_ I handed out Wizard of Oz valentine cards to my work group on Valentine’s Day.  As I was signing the cards, I spent time remembering the movie. I always loved the Wizard of Oz movie.  What’s not to like – it has a cute and courageous heroine and a wonderful loyal dog.  It has a really scary bad person – a bad witch with awesome red shoes; a beautiful loving good person – a good witch with great hair; an incredible dream sequence, and scary, nightmarish creatures – the flying monkeys. 

The movie contains a wonderful message that’s more than just an old movie from your childhood.  This is about a quest, a quest to find the way home to who we really are.  This is an unmapped journey to find our place in the world and be among people who love us and who we love in return.

Along the way, like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion, we are acutely aware of our faults - not smart enough, not pretty enough, not loving enough, not brave enough, not skinny enough; too many obstacles in the way of where we want to be; too often hearts were disappointed and broken, too many lies told and heard on the journey.  Sometimes we just give up and deny anything is wrong on our journey – a veil of fog surrounds us – much like the Oz travelers in the poppy fields.

Some of us can’t move away from the fog and we make the same mistakes over and over.  We are fear filled, yet chose to live in the fear.  Our negative stories don’t have a magical road to take; we can’t admit the need to turn on a different road.  We’re too busy bitching and complaining about the road we’re on and how it’s somebody else’s fault we’re on that road. We are horribly frightened of life and taking a chance.  Many times, we are terrified of being alone and live an unhappy life just to be with someone.  We use things and activities bad for us as a soothing mechanism.  I did it all last year and have some great purses, shoes, make-up and empty wine bottles to show for being soothed.

How do we get brave enough take the first step on the Yellow Brick Road?  Believe!  It’s a choice to Believe! Just like Dorothy – we choose to believe in ourselves, our journey, our destination, our strength, our loved ones and our resilience.  We believe in our self worth, our ability to offer more in life and believe the future holds gifts beyond dreams. It’s not something that comes free with purchase, but a conscious choice to close our eyes, step off the safe path and walk into uncharted and unfamiliar territories. 

It’s the choice to let go of the need to plan every single moment of every single day; to relax and let life gift us the blessings of love, kindness, joy and hope.  It’s a choice to believe we can become athletes, a choice to conquer fear and sign up for a half marathon, a choice to take a deep breath and contact someone on Match.com or asking that really nice guy out for a beer believing you’re worthy of a healthy relationship.  It’s a belief you have the courage to conquer life and win, no matter the scary obstacles in your path.  It’s a belief you are exactly where you need to be on your journey.

My Yellow Brick Road wishes for you:
You BELIEVE in yourself.  You know you are so worth taking care of you.  You dare to take a baby step on the Yellow Brick Road, then another, and another.  And soon, you’ll soon be racing toward your destiny along the road right for you – be it yellow, green, blue or red.  I wish your quest be filled with opportunities, adventures, laughter, joy, and love.  I wish your journey takes you to the store of choice and you find the perfect mascara (I’m still on that journey!). I wish you move your body and exercise on a regular basis which helps you believe even more in yourself.  I wish you infinite love, gratitude and healing on your brick road journey.  And, I wish you know the decision to BELIEVE in yourself is filled with so many gifts. Close your eyes; believe in yourself and take that first step into your life!
My infinite love and gratitude to you,
Teri

My Friends,
Our veterans have served our country long and well.  Many of them are housed in Veteran’s Hospitals around the country.  Please consider volunteering.  There are countless older veterans who are without families to visit them and many are fighting again, but this time fighting a terminal illness.  They have no one to hold their hand or help them let go of their pain.  Please consider being a family to these brave men and women.  Don’t let them live or let them die alone.  
The No Veteran Dies Alone program is a program that provides palliative care to honor a veteran near the end of their lives. Other volunteer programs assist in visiting veterans, helping in care or transportation, helping at the information desk and or being a guest services ambassador.  I had the honor to visit the Veterans Hospital in Battle Creek with my daughter as she did her post deployment physical and she was treated with the utmost care and respect by these volunteers.  It was a phenomenal experience.  Please consider being a volunteer.  Make your life a little bigger.  You won’t regret it! 

Volunteer information can be found at www.volunteer.va.gov or you can contact the Battle Creek VA Medical Center at www.battlecreek.va.gov. 

Thank you!

Over the holidays, my beautiful eleven year old collie had to be put to sleep after she suffered a quick and debilitating illness.  All of us, my ex-husband, my daughter, son and my son’s girlfriend wept in the veterinarian’s office before the shot was administered.  We loved Jessie well and she loved us even better.  She was an amazing dog and our hearts are still breaking from her loss.

Soon after, my son left to go back to his military unit after his holiday furlough, my son-in-law left to go back to his military unit as well, the Christmas decorations where put away, the holidays were over, my daughter was busy with school and my house was empty and echoing.  Even though Jessie had been an older dog, she still met me in the driveway every day and slept with me every night.  My life wasn’t the same without her. 

A brilliant idea came to me to get a new puppy to help fill the empty spaces.  I looked at the local animal shelter on line and while the dogs were wonderful, none spoke to me to come and pick them up.  I went online to another site and a dog needed a new home because it was really shy and needed one-on-one love.  Perfect for me!  When I called, the dog had already been placed, but the breeder had one puppy left from a litter.  Did I want one?  Heck yes, I did.  So, Bella, a golden retriever/standard poodle mix – a goldendoodle - became part of my household.  And, at nine weeks old she is already running the joint.  We found each other and we fell in love.  I still miss my old girl Jessie terribly, but Bella has found a new place in my heart.

The capacity to lose someone or something you love and then be able to find and love someone or something completely different is a wonderful gift we human beings have. Our hearts can be broken and yet still make room for even more love.  This made me think of my divorce which was definitely something lost. Yet, my ex-husband and I were able to forge a new friendship from the ashes of the divorce.  It is something wonderfully found.  It’s not a replacement or an upgrade like an appliance; it’s grieving what once was and moving on to something different and even better.

What does all this mean to a walking blog?  It goes back to what is our vision of ourselves? Is it a life where things are lost – a goal to lose weight given up, an exercise program started and trickled down to nothing, a decades long relationship left unhealed, or just giving up the hope of being someone better one step at a time. 

Or, is ours a vision of a life where loss is acknowledged, sadness is felt and the vision of something wonderful reasserts itself and hope begins anew.  Goals are re-acknowledged and made even stronger.  We step up and realize loss makes room for something wonderful to be found.  The weight can be lost, the exercise can be started again, the relationship can be healed and we can be better, faster, stronger and awesome. We are found again!

Here are my lost and found wishes for you:
You grieve your losses and let them go; you help me celebrate the fact that I actually made it to a fifth date with one guy with a sixth date planned (he’s smart, funny, cute and really nice, too); you find something new, wonderful, exciting and different to take up room in your heart– even if it is a new Coach purse (I do love my purses – they are remarkable healing tools); you realize that letting go and letting the universe, will at times, provide gifts beyond measure; you know that no matter what you’ve lost in life, someone near you loves you enough to care; you walk, run, shuffle, skip, hop, jump tall buildings and move your body – it loves to move. 

My infinite love and gratitude to you all,
Teri

PS…Thanks to Patty Russ for the idea for this blog.  She ROCKS!