My Goals - The "Bucket List"

As I was re-reading my older blogs, I rediscovered my Life Goals which I jotted down in my journal back when I graduated high school in 2001.  It was fun to see myself and my dreams for life back then, even more so... it has been amazing to see just how many I have already fulfilled without even planing!  Now that is an accomplishment, when one forgets what their own goals were, and yet still lives them out with out even trying...  ~_^

Goals for Morria's Life

New (as of 2014):

• Never stop growing closer to God.
• Live a more natural, sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle.
• Uncluttered, dehoard, and empty baggage from home, life, and soul!
• Rediscover biking, and go on bicycling trips!
• Explore Thailand and/or India...
• Settle down in New Mexico or Arizona!

Old (from 2001):

• Find my journey-task or journey-tasks. (different ones for different phases of life)
• Have and keep 5 close friends. (Working on this one... have 2 -3 long distance ones?)
• Swim in the Ocean, if possible all 7 Seas...
• Explore New Orleans more than once!
• Explore Phoenix. (Currently living there!)
• Explore Seattle, Portland, and Coos Bay!
• Travel to ALL 50 states! (Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida left!)
• See as much of the World outside the USA as possible. (Been to Canada and Mexico.)
• Explore Ireland.  
• Live a life of Love, Faith, and Kindness...
• Live in such a way, that when I pass... many lives will have been forever change... even if I never know how I touched their hearts...

Accomplished (Unplanned and still got done!):

• Graduate College somewhere. (Stratford - 2003, ISoM - 2007, Stratford - 2015?)
• Be someones gypsy gal... maybe even their gypsy queen! (I am Robby's Gypsy Queen!)
• Get Married. (To Robby, December 15, 2007!)
• Journey Back to Dine Bikeyah (7 times, thus far!)
• Swim acrossed a lake. (Lake Wildwood, Cornerstone Grounds 2008)
• Explore Chicago. (Lived there 14 months, 2008/2009)
• Learn to Drive a Car. (September 2009, Licensed!)
• Go to Estes Park, CO. (2012)
• Be a missionary some where for longer than two months? (Dine Bikeyah, 3 years)

~ Morria

Reflection... 2014

What a year it has been!  Moved from Kentucky to New Mexico, jobs dried up for us, my mother died.  We began to examine the future: I started Natural Health studies, Robby got in to Le Cordon Bleu... thusly we moved to Scottsdale, AZ.  What a whirl wind it has been... and somewhere along the path... I lost my focus on my dreams and goals.   For these last two months... since we started the move...my natural health studies sat idle.

Natural Health to me is so much more than just a hobby, it has been a passion (especially the Herbal side) since I was 13.  Even more I have immersed myself in it after major health issues between my 16-18th years.  As dear Navajo elder put it, "God blessed us with natural cures, they must not be forgotten."  As I rediscover my path, I am seeing more and more just how this gifting and passion may play in... Rob is pursuing his passion via education.  Now I will mine, first by finishing my course, the from there we shall see.

Sometimes we lose sight of the path, not because of fog, or trials, just busyness.  Sometimes fog does roll in and we feel as if we have lost our way.  In times like those, just a day at a time, stepping no farther than we can see His light, we somehow end up discovering as much or more about ourselves than when the path is bright, and the way... but we must never stop looking for His light...  Even when it is very dark, it will still be there, we just have to have our eyes open for it.  Take heart and journey onward!


~ Morria

The Dream...

The following is a reoccuring dream I have had since I was about 16, with details adding on as I have gotten older.  Up until about 2 years ago, it stopped with me jumping off the cliff.   

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 As I close my eyes, I see the trail behind me and the trail before me.  I see parts of both covered in deep misty fog.  Mesas, towering red and mighty, stunning forests, lush and green, and snow covered hills, sparkly and pure, peak out from the fog on the trail behind me.  In the clearing before me, the path comes to the edge of a cliff.  I can either sit on a bench by the edge, or take a leap of faith and walk off the edge.  I sit for a few moments working up courage to peak over the edge.  The deep grey and warm brown cliff gives way far below to the deep blue and foamy white ocean.  Quickly, I step off, "Now or Never", taking no though for my clothing, heave and dark, worn and tattered.

As I float downward, my dark heavy clothing falls of piece by piece, till all that is left is a thin, soft blue, sparkly sundress.  Gracefully I slip into the water and begin swimming as the water calms.  Playing behind me in the water are dolphins.  I swim up to a beach and walk out.  A fire is built on the beach and palm trees are swaying.  Robby is cooking fish he has caught.  I lay down at peace on the beach beside him and the fire, and close my eyes.  (END)

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Thoughts anyone?

~ Morria

New Traditions: Christmastide!

As this is the first year without my mother, and with Rob and I getting farther and farther away from kin due to our journeys, we decided it was time to start making new traditions for the holidays.  The First:  We bought a Tropical Themed Nutcracker for our table.  He adds some style and will remain decor all year.   The Second: As we dont have a fireplace, nor need alot of heat just a little, we bought a faux fireplace (mini) with the option to have heat or just flames.  Along the same wall we have hung brand new stockings: Holiday sweater for Rob; cute Christmas owl for me.  The Third:  As to Christmas Dinner, right now we are torn between Christmas Fajitas and Hawaiian Ham...  Christmas Eve we will have Tortilla Soup as has been our tradition since Chicago.  Also we will have homemade cookies, gingerbread (KY mountain style), and egg nog.

For those who are struggling with the lose of a loved one, be it this year or many years ago, let me offer some things that have helped me in hopes they might you as well.  First of all, make sure you keep doing stuff with and around other people, isolation make the sorrow worse.  Secondly, find some things that make you happy, be they going to a movie, throwing a holiday party, or creating new traditions... or maybe a mix of all of them.  Take time to honor the memory of the loved one, be it placing a picture of them in a special spot, or hanging a memory ornament on the tree in their honor, give the lost loved one a new place in the holiday tradition can really help with the transition.  Most of all, remember you're not the only one struggling with loss this year, and if you need to there are others to reach out to.

~ Morria

Who is Morria?

Who is Morria?  That is a question I find myself asking more and more.  As a child I had an ideas of who she would be grown up: strong, brave, a singer, a writer, a well traveled woman.  As a teen, I started carving a path: a dash of goth, a bit of gypsy, an herbalist, a wanderer, a warrior woman, a poet.  As a twenty something, I got lost in a fog: death, sorrow, betrayal, broken heart, shattered dreams, new dreams, and true love.  And now as a thirty something, I am trying to find out just who she is.  But the piece are not so easy to figure out.  Am I just the woman I am day to day?  The woman who works a 10-7 (nightshift), comes home, sleeps, drives her husband to college, and longs for more?  Or am I that herbalist, gypsy goth, writer, that I still envision myself as?  I am not sure, but I sure am going to find out...

~ Morria