by Krista | Nov 1, 2011 | Gulliver Tuesday
A friend wrote to me the other day and asked, “How are you really doing?”
I smiled because I knew exactly what she meant.
When I started my blog two years ago, I was entering one of the darkest, most painful times of my life. Everything seemed to hit me at once and continued to do so for the next two years. This blog became my safe place, my happy place, a spot where I could record at least one good, beautiful thing each day to help me get through the wretchedness of my life.
I posted about lovely people who inspired, comforted, and encouraged, not the ones who seemed to make it their life work to crush me.
I wrote about delicious foods that I could eat, not the ones I had to avoid as doctors tried to figure out what was causing my body to shut down and leave me doubled over in pain for months at a time.
I published pictures of beautiful places I had once traveled to, not the four white walls of my bedroom where I lay month after month longing for relief from physical pain and emotional trauma.
All the happy, wonderful things I posted were real. They did delight me, make me smile, and give me hope and courage to press on.
But they were only part of the story.
Truth be told, I wasn’t brave enough to post the ugly bits. Most days I was hanging on for dear life, the pain of my reality so acute that I needed to concentrate on the good things, no matter how small, just to get through each day.
I wasn’t strong enough to be completely real with you. I was raw and weak and afraid, so I hid behind pretty pictures and yummy recipes because I felt safe there.
And I don’t regret it. Not one bit. Because I met you there. And through your emails and comments, Instant Messenger chats and Skype talks, in person visits and long-distance phone calls I found the courage and strength I needed to start over.
You showed me that there are truly good people in this world. Through you I have experienced true kindness and acceptance and learned to have hope no matter how dark things become.
For that I cannot thank you enough. xo
Although I don’t regret the last two years, I’m also not going to remain in that place of fear and insecurity.
As scary as it is, I commit to being more real with you.
I’ve spent my whole life trying to be good enough, to win and keep the approval of people whose love and acceptance is conditional. I can’t do that anymore. It’s exhausting. 🙂
I want this blog to be a safe place for you and me to be ourselves regardless of lifestyle differences, religious beliefs, or cultural practices. A place where we can be real and know we won’t be judged if we question our faith, politics and worldview, burn two batches of roasted tomatoes, or go without make-up for five days in a row.
So, in the spirit of being real, tomorrow I will answer my friends’ question for you:
How I’m Really Doing.
In the meantime, I’d love to know: Are you ever afraid of being real? And how do you deal with that fear so it doesn’t control you?
by Krista | Oct 27, 2011 | Fabulous Friday
It was a wonderfully stormy sort of day in England when my friend Katy and I boarded a train and headed to London.
To say I was excited would be putting it mildly. Not only was I getting to ride a train in England – the land of my favorite authors, books, and landscapes – but I was going to visit places I’d only read about – Covent Garden, King’s Cross Station, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
I couldn’t believe it.
To make a good day even better, I was going to meet some dear folks for lunch including my brother Ryan (who was in town on business) and Cailin, a dear online friend Katy and I had never met in person.
It was a great day, and we were fairly giddy with anticipation.
We emerged at Covent Garden to find drizzly skies and the beaming smiles of Cailin and her husband. Isn’t it a lovely thing when people you meet online turn out to be even better in person? We got along marvelously and jabbered happily about food and travel and work and dreams.
There was a food market of some kind going on and we wandered among the stalls oohing and aahing over various foods from all sorts of countries and cultures. Before long we were craving hot drinks and a place to sit, and found the perfect visiting spot just around the corner complete with heaters and umbrellas. I ordered a pot of Earl Grey Tea and settled in for a good, long chat.
Soon we were joined by my brother, so we halted our convivial jabbering for a few minutes to order something warming. I chose a savory Quiche Lorraine that warded off the chill beautifully.
All too soon it was time to say good-bye. We hugged each other tight with promises of emails and visits in the near future, then headed off to explore the streets of London.
What city would you love to meet an old friend in?
by Krista | Oct 25, 2011 | Compatriot Wednesday
Good morning! It’s a beautifully sunny day in Queensland, Australia as I sip my coffee and write to you dear folks.
Slowly but surely I’m getting settled in here, and I’m so happy, my heart and body at rest.
How I love going to bed at night with the sound of wind in the gum trees lulling me to sleep.
Then waking to the contented clucking of my chickens as they scavenge for tasty bugs in the new piles of weeds pulled from my garden.
I’ve been learning all sorts of new things on the farm where I’m living, and am feeling very homesteader-ish.
I’ve drenched and inoculated my beautiful red goats – William, L’Abri, Felix and Sophie, gathered eggs and learned how to sort them for eating and hatching, and balanced precariously on a bright orange stool as I used special pliers to put together a fence for the goat yard. I even successfully spotted and avoided my first snake – a 5 foot fellow slithering through the grass that my Aussie friends informed me “wasn’t that big.” 🙂
I love it here.
Love looking out over flower-filled fields as I wash dishes, learning how to cook with goat and kangaroo and blue pumpkins, and sitting out on the back porch watching Mockingbirds and Rosellas flit from branch to branch.
I even love hanging my clothes out on the line to dry in the fresh air, stepping carefully around swathes of wildflowers and saying hello to the horses moseying past.
It’s so good to be home. 🙂
What are your favorite things about where you live?
by Krista | Oct 16, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Hello dear ones! After 33+ hours of travel I am home at last in my beloved Queensland, Australia. 🙂
I can’t tell you how good it is to be home. To wake up knowing I get to stay here, that I don’t have to catch a train, bus or airplane, that I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want to. 🙂
I am dead tired but so happy.
This week I’ll be moving in – doing laundry, stocking my kitchen, painting my rooms, setting up my office. It’ll be heaps of work but I’m so excited to get started, to carve out my own little niche in this world. 🙂
On the way home from the airport my friend took me to our favorite second hand shopping spot. I found the first few additions to my new life here: three gorgeous colored glass bottles that will be just perfect for storing flavored oils and vinegars, and an old copy of a Louisa May Alcott book to start my new library. 🙂
I may not be blogging much until I get settled in, but I will try to post pictures everyday on Facebook, so you can follow my little adventures there if I’m not here. 🙂
It’s wonderfully stormy and blustery here today, so I’m off to brew a cup of tea before I start hanging clothes in my wardrobe.
How are YOU doing? Do you have any advice for making a new place home? 🙂
Much love to you, dear ones. xo
by Krista | Oct 12, 2011 | Compatriot Wednesday
When Margo at The Travel Belles asked us to share about our favorite museum for this month’s Across the Cafe Table, I was stymied! I love museums, from the quirky to the sublime, but I wracked my brain to think of my absolute favorite.
I thought of the Museum of Bread Culture in Ulm, Germany – a place that sounded as dull as can be at first glance, but turned out to be a 5-story trip through history chock full of interesting displays and fascinating tidbits of how bread was used to win wars, control entire populations, and bring life to those on the brink of death.
I considered the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, a fantastic place filled with the most beautiful vistas of animals in their natural habitats, and the Museum Willet-Holthuysen in Amsterdam. How I love this wonderful old canal house with its charming gardens and cozy old kitchen.
But at last I settled on the Dutch Resistance Museum in the Netherlands.
Amsterdam has a wealth of museums, including the famous Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, but this one is my favorite.
It is the sort of place you want to linger in, reading story after story of the heroic and selfless actions of Dutch civilians during the Nazi Occupation of World War II.
I read incredulously of the ingenuity of the Resistance workers as they devised brilliant ways of smuggling ration cards, food, and forged papers to those in need. I cried as I read the heart-rending stories of those who suffered terribly or lost their lives in their efforts to rescue Jews and others hunted by the Nazis.
The museum has an extensive and fascinating collection of items from WWII, including original clothing, documents, and furniture that give the stories even greater impact. I loved reading snippets from old letters and diaries and learning about the man who cooked the books of the Dutch government in order to finance the Resistance movement right under the noses of the Gestapo. I was transfixed by hundreds of photos and hearing the voices of survivors telling their stories.
Mostly I was inspired and challenged to look at my time in history and find ways to protect and care for those in need.
For more information on the Dutch Resistance Museum click here.
Note: call ahead for exact ticket cost since changes are not always reflected on website.
For more information about beloved museums around the world, click here.
What is your favorite museum?
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