All the World's A Light-Bright

Did you ever have a Light-Bright as a kid? You know that little black screen with a million holes backlit by one bright light bulb.

Everything looked much cooler on a Light-Bright. You could be the worst artist in the world, crafting nothing more than a straight line and still when the lights went off, you were mesmerized by your colorful creation.

I think Christmas makes the entire world look like a Light-Bright creation and I love it! Lights on the houses and on the Christmas Trees.  Tiny lights woven in banisters and garland. It’s breathtaking!

 I’ve been thinking about what all this light represents and how it drowns out the darkness and unites us in common cause, if only for a season.

These little strands of lights that we pull from boxes and hang on rain gutters and wrap around trees remind us that even though we all live different lives, we’re not so different after all.

Light breaks through the darkness. It represents transparency and lets us see things as they are.  Crime hides in the darkest of corners, light deters the darker side of humanity.  For many people Christmas lights reminds us that on Christmas morning, we will all sit down with people we love and give. This is the day that we move as one, loving and being loved and basking in the light of the season.

For people who have religious ties to the holiday, the light represents so much more.

I love the holidays for all these reasons.

Soon the lights will disappear and our neighborhoods will feel uncomfortably dim for a while. We’ll go back to our lives, carving our different paths, facing our different problems.  I’m always a little sad when that happens.  Luckily, next year, just after Thanksgiving, the lights will return.

I hope your holiday is filled with good things, light and love and sense of belonging to a human family that is still fundamentally good.   I love being an author and I love being if nothing else a small part of your holiday season.

Merry Christmas friends!

 

WORST BREAKUP EVER!

No one tells you that when you become a parent, you get the joy and the pain of experiencing your younger years all over again!

A few weeks ago, my son went through the experience of his first real break up. As I watched his heart break, I felt my own twist and contort with a heartache that was new and yet so familiar.  His break up reminded me that we all face rejection, especially in High School. I wanted to tell him then that I understood because when  I was a brand new High School graduate I went through the worst break up ever!

My boyfriend and I were inseparable for two eternal years. Then, only a few weeks after graduation, it happened.

He’d gone on vacation with his family to San Diego, California. I’d stayed behind to work. Three days went by with no communication.  We’d never gone three days without talking. We rarely went three hours.  I couldn’t help but worry. Early the next morning jumped in my car and drove to San Diego.  When my sweetheart came out to meet me, he stunk of alcohol and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  In the salty morning air, he broke up with me.

I drove home, my heart shattered in a thousand pieces. What teenage tragedy! What gut-wrenching drama…but it gets worse.

After a terrible night of trying to make sense of my boyfriend’s sudden change of heart, I got back in the car and drove back to San Diego to try and fix things. In my naïve heart, I reasoned that our love was so strong that we could work it out. Yep, I was a teenagerJ

I was shocked again when he wouldn’t even come out to talk to me. OUCH!  I later learned that he’d met another girl on vacation and been unfaithful.  MEN!

Like all heartbroken teens, I did  heal and go onto love again and my sons and my daughter will too. He even wanted to get back together several months later. Like that was going to happen.

How about you?  What was your first break up like? I hope it was better than mine!

Thanks for stopping by.