Pre-spring cleaning     February, 2004

  Today on KOTV I reviewed the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston. It is a book I put to use and like.

  One theory is that when we clear clutter we allow space for new things to come into our lives. So, when I built a new room, I could not wait to see what exciting thing would come into my life--a new friend, a new job, exotic travel, a romance. What came into that space was a big yellow dog. I, a confirmed cat owner, rescued a large dog that follows me around all day like a furry shadow. He is a wonderful additon to my life, just not what I expected.

   I heard of a couple who select one room in their house every month for deep cleaning. Washing baseboards, wiping down walls, clearing out drawers and shelves. This is manageable, I tell myself. Instead of dreading a Great Spring Cleaning, I'll lower my expectations and aim at one room this month. I think I'll start with the new room, the dog's room.

Where Did Christmas Go?  Late December, 2003.

       Strange. I used to be able to do Christmas. Shopping, cooking, entertaining, wrapping, all of it. And, at the same time, work fulltime for a ballet company that gave fourteen performances of "The Nutcracker" in Tulsa and almost that many on the road from Texas to Colorado.

       I've lost the knack. Now the holiday season rises up out of nowhere and sweeps me away like an avalanche of artificial snow. I wake up a few days after Christmas thinking, "What was that!" I can't get gifts mailed on time or Christmas cards. So, I'm taking a new tact.

     I'm doing New Year's. I'm distributing little New Year's gifts and I am mailing New Year's cards with cheery messages. I want to think my friends view this as trend-setting. "How avant guarde," I hope they say. But they know me. What they will really say is, "Pathetic. Once again Connie couldn't get it together for Christmas."

     I used to be able to turn cartwheels, memorize long epic poems and work all night long cramming for exams or typing on deadlines. That was another year. This is a new year. I like this year just fine.

    Happy New Year.

Following is an excerpt from my recent Commentary "Simple and Stalwart" that aired on KWGS Nov. 26, 2003

I have come to accept--even appreciate--change. It's not always easy: my garden blooms and dies, my favorite Chinese restaruant closes, my verinarian retires and the hamburger hangout of my rowdy youth becomes a mortuary. 

I look at the world's political mess and wonder when change is a good thing. When is it better to declare a position and stick with it in bulldog determination and when does that cross over into fixation, like a chicken staring at a line. I consider personal and professional relationships--those of my own and those of my friends--and wonder about the difference between loyalty, which is good, and blind loyalty, which can be ridiculous.

I am from Nowata, where we are a simple folk and stalwart. If we say we are going to drive east on Highway 60 and cross the Verdigris River bridge, we are people of our word and we do so. Unless we get to the Verdigris River and discover that the bridge is out. Then, we stop. And change course. We are a simple folk and stalwart, but we are not stupid. If there is no bridge to drive over and we know it, we don't try to do it.

I hope I can remember that wisdom when I am outside of Nowata County.