Sparks Ignites

  There is an annual event in Philadelphia, and for all its notoriety, there is still an audience that hasn’t experienced its unique beauty and creativity. The event is the Philadelphia Flower Show presented by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS).   

“I pledge allegiance to the dollar and to the Republic for which money rules, one nation, controlled by Washington and Wall Street, with corruption and greed for all.” The American Dream has turned to balls – Powerballs. There’s always a frenzy when we hear of a giant jackpot. It’s the dream of “Easy Street” and being financially secure. We all want the 1.5 billion jackpot. It’s a fantasy to be swimming in money and living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this program to bring you a news bulletin from the National Weather Service. A “ Bread and Milk Emergency” has been issued for the tri-state area. Everyone is required to head to a nearby supermarket and purchase an obligatory loaf of bread and a gallon of milk.

I am a Christmas-a-holic. Yes, I love the entire Christmas season. I love the decorations, the music, the food, the gift giving, and the time spent with loved ones. I’m always filled with a sense of wonder when the holiday season arrives. Every Christmas is built on memories and traditions that were part of my childhood. Growing up, there was only one thing that didn’t jingle my bells about December 25 th , and that was the man in red – Santa Claus. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the gifts or doubted his existence. I just didn’t want to sit on his lap or be anywhere in his vicinity. I had a “Santa safety zone” and it was at least a football field in size. Anything closer and my knees grew weak and visions of monster sugar plums danced before my eyes. Even being downwind of a peppermint scent made me queasy.

Okay, it’s that time of year again. You know, the Holiday Season – when Halloween morphs into Christmas. We’ve barely had time to put away the cobwebs, ghosts and gravestones before out come the snowmen, holly and lights. In fact, retailers don’t even wait for Halloween to be over before Christmas starts blending into the mix

The following four posts were written over the course of four days.  They are a reflection of living with and inside depression.

Many times we don’t realize the significance of something until after the fact. We’ve needed a chance to reflect upon it, or we see it differently after time has passed.  There can be a lesson learned, and we see the greater scheme of moments in our lives. The other day I was deleting email and trying to clean old voice messages off my iPhone. I got to a certain point with the messages when I reached a number of them left by my mom. It wasn’t a surprise. I knew they were there. I haven’t deleted them, because it’s still a connection to her. My mom died two years ago today.