Here in Northern Virginia, we have two major freeways. I-495 encircles Washington DC and I-95 is the Eastern Seaboard corridor for travelers. We spend a lot of time stuck in some kind of traffic back here, but there's this one exit - Edsall Road - that seems to be a point of unforeseen conflict for many drivers. There is at least one major accident nearly every week at that interchange. I wonder sometimes how - when everyone knows how often this happens - this continues to be a conflicted junction in folks' lives, but tonight my thoughts are not on Edsall Road, my thoughts are on life in general. Edsall Road is merely my visual.
I have a full life. I am happily married, have two awesome, intelligent and gorgeous boys, a perfect dog, great house, come and go when I please, and am blessed beyond measure that I don't have to work and can enjoy my children growing up. My guest list is full of names and I have people around me who love me beyond measure. The crazy thing is that in this fullness and abundance, every now and then, one of my childhood friends comes into my heart and the fullness I am so thankful for echoes of hollowness.
When I was growing up, Ozzie and Harriet and The Brady Bunch were the big happy family shows on TV. And, as a child it was a dream to think that our house could ever be filled with the love and understanding so undeniably visible on those shows. Our house was a train wreck, always waiting on the next locomotive to come barreling down the track and slam it again. We never seemed to get the wreckage cleared, before another hazmat spill poured on top. It was a nightmare!
My escape from the ugliness was found in my friends at school. However, it worked out, most of my friends were guys. Missey was my best friend and we were everywhere together all of the time, but she was pretty much the only girl. I knew everybody - it was a small town - but those guys were my heart, and I lived for the time I spent with them. It wasn't until I was older and moved away that I realized just how important they were to me back then. I can honestly say that I am, in a large way, who I am because of them.
I've moved on from that place in my life, and, truthfully, none of them came forward with me. They were all still around for a while, but as the years rolled past .... sooner or later, they were all still in my heart, but not so much in my life. As we all got older and married and established, it was even less. I still think about them from time to time, and it makes me smile! And, though I have moved so far way from that little town, I miss them, and I miss those simple moments of memories. Childhood memories!
And, though bringing them forward into my life would be the equivalent of any given mishap on Edsall Road ..... sometimes, just sometimes, I wish they were still around.
My cup runneth over!
Happy Thanksgiving America!
Kalena Colliding
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
WRITE You Are!!!
Oh my Blog buddies ....
I had every intention of jumping on my spot and burning out some jammin' posts this year.
Alas .... not so.
I have been crazy busy designing t-shirts for my zazzle storefront, and have trecked into the deeper moments of writing. "Pray Before Reading" and "Salvation's Heart" are in definitive process, and I hope to have one before a publisher by year's end. Pray with me to meet my unseemly time line!
Much Love,
Kalena Booking
I had every intention of jumping on my spot and burning out some jammin' posts this year.
Alas .... not so.
I have been crazy busy designing t-shirts for my zazzle storefront, and have trecked into the deeper moments of writing. "Pray Before Reading" and "Salvation's Heart" are in definitive process, and I hope to have one before a publisher by year's end. Pray with me to meet my unseemly time line!
Much Love,
Kalena Booking
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Hard Truth
Last September, I entered into a deeper and dangerous journey with God. I openly began praying for truth. His truth about Himself. His truth about me, and His truth about Him in my life. Had I known at the onset the things that would manifest themselves from praying that way, I may have rethought the idea, but, alas, truth being resonant in my heart, I pressed in and prayed through.
Several of the truths that have been exposed during this year of diligence in truth, I will keep to myself; because, revealing would simply cause more harm than good. Yet the text that follows comes from a year long journey of discernment and revelation that stem from a simple prayer of asking God for truth.
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a show on Investigative Discovery (ID) about this woman who had disappeared and no one knew where she was. Her children were at home with a sitter, and she had left details that she was going to meet someone and would be home at a certain time. A time that came and passed, and, sadly, she never returned. Investigators found her body some days later, and she had been violently attacked and murdered.
Throughout the investigation, there were several lifestyle choices and career choices that came out that were previously unknown to her friends and family. The thing that captured my heart was that as the detectives interviewed her friends and family and revealed these findings to them ... each and everyone of them stood by this woman and defended her .... even in death in the face of revelatory information of a shocking nature. With every new revelation, everyone interviewed continue to stand in the gap for this woman's honor, explaining that "if" what they were being told was the truth .... she must have had a good reason for what she did. "If" what was being revealed about her was truth, they ALL had a way of explaining "to her credit" why she would have ever even considered doing what was being said. It was incredible.
Based on my personal revelatory moments over this past year, I sat and thought ... if something like that ever happened to me, where I disappeared and was found murdered ... the people in my own life who would find themselves in an interview, by far and away, would all be thinking ... she must have done something to bring this on herself. This doesn't just happen. She had to have done something. I KNOW her ... she did something. Even those closest to me would be questioning my character and what had I done to end up in this situation. Even sadder, most of them would be sitting around waiting for the moment they heard anything that gave them the satisfaction of saying "I knew it" or "I told you so". This is equally as incredible as the response to the woman in the story.
And make no mistake ... this is NOT a poor me moment! I titled this "Hard Truth" by design. Because in the face of this truth, in the face of everything that has been revealed over these past months, as painful and as hurtful as some of my days have been ... I THANK GOD for leading me into this journey for truth and for walking beside me every step of the way. It has been a hard walk, for sure, and there have been days when just putting one foot in front of the other has been enough to send me tumbling ... however, the ONE THING that has remained constant through this entire adventure is that at the end of everyone of the days, God is still right here with me holding me steadfast. In truth, there have been countless where He has been the ONLY ONE, but I'll take that above a million around me, and Him absent any day of the week; and, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, you better believe I would!!!
With God,
Kalena in Truth
Several of the truths that have been exposed during this year of diligence in truth, I will keep to myself; because, revealing would simply cause more harm than good. Yet the text that follows comes from a year long journey of discernment and revelation that stem from a simple prayer of asking God for truth.
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a show on Investigative Discovery (ID) about this woman who had disappeared and no one knew where she was. Her children were at home with a sitter, and she had left details that she was going to meet someone and would be home at a certain time. A time that came and passed, and, sadly, she never returned. Investigators found her body some days later, and she had been violently attacked and murdered.
Throughout the investigation, there were several lifestyle choices and career choices that came out that were previously unknown to her friends and family. The thing that captured my heart was that as the detectives interviewed her friends and family and revealed these findings to them ... each and everyone of them stood by this woman and defended her .... even in death in the face of revelatory information of a shocking nature. With every new revelation, everyone interviewed continue to stand in the gap for this woman's honor, explaining that "if" what they were being told was the truth .... she must have had a good reason for what she did. "If" what was being revealed about her was truth, they ALL had a way of explaining "to her credit" why she would have ever even considered doing what was being said. It was incredible.
Based on my personal revelatory moments over this past year, I sat and thought ... if something like that ever happened to me, where I disappeared and was found murdered ... the people in my own life who would find themselves in an interview, by far and away, would all be thinking ... she must have done something to bring this on herself. This doesn't just happen. She had to have done something. I KNOW her ... she did something. Even those closest to me would be questioning my character and what had I done to end up in this situation. Even sadder, most of them would be sitting around waiting for the moment they heard anything that gave them the satisfaction of saying "I knew it" or "I told you so". This is equally as incredible as the response to the woman in the story.
And make no mistake ... this is NOT a poor me moment! I titled this "Hard Truth" by design. Because in the face of this truth, in the face of everything that has been revealed over these past months, as painful and as hurtful as some of my days have been ... I THANK GOD for leading me into this journey for truth and for walking beside me every step of the way. It has been a hard walk, for sure, and there have been days when just putting one foot in front of the other has been enough to send me tumbling ... however, the ONE THING that has remained constant through this entire adventure is that at the end of everyone of the days, God is still right here with me holding me steadfast. In truth, there have been countless where He has been the ONLY ONE, but I'll take that above a million around me, and Him absent any day of the week; and, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, you better believe I would!!!
With God,
Kalena in Truth
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
On Top of the World
As usually happens with me, about midway through the month of August, I start getting an overwhelming feeling of being boxed in; and, as we approach the beginning of school, my box gets smaller and smaller .... almost to suffocation. I know this happens to me, because the free days of summer are rapidly coming to an end; and, the 180 days of lock down - which are the public school year - are rapidly approaching.
So, as the Labor Day holiday weekend loomed on the horizon, I determined to make an adventure explosion become a reality. My plan was to make one last day trip to the Eastern Shore, and then head over to the mountains for three days. I have an adventurer's spirit, so traveling like a mad woman was never a factor in getting it done. However ..... man, did I ever have to kick down some doors .... just to get the one day I actually got.
First ..... hurricane "My name is Earl" foiled the eastern Shore plans. Not because I was at pause over the storm, you understand, but because the island was closed for damage inspection.
Bugger!!!!
Second ..... and I pose this as a Q&A ..... who in the world seriously schedules a football scrimmage on a Holiday Weekend????? SCYFA!!!! That's who! Man, you want to talk about being ugly ugly!!! My plan was to bump out of here early Friday morning after I dropped the spousal unit off for his flight to upstate NY for his"manly man" weekend with his Marine Buds. NOT!!! A scrimmage at 0900!!!! And, when my boys are both on 1st Defense and two of the three down linemen ....
Bugger! Bugger!!
Anywho .... we eventually made it out of this house, out of this town, off on our adventure ... dog in tow! It was late when we got to Angie's, because we did a 4 mile loop hike to see Cascades Falls on the way down .... but the just of this story all happened on Sunday anyway.
We got up early-ish ... :) ... and headed out to conquer the day! Quick stop at Mickey D's for sustenance (sp?) and off we went to Jessee's Mill for our first photo stop. WHAT FUN! As the kids sat happily in the air conditioned vehicles, Angie, Keith and I were climbing through weeds, up and down hilly slopes, under branches, around trees and over barbed wire to get some really cool pictures of the Old Mill and the little water fall that sat behind her.
Next stop was scheduled just outside Dungannon to see the Upper Falls on Little Stony Creek. Happy little walk about 1/4 to 1/2 mile down the trail path to the bridge that walks you immediately over the top of these falls. WOW! WOW! and WOW!
We climbed around, down, behind, inside and covered every inch of this beautiful little waterfall. They haven't had much rain down there this summer, so it wasn't as full as some of the pics I saw on the web, but it was beautiful. (Photographers note .... I am in serious need of a circular polarizer, a neutral density filter and a hood for my camera) Sadly, we didn't all move forward to the next locations, because the working girl had to clock in at 4; so, Dad took her home ...... but the sisters and their sons headed onward and outward for more adventure. Little did we know what was just around the bend .....
Driving out from the Upper Falls parking lot, we noticed a little man made pullover ... big enough for three or four cars. Not being under a timeline now .... we decided, what the hey? Lets see what it is. So, we park, and, once again, the kids decide to rest in the luxury of the air conditioned vehicle and Angie and I set out to see what was at the end of the sandy little trail. Thinking it probably was an overlook of some sort, and we'd be able to see the falls in the distance. We were wrong! We walked and didn't see anything .... just a sandy little trail and some trees. The thought of turning back was quickly overcome by the fact that we both decided that whatever we were looking for out there was going to be just around the next turn, and, if we went back, we'd miss it. So onward we stayed.
Then we saw it. The little rock formation that jetted out the side of the mountain. That must be it we thought! We were wrong ... again!!! That little rock led us to the real treasure of the path. A HUGE rock formation that literally held us against the sky, atop everything, ~ 2500 feet elevation ... The towering trees that cover the face of this mountain were very much like paint daubs in shades of green, the hawks that soared were below our line of vision, the wonder of the falls we had just left was a pleasant memory in a photograph and the hustle and bustle of traffic and noise and work and life had no place in this moment in time. From our new vantage point we could see forever ... the view panned out across the Clinch River Valley Basin far into the blue silhouetted mountains that stood against the distant horizon. Incredible! Indescribable! And truly lain out by the hand of God! There is no way it can be anything other.
I had prayed for an opportunity to get out of this house this weekend. What I got was the opportunity to stand on the top of the world with my sister. To get any further away from the enclosing walls of life's 9-5, I would have had to sprout my wings and fly!!!!
Winging It,
Kalena Flying
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