The chili I made, the other day, came out perfect. Perfect I am tellin ya!🥰
I have one bowl left…*sigh*. This leaves me in a delicious quandary: Enjoy the last bowl, now. Savor the moment, save the moment and have for lunch tomorrow.
Hmmm…
HHMMM!
*Cassandra considers whether she she wax poetic, write endlessly about the joy of waiting, the awesome awesomeness of anticipation, the…*
Nah…brb…🤷♀️
🤣
Don’t judge me.
Psssst…LIVE now. Life is short. Besides there is ALWAYS bacon and eggs to fall back on!…*delicious shiver*😁
Have awesome week. We got this. God and Life has got us all. We got each other. We all we got but we all we need…
Who/what is this seeing something I yet can’t see?
Who/what is this guiding me to places unknown?
Who/what is this?
This thing feels foreign to me. Alien. Like the alien, alive, while I also live. It strains to see the light of day. It forces me to open, more and more. If I dare not, it dares for me, does something to me, pursues me until dare I do.
Who/what is this, I ask God, I ask Life?
Is this me? Is this You? A combination of the two?
God. Life. Who/what is this that has come to life deep inside?
I wonder.
I wander.
I ponder.
I saunter.
Forward.
Onward.
Upward.
No destination.
Only determination.
Determined.
Certain.
Ready.
Able.
Unburdened.
Unlearned.
Unafraid.
I walk.
I run.
I fly.
I fall.
I laugh.
I cry.
I try.
Who/what is this coming from inside me?
Does it matter, as I gather, as I rather be who I was meant to be? Not really.
Who/what is this?
Cassandra
#YourLifeMattersToMe
Note: At times, the heart needs to ponder, needs to wonder, needs to wander. Let it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the matter. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what’s the matter. At times, let your heart gather. Let your heart matter. It will lead you to wonderous places, scary places, awesome places. Places needing to have been visited long ago. Life is short. Say. Live. Love.
I am awakened. Since I chased fear away, I find other things, emotions, spaces taking it’s place.
I look at these new things, emotions and spaces and don’t know what to DO with them. Am not sure what I am to SAY to them. Have no idea, yet, how to LIVE with them.
Yet, these things, emotions, spaces have erupted, inside me, without me, enveloping everything in their wake.
These things, emotions and spaces all shout at me to get to it, to get after it, to go after it as time grows short. The hourglass grows ever emptier, they say.
I find myself wanting to pound on EVERY door. Not in a panic. But, almost. Not in despair. But, almost. Not in defeat. But, almost.
Panicked, despairing, defeated as the world keeps on turning with folks whose spirits remain locked behind walls of glass. Hearts shielded by fear, anger and loss. Souls weighed down by expectation.
God and Life quiets my spirit. It takes time, beloved, They tell me. Time they still have. Yes, it grows short. Yet, Time is given us by Them.
I have been thinking, bad habit, about my earlier piece dealing with being just words upon a page.
I must admit, the phrase haunted me, then. Haunts me, now, truth be told. But, for a different reason.
When I wrote about feeling like JUST words upon a page I was, just, just…all up in my feelings.🤷♀️
Feeling this way and that. Not wanting to feel this way and that. Wrestling with feeling this way and that.
In the wrestling, I came across something very special. I found someone very special. I found my voice. MY voice. Rather, I gave myself permission, finally, to say, feel and be any old type of way I wanted to be.
Heretofore, my words weren’t just for me. They were for everyone else. I was an encourager, you see. Words are the currency, the life blood, the transaction, for an encourager.
Encouraging folks, with our word, becomes what we do. Becomes who we are.
Insodoing, we are left with a paradox:
Did encouraging others, via our words make us encouragers? Or, were we encoragers from jump? Does it, in fact, really matter when the outcome is still the same? The words encouraged. Period. End of story.
Or, is it just the beginning of yet another set of words upon a page?
Which leads me back to the beginning. I am just words upon a page. Ah, but words, upon a page, upon this stage, called life, have changed many lives. Including my own. ESPECIALLY my own.
I think I shall continue to be…
Ah, yes, I continue to BE!
Still…
Always…
Just words upon a page.
I am His words.
I am YOUR words.
As your words are mine.
Let us endeavor to fill life’s pages with love, hope, joy, fellowship, kindness and as much care as our hearts can hold and give away.
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE THREE COLUMBO DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Beloveds, I have apparently become Columbo. 🤣🕵🏿♀️ Not intentionally. Nobody issued me the trench coat. I did not apply for the position. But after spending an absolutely ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out why my posts suddenly would … Continue reading →
Just stopped by, beloveds, to ask… How are you—really? Not the answer you give because somebody is waiting, somebody needs something, or you do not feel like unpacking the whole suitcase today. I mean you. Have you eaten something? Had some water? Taken your medicine? Rested before your body had to submit a written complaint … Continue reading Just stopped by to ask…→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE TWO WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE ANOTHER TRY IN ME TODAY? Beloveds, Yesterday I told you that sometimes the way you refuse to quit is by refusing to keep going the same way. Today I want to talk to the person who read that and thought: Cassandra, … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE ONE SOMETIMES THE WAY YOU REFUSE TO QUIT IS BY REFUSING TO KEEP GOING THE SAME WAY. Beloveds, I want to start this new series by clearing something up. When I say, “It’s never time to quit,” I do NOT mean you should keep pushing yourself until … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT.→
SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME! 📖 SUNDAY GRATITUDE JOURNAL WITH CASSANDRA 🪑🔑 Beloveds, Come sit with me.Yesterday, I invited you to the movies. Today, I’m inviting you somewhere quieter. Pull up your chair. 🪑Bring your coffee.Bring your tea.Bring your questions.Bring your faith.Bring your doubts.Bring your laughter.Bring your grief.Bring the parts of this week that made … Continue reading SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME!→
MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA Beloveds, Pull up a chair. I have something new for us. Every Saturday, we’re going to the movies together. Well… Sort of.You don’t have to buy a ticket.You don’t have to get dressed.You don’t have to leave your house. And you certainly don’t have to pay movie-theater prices for popcorn. Every … Continue reading MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA🌎🎬👩🏿🦼🍿🌎→
🎬 COMING ATTRACTIONS… Beloveds, Tomorrow… 🕵🏿♀️🔎 THE ADVENTURES OF LIEUTENANT CASSANDRA COLUMBO. One woman. One phone. One mysterious formatting problem. Approximately 9,742 attempts to figure out why something that looked perfectly normal over HERE suddenly became: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?! over THERE. 😭🤣 Just one more thing… 👀 Tomorrow morning, we are going … Continue reading →
Whatever, the day, has left, at your doorstep, let it go.
If a gift, you have earned. A gift, given, returned. Just let the day end. Let it go.
You have given the day, the best of you. Don’t let doubt/disbelief, have the rest of you.
You have done the thing, in THIS day. You have allowed God and Life to have Their say, in this day.
Let this be enough. Your TRY, your efforts, yes, YOU, were enough.
Enough, of your try. The day had it’s way, had it’s say. That’s okay. Turn it loose, beloveds. Let the day end. Let it go.
Now that the day has ended, let the day end.
Tomorrow, God/Life willing, is waiting for you.
New challenges, new trials, new life, a new DAY, is waiting. Just for you.
Whatever the day has brung, it has already brung it. You have already lived it. Leave the living, of THIS day, in THIS day. You can’t take the day, THIS day, into the morrow. The morrow, will have IT’S own day, IT’S own way. It’s not for you, to presume, the morrow, will be as good as the day, as this day.
Now that the day has ended, let the day end.
When the day ends, it was meant to end. The day was NOT intended, to be lived, yet again. It’s ending has ended. It’s job, already done. The race has been raced. The winners and losers have already been crowned. No need in looking back. In regrets. In sorry. In sadness. You gave what you could. You did your all. In THAT fact, you DID win. You:
Won, the day.
Had, your say.
Lived, a lot.
Gave, all you’ve got.
Spent, each moment.
In this way and that.
Giving.
Taking.
Living.
Loving.
You gave:
The best of you.
The rest of you.
The mess called you.
Yes, you gave this too.
So, beloveds, time to look ahead. To another’s day dawn. Time to wipe the dust off, the rust off and keep pursuing you.
The day may end, your pursuits never do. Keep chasing, keep building, keep believing, in you.
Regret not, the day, this day, that now ends. The day did it’s thing, had it’s way, ended up being your friend. Your friend, in teaching you, how to live in the moment, THIS moment, this day, YOUR way, the day, did it’s thing so let it go.
Move forward. Head help upward. For, upward, beloveds, we go.
I end, as I began. The day, it has done the same. It has ended. Now ended, the day has made it’s way to…
THE END
Be blessed. You have done all you know. It is enough. Rest now, beloveds. Rest.
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE THREE COLUMBO DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Beloveds, I have apparently become Columbo. 🤣🕵🏿♀️ Not intentionally. Nobody issued me the trench coat. I did not apply for the position. But after spending an absolutely ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out why my posts suddenly would … Continue reading →
Just stopped by, beloveds, to ask… How are you—really? Not the answer you give because somebody is waiting, somebody needs something, or you do not feel like unpacking the whole suitcase today. I mean you. Have you eaten something? Had some water? Taken your medicine? Rested before your body had to submit a written complaint … Continue reading Just stopped by to ask…→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE TWO WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE ANOTHER TRY IN ME TODAY? Beloveds, Yesterday I told you that sometimes the way you refuse to quit is by refusing to keep going the same way. Today I want to talk to the person who read that and thought: Cassandra, … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE ONE SOMETIMES THE WAY YOU REFUSE TO QUIT IS BY REFUSING TO KEEP GOING THE SAME WAY. Beloveds, I want to start this new series by clearing something up. When I say, “It’s never time to quit,” I do NOT mean you should keep pushing yourself until … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT.→
SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME! 📖 SUNDAY GRATITUDE JOURNAL WITH CASSANDRA 🪑🔑 Beloveds, Come sit with me.Yesterday, I invited you to the movies. Today, I’m inviting you somewhere quieter. Pull up your chair. 🪑Bring your coffee.Bring your tea.Bring your questions.Bring your faith.Bring your doubts.Bring your laughter.Bring your grief.Bring the parts of this week that made … Continue reading SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME!→
MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA Beloveds, Pull up a chair. I have something new for us. Every Saturday, we’re going to the movies together. Well… Sort of.You don’t have to buy a ticket.You don’t have to get dressed.You don’t have to leave your house. And you certainly don’t have to pay movie-theater prices for popcorn. Every … Continue reading MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA🌎🎬👩🏿🦼🍿🌎→
🎬 COMING ATTRACTIONS… Beloveds, Tomorrow… 🕵🏿♀️🔎 THE ADVENTURES OF LIEUTENANT CASSANDRA COLUMBO. One woman. One phone. One mysterious formatting problem. Approximately 9,742 attempts to figure out why something that looked perfectly normal over HERE suddenly became: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?! over THERE. 😭🤣 Just one more thing… 👀 Tomorrow morning, we are going … Continue reading →
Folks kept asking me ‘what do you want to DO for your birthday?’. I didn’t want to DO anything. I didn’t want to BE anything. I just wanted to be left to be. ALL I conjured, was bacon, eggs and sleep. In that precise order. Bacon, eggs, sleep. Rinse. Repeat.
So, that’s what I DID. Bacon, eggs, sleep. Bacon, eggs, sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. I was exhausted, yall. From 53 years of living. Good grief. 53. 53!! Almost makes me want to dive right back under those comfy covers.
As I sit here, pondering, wondering, weaving and meandering through the rest of my life, I find myself content, as the bible says, in the state I am CURRENTLY in. Not the state I had hoped to be in, wish to be in, longed to be in.
I am just BEING, in the thing, in this thing, called life. I am making the chili. I am doing, best I can. I am being, best I can. My best. It’s all that I have to give. And, it’s enough. For, myself. For, God. For, Life. Hopefully, for you, beloveds. If not, well, I have given you all that I have to give. Let this be enough, okay?
I think of you, beloveds, I think of you and sigh. At the life I see many of you frantically trying to hide from, run from, endure in, distract from. I want to shake you, beloveds. I want to shake you and make you, not to break you but to help you get to Being you.
Alas, beloveds, that’s not for ME to do. Is for you. As you allow God and Life and family and friends and all manner of people, places and things to help you get to the place and space where you can be okay with, content in, the space you currently find yourself in.
Why have I appointed myself as your watcher of the back, beloveds? Because your life matters to me. My life ought matter to you. We only have one life. We all we got, beloveds, but we all we need. That plus bacon, eggs, friend chicken and chocolate.
This world needs more love and less ‘likes’. More care and less ‘cancel’. More give and less take. More open arms/hearts than closed fists/minds. We ought elevate one another not chase each other to the dregs. We need to forgive one another and forget dumb things said. We each need compassion. Both to receive, and to give. Civility needs to make its’ grand entrance. Disrespect/disdain/dismissal needs to be shown the door.
This world, this society, this COUNTRY, is what WE make it. You and me. Me and you. It’s on us to come together, to make chili together, to love together, to help one another. Again. Again. Again, and again. THIS is what the good old USA used to stand for, be about, what we all cared about.
We didn’t plant our flag in allegiances. We pledged allegiance, TO THE FLAG, to one another. We were the UNITED States of America. We can BE that, again, beloveds. It takes you. It takes me. Takes us all. I am holding up, best I can, my corner of the flag.
I love you my sister, my brother from other mothers.
What do I look for these next 53 years to be? I have not the first clue. I DO know this:
We CAN.
We WILL.
We SHALL.
For we are MORE than conquerors. Our lives DO matter. We can do this thing, called life. Time to make the chili, beloveds. Get out there. Tote your piece of the flag. Love your neighbor. Check yourself. Laugh often, love much, live always.
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE THREE COLUMBO DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Beloveds, I have apparently become Columbo. 🤣🕵🏿♀️ Not intentionally. Nobody issued me the trench coat. I did not apply for the position. But after spending an absolutely ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out why my posts suddenly would … Continue reading →
Just stopped by, beloveds, to ask… How are you—really? Not the answer you give because somebody is waiting, somebody needs something, or you do not feel like unpacking the whole suitcase today. I mean you. Have you eaten something? Had some water? Taken your medicine? Rested before your body had to submit a written complaint … Continue reading Just stopped by to ask…→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE TWO WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE ANOTHER TRY IN ME TODAY? Beloveds, Yesterday I told you that sometimes the way you refuse to quit is by refusing to keep going the same way. Today I want to talk to the person who read that and thought: Cassandra, … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE ONE SOMETIMES THE WAY YOU REFUSE TO QUIT IS BY REFUSING TO KEEP GOING THE SAME WAY. Beloveds, I want to start this new series by clearing something up. When I say, “It’s never time to quit,” I do NOT mean you should keep pushing yourself until … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT.→
SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME! 📖 SUNDAY GRATITUDE JOURNAL WITH CASSANDRA 🪑🔑 Beloveds, Come sit with me.Yesterday, I invited you to the movies. Today, I’m inviting you somewhere quieter. Pull up your chair. 🪑Bring your coffee.Bring your tea.Bring your questions.Bring your faith.Bring your doubts.Bring your laughter.Bring your grief.Bring the parts of this week that made … Continue reading SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME!→
MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA Beloveds, Pull up a chair. I have something new for us. Every Saturday, we’re going to the movies together. Well… Sort of.You don’t have to buy a ticket.You don’t have to get dressed.You don’t have to leave your house. And you certainly don’t have to pay movie-theater prices for popcorn. Every … Continue reading MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA🌎🎬👩🏿🦼🍿🌎→
🎬 COMING ATTRACTIONS… Beloveds, Tomorrow… 🕵🏿♀️🔎 THE ADVENTURES OF LIEUTENANT CASSANDRA COLUMBO. One woman. One phone. One mysterious formatting problem. Approximately 9,742 attempts to figure out why something that looked perfectly normal over HERE suddenly became: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?! over THERE. 😭🤣 Just one more thing… 👀 Tomorrow morning, we are going … Continue reading →
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE THREE COLUMBO DIDN’T NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Beloveds, I have apparently become Columbo. 🤣🕵🏿♀️ Not intentionally. Nobody issued me the trench coat. I did not apply for the position. But after spending an absolutely ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out why my posts suddenly would … Continue reading →
Just stopped by, beloveds, to ask… How are you—really? Not the answer you give because somebody is waiting, somebody needs something, or you do not feel like unpacking the whole suitcase today. I mean you. Have you eaten something? Had some water? Taken your medicine? Rested before your body had to submit a written complaint … Continue reading Just stopped by to ask…→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE TWO WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE ANOTHER TRY IN ME TODAY? Beloveds, Yesterday I told you that sometimes the way you refuse to quit is by refusing to keep going the same way. Today I want to talk to the person who read that and thought: Cassandra, … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT→
🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE ONE SOMETIMES THE WAY YOU REFUSE TO QUIT IS BY REFUSING TO KEEP GOING THE SAME WAY. Beloveds, I want to start this new series by clearing something up. When I say, “It’s never time to quit,” I do NOT mean you should keep pushing yourself until … Continue reading ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT.→
SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME! 📖 SUNDAY GRATITUDE JOURNAL WITH CASSANDRA 🪑🔑 Beloveds, Come sit with me.Yesterday, I invited you to the movies. Today, I’m inviting you somewhere quieter. Pull up your chair. 🪑Bring your coffee.Bring your tea.Bring your questions.Bring your faith.Bring your doubts.Bring your laughter.Bring your grief.Bring the parts of this week that made … Continue reading SUNDAY WITH CASSANDRA. IT ME!→
MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA Beloveds, Pull up a chair. I have something new for us. Every Saturday, we’re going to the movies together. Well… Sort of.You don’t have to buy a ticket.You don’t have to get dressed.You don’t have to leave your house. And you certainly don’t have to pay movie-theater prices for popcorn. Every … Continue reading MOVIE SATURDAY WITH CASSANDRA🌎🎬👩🏿🦼🍿🌎→
🎬 COMING ATTRACTIONS… Beloveds, Tomorrow… 🕵🏿♀️🔎 THE ADVENTURES OF LIEUTENANT CASSANDRA COLUMBO. One woman. One phone. One mysterious formatting problem. Approximately 9,742 attempts to figure out why something that looked perfectly normal over HERE suddenly became: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?! over THERE. 😭🤣 Just one more thing… 👀 Tomorrow morning, we are going … Continue reading →
Why Can't I Be Loud?! 
thanks for the check-in Cassandra. I’ve been on edge and restless the last few days. I have a flight coming…