Dear Oprah,
Does it ever annoy you when people leave trash on a Starbucks table that's two inches from the garbage bin?
I wonder.
When I'm at the gym and people leave their towels or magazine inserts strewn around the floor, that bothers me. I don't want to judge and yes, I know there is someone to clean it up, but I don't like going anywhere and leaving a trace unless I know my mark is good.
One wouldn't go into the forest and leave bottles or paper strewn amongst the foliage, right? Maybe people would.
When I touch the earth with my feet, my car, my tabloids, my hands on the elliptical, I want to leave it the way I found it.
I clean up, like I was never there. I don't want someone else to do the job for me, even if they are supposed to.
I'm not saying you need to re-fold all of the t-shirts you look at when visiting the Gap.
My mark is stronger and in a different direction, it's not to disrupt or disturb.
Walk softly. Be and do and remove yourself and your trail.
You know what I mean?
Just sayin...
Laurie

I love when I see people rush to yoga class. It's such a contradiction...
and yet.
all I'm doing is moving. I don't let myself catch a moment to be still.
Don't be still.
Cause that's where you find it...
all.
So I do, in the place that's home...
Sivasana,
where I move myself to a place of stillness.
And that's where I find him.
And that's where I find it all.
The answers and the peace and the love and the wholeness that I miss when I move to fast to see or feel...anything.
And I cry, quietly so no one sees.
And I remember the first few times I took yoga.
And I remember all the years after, practicing yoga and never getting back to that place where I was when I first started.
So new,
So fresh,
So vulnerable to all of the new experiences one feels when they begin to feel the love for it.
So long, it's been.
And here I am, like a beginner.
I'm beginning again.
A new person.
Same, but different, without him.
And I'm mourning, but I feel good.
I weep, but I feel strong.
I'm sad, but I'm so grateful that I feel.
So grateful that I can produce these feelings and let them come out safely.
I rush.
I rush to yoga.
Catch my breath, hold it, let it go, let it flow and feel it so deeply.
I remember.

Dear Oprah,
Today, I feel special. Today I am filled with gratitude.
Because I know you like to rename things and mix things up and because it is my birthday, in your likeness I would like to change today to my ‘life day.’
I woke up this morning after a restless sleep because my upstairs neighbor was playing horrid music and clogging until 4AM. I went for a birthday run, a little later then I wanted to. It was 9AM and 90 degrees. The sand was uber soft and impossible to gain speed in. I needed to earn my cake!
I sweat sunscreen into my eyes and couldn’t see the beautiful rolling ocean in front of me, just a blur of sand and salt.
But still, I am grateful. I am so thankful to be living here and that I have this beach inches from me, that I have this life and great friends and family, even though many of them are far away. That I am not alone as I have a metro-sexual freak always above me to give me something to complain about. I love my job and for what it’s worth and all the last year has surfaced for me, I am happy.
So today, I will like to celebrate my ‘life day.’ And, thank goodness for facebook. That’s the best thing about birthdays, everyone’s givin’ shout outs.
Happy ‘life day’ to me!
Hope you are havin’ a good Labor day weekend and that you aren’t doing anything too laborious.
Much love,
Laurie
Gonna get my cake on. I'll save you a piece!