Arenacross

My horizons were broadened last night. I was invited to an Arenacross Event at our local Resch Center.

What fun! In my seventy years, I had never seen anything like this in person. Even though I have a son who did some motorcycle racing, this was like flying through the air on a motorcycle. There was speed and noise and exhaust fumes hanging in the air. There were crashes. One cycle after the other formed an arc, as they flew through the air.

A heat for the seven to eleven year olds was heart warming. I loved the little girl on the pink cycle with a matching helmut.

Each day is an adventure. It is always nice to do something new.

Wholeness

I have spent a great deal of my life being the "other half" of somebody else. It probably comes from being a follower rather than a leader. It may come from a message given to the females of my generation.

"You are the weaker sex. You need an escort. Don't go anywhere alone."

It is actually a fear message. It tells females they are in danger. It keeps me dependent, afraid, and isolated. It keeps me powerless.

Now I certainly do not want to dominate anyone, or give them orders, or see them as less than me. But I do want to be able to step outside and enjoy life. I want to be able to go somewhere when I cannot find another person to go with me.

Perhaps it is my age, or my small town, or my trust in a Power Greater Than Myself and the genuine goodness of my fellow man. Whatever it is, it is truly a freedom to live without fear.

And I cannot help but notice that Wholeness and Holiness are spelled different but have much in common.

It's Not Your Fault

I have a friend who died recently. He died sober.

He was a kind and gentle man who had a deep understanding of what's important.

His gift to me was one short sentence. He didn't even say the words to me. He said them to students who were in tears over the excessive drinking of a parent , brother/sister, or boy/girlfriend. Each out-of-control drinker/user is affecting, at least, four other people.

My friend Mike said, "It's not your fault."

What a gift. What a healing gift he was giving. Spouses/Children/Siblings/Lovers of excessive drinkers/users enter adulthood too early. They have some common characteristics.

"We become isolated and afraid of people and authority figures.

We become approval seekers and lose our identity in the process.

We are frightened by angry people and any personal criticism.

We either become alcoholics, marry them, or both, or find another compulsive personality , such as a workaholic, to fulfill our sick abandonment needs.

We live life from the viewpoint of victims and are attracted by that weakness in our love and friendship relationships.

We have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and it is easier for us to be concerned with others rather than ourselves. This enables us not to look too closely at our own faults.We get guilt feelings when we stand up for ourselves instead of giving in to others.

We become addicted to excitement.

We confuse love with pity and tend to "love" people who we can "pity" and "rescue".

We have stuffed our feelings from our traumatic childhoods and have lost the ability to feel or express our feelings because it hurts so much (denial).

We judge ourselves harshly and have a very low sense of self-esteem.

We are dependent personalities who are terrified of abandonment and will do anything to hold on to a relationship in order not to experience painful abandonment feelings which we received from living with sick people who were never there emotionally for us.

Alcoholism is a family disease. We become para-alcoholics and take on the characteristics of the disease even though we do not pick up the drink.

Para-alcoholics are reactors rather than actors."

My friend, Mike, had eighteen years of sobriety.

Travian

Has anyone else found the Travian Game? It's played on line against real people. I found it yesterday and started a village. I had to get up once in the middle of the night to see if I had enough wood to build another wheat field to feed my villagers.

I'm a PC Playin' Grannie. I love Age of Empires, The Sims, Stronghold Crusader, Etc. I'm not so much in favor of the "shoot-em-up" stuff. I like the strategy games.

Anyway, Wikipedia tells me this is a German browser-based game. In 2006, it was ranked first with over 10,000 players. Today, it has been translated into thirty plus languages and has over three million players. It was the first game of its type to be played by mobile phone.

The graphics tell me I'm in a fantasy game. I'm not likely to run into the real world and punch a real person in the nose.

Hope to run into you on the playing field. Please let me know what you think.