matter where your Greer may be, care enough about yourself to make a plan to get your Greer on. The world needs you to!

Getting Your GREEN On

When I was growing up, St. Patrick's Day was right below Christmas in terms of family celebrations. Green milk, green mashed potatoes, green butter, corned beef and cabbage (even though I had to learn from a Brad Pitt movie that corned beef and cabbage were not a traditional Irish meal) and yes- even green ginger ale. My parents loved St. Patrick's Day. My friends loved to gather at our house to witness the craziness and it is a most happy memory. So the Mrs. Green team got on board with our FIRST EVER Facebook contest for St. Patrick's Day! Hope you will enter to win a Pot of Green and share the good green word!