Tilly is something else! The young mouse is quite the adept navigator, so it seems. Well, at least she is when it comes to her heart!
I can’t say whether it was Tilly’s sharp memory, incredible sense of smell, or her natural way of seeing the forest that navigated us to proper spot, but she got us there! In the search for young Henry, I don’t know why I ever thought that a map would be needed, what with a love sick mouse onboard.
Love is a funny thing… and powerful, too!
So often, love enables us to do things we didn’t think were possible. In Tilly’s case, it was locating young Henry without any maps. Somehow, within hours of landing upon the banks of a familiar river, we found what had once been lost to us… or more specifically, what had been lost to our miss Tilly!
Climbing onto the tiny river boat we’d brought with us, we set to work paddling upstream, in search of clues. After only an hour of paddling, we managed to get ourselves stuck on a sandbar, right in the middle of the river.
There I was, hip deep in the river, trying to dislodge the boat from where it was stuck in the sand, when shouts broke out in the boat. Shouting, and jumping up and down, which rocked the boat so hard that it broke free from the sand. Luckily, I caught hold of the boat and gave it a good push toward the riverbank, where it once again became lodged in the sand. At least we were no longer in the middle of the river.
Amidst all the squeals of delight among my crew, I noticed a very emotional little mouse onboard. Tilly was crying her eyes out and waving at someone behind me, on the opposite river bank.
And just like that, there he was…
What are those odds?
Love really is a powerful thing, wouldn’t you agree?! When one experiences it, whether in the giving or the receiving, the world is so much brighter!
Once upon a time, long long ago, we navigated with pencil drawings of whomever had traveled on the road we were on. It’s all we had to go on for directions…
Thank goodness we don’t have to rely on the old way of getting information, right?! Advanced technology now allows us to navigate, via global satellite telemetry, on our handy dandy cell phones… or even our car’s onboard navigation system.
Consider our personal journeys in life like navigating a map, of sorts. We start at point A (birth) and are given a map of life with a bunch of confusing scribbles on it. It seems like we’re trying to follow a map we can hardly read, in the hope that our directions will get us to our destination, safely and successfully.
When you choose what you consider to be your destination, then you’re able to choose your directions. You can decide to attempt travel, only using those maps that time can destroy…
Or…
Download an Onboard Navigation System… that’s what I did, and I haven’t gotten lost since!
How do we get from an idea to an image, when it comes to capturing a new character’s character, so to speak? Call me crazy, off my rocker, or just obsessed with imaginary things, but not just any image will do… I need you to truly see what I see. So, strap on your imaginations, because it could be fun to watch how our young Henry has developed, thus far.
The first thing I did was to create a basic character, in order to help guide the AI generator…
Cute, but too close to being another type of creature, like a cat or squirrel. It may have been due to the image used to create the image you see above. After arguing with the AI for the better part of an hour, I was able to develop the image I used on Friday. While he began to display more of the mouse like features that I wanted, the mouse was far too young for miss Tilly’s handsome suitor. It was back to the generator for some more work…
While I did NOT like the ridiculously fat tail, nor did I appreciate the fact that the mouse looked like you could zip him up in his own mouse fur coat… but I began to see something surface in his expression that seemed, well, Henry like!
One of the wonderful things about the program that I use, is the ability to develop an individual image, whether by adding or removing something… or even alter an expression or body movement. Basically, I can pull the image apart and put it back together any way I want, within reason. I won’t waste the effort on an image, in this way, unless there’s something I really want to keep. This one went to the board!
Something in the eyes and the ears, I thought…
closer…
Nope, nope… eyes need to stay green!
I’m seeing his personality surface in his expression, but not liking the body.
You know what it is? Poor Henry is naked! I think the environment is wrong and our Henry needs to be wearing something. Hang on a sec…
Yes!!!
There, now wasn’t that fun?! I’m fully satisfied with our finished image, what do you think? I mean, not just any mouse will do for miss Tilly…
Since we have a boat, and we have the freedom of the seas to travel, the world is our oyster! Only one problem… not everyone is here, yet!
If you’re wondering who we’re missing, as all the babes are on board, let me explain. Remember last winter, just before the barnyard and babes disappeared? If you recall, our young miss Tilly met a boy in the forest, while she and Dinky were gathering pine bows. Well… he was sort of overlooked in all the chaos of tracking down all my lost ones. I feel awful about it, especially since it has caused Tilly such heartache! I found her below deck this morning, crying herself silly. She tried to settle herself when I approached, but the moment I sat down beside her, the mouse began to bawl again, and didn’t stop til she fell asleep in my arms. As she was drifting off to sleep, mingled in amongst the tearful snuffles, I could hear her whispering the name “Henry”… and it all came rushing back to me, in an instant! We’d forgotten all about young Henry and his family at the old Church down the road from our barn.
How could I have overlooked them? I felt awful! You guys, we have to search for them, before any adventuring can happen. There is absolutely no way that we can have any fun with a love sick mouse aboard…
I don’t know about you but that face makes my heart hurt, and Tilly deserves to be happy. So, stow all the supplies… weigh anchor… lift the sails…
We make for the river that leads inland, toward the place we’d found young Squagon, remember? Somewhere out there is a young mouse that we simply must find…
Where are you, young Henry? There is a mouse who loves you so…
I think that dreams say a great deal about who we are… on the inside. Before you start preparing for some kind of mental health episode of some sort, I’ll leave that to the professionals, thank you very much! My thoughts and considerations will be looking at our character, our personality, or we can label as our true self, if you will. As I always tend to do, let me explain what I meant by my initial statement.
First off, I want to break dreaming into two categories here, one being a waking daydream, while the other is a sleeping dream. Waking daydreams are the ones in which we control the dream in its entirety. Obviously, the sleeping dreams are when we’re not awake, therefore we have no conscious control of what goes on in our dream, nor any control of the outcome… we just gotta ride it out, so to speak.
When I write these thoughts out, I’ve no intention of trying to figure others out, based on their dreams! I guess I’m writing out something that I’ve discovered about my own personality and tendencies, that’s all. Some say that they don’t really dream much, while others dream often and deeply… people like me.
Being a child from trauma, I sought fantasies and daydreams from a very early age, as a way of safety or escape, if you will. To this day, I can vividly remember things from those years, most especially the dreams and recurring nightmares that I experienced. Weird, right?!
Anyway, I had one of my re-run daydreams from when I was small, just the other day. As I was thinking on the memory of my dream, I noticed something sort of funny about myself, or, the way that I saw myself in the daydream. It made me want to look back through some of the other dreams, just to see if I did that in all of them. Guess what I discovered? I did, in fact, see myself in a particular way, when it was a sleeping dream and another way when it was a daydream… just two starring roles… two!
In every waking dream that I created, I cast myself as the assistant, the helper, the heroin through heavy lifting! I was either Charlie instead of Willie Wonka, or the Mad Hatter instead of Alice, or the child who helped Dr. Doolittle. Even to this day, I never see myself as the heroin or hero in anything… always, always, always, I dream myself behind the scenes. In my stories, it feels better to focus on my desires for the cast members in the tale. I think that’s why I prefer you to see me through Tilly, Eustace, or any of this site’s characters when I write. They seem to capture who I am, there within the pages of their stories.
The sleeping dreams are a far different representation of how I saw myself back then, and even now, today. That little girl only experienced the nightmare portion of the dreams, for many, many years. I was a frequent bed wetter, and struggled with severe anxiety. I had no one to talk to, no one to comfort or rescue me from my hell. I’m sure that this is why my waking dreams were so intense and real to me. I even learned how to wake myself out of my night terrors. I actually began to flip myself from my bed and onto the floor, so as to force myself awake. That child was always running, fighting and/or in pain during those dreams. Over the years, I changed in appearance as I grew into a woman, wife, and mother, but I still continued to be the victim… or the villain. Yes, I even saw myself become the villain, but what could I do? I had no control, there in the depths of my darkness.
Ok, no more of that part, as it’s not who I am now! Now? God holds my dreams in the palm of his hand, shielding and comforting me through anything I may experience during my sleep, which is now rarely more than a goofy recap of what I’d watched on television the night before. It’s funny, because the transformation within this wild child has been miraculous, to say the least!
Waking daydreams are now filled with a purpose, not my own, but of one who is so much greater!
Night dreaming is no longer a place of fear, but of peace, protection, and security!
I’ll not forget the child of my past, no no, as she is the one who survived!
I’ll not forget the lost wild one, for she is full of fiery spirit, and tenacity!
While I may not ever be a hero of anything special, Charlie did end up with the factory, so that children would hold onto their dreams!
That child who followed Dr. Doolittle… they carried on the doctor’s work to care for others, whether it was a Push-Me-Pull-Me or the captive sea lion… always the less fortunate!
What do I daydream about now? I dream that everywhere I go… I smell like cookie dough, pulling children’s imaginations along with me, just like the pied piper! For all the rest of you… I pray that I leave a trail of cookie crumbs in my wake… get it, wake… hehehe!
Laughter, as they say, is one of the best medicines… for the body, mind, AND Soul!
I love watching things that make me laugh, but to unwind, I need specific kinds of things to make me laugh the right way… the unwinding way!
Musicals!!! They have to be on the top of my laughter list… Remember Mary Poppins? Remember the scene where everyone is stuck on the ceiling because they couldn’t stop laughing? Here…
One of my fav’s!
There are those times that I need to watch a comedy or two, but there are those days where I binge watch Dry Bar Comedy, where the jokes and stories are funny… not rude, crass, or gross. My kids are all grown and gone, so I no longer have to put up with that stuff.
Last, but certainly not least, I love to laugh with friends. Whether we watch something together, play online games together, or simply talk on the phone… again, laughter is often the best medicine for what ails ya, which this prompt refers to as “a demanding day”. Just sayin…
While I realize that it’s only Friday, it’s not just any Friday, is it? This happens to be Easter weekend, as I’m sure you already knew. I can’t help but get excited, bursting with unashamed words of praise, honor, and worship for my King, my God and Creator. Why? Because I know that Sunday’s coming!
Not just any Sunday, as you well know. It’s Easter Sunday!
*Disclaimer* I will proclaim my belief in a single God, One Son, and an act of such utter love and sacrifice that cannot be denied! Whether you believe in God or not, does not diminish His belief in you, nor lessen His love for you!
Praise be to the King of Kings!
Promises were fulfilled!
Death was defeated!
The temple veil has forever been torn!
We are free to come before God, himself, the very creator of the world, without fear or shame… Because God made it so, by sending Jesus Christ to walk this earth, without a single stain or blemish of sin… utterly perfect! Yet, he willingly sacrificed his own life on the cross, for doing absolutely nothing wrong… nothing! That sacrifice fulfilled prophesy of a covenant, a promise given us, by God.
This sacrifice defeated Satan, broke through all judgement of sin, and opened a bridge between us and our creator… a doorway, if you will.
Now, when I come before the throne of God, I’m washed in the blood of His one and only son, Jesus Christ! All the stain of my sin and shame are erased, and not just erased… replaced! Replaced with God’s very own Holy Spirit, which dwells in me now, today.
I plan on celebrating all weekend, and I pray God’s blessings on each and every soul that visits this lobby. May you also have a truly blessed Easter!
Again, I know that it’s only Friday… but Sunday is coming!
All those years ago, in the heart of a desolate child, God reached down and plucked me from the clutches of the enemy… in every sense of the words!
Utterly lost and forgotten, until He sought me out!
It’s been quite a journey since…
Dream of anything…
Snacks, of course…
Through anger, fear, and the nightmares that haunted me, I fought God for years. I refused to let go of the very things that were destroying me from the inside out… memories! Mine, theirs, the memories became baggage that only gained weight with the passage of time.
The good, the bad, and all that lay between… He never let go of this broken one, this forgotten child. After all the things I did to push God away from me, He still held on with such intensity, I could no longer deny Him!
Truly, I am walking this earth because of the grace and power of God, and God alone! Positive, oh yes… I’d say that encounter had a very positive effect on this child!
Oh my goodness, have I got Babyitis, just now! Perhaps you’ve heard of it, or possibly even suffered from it, at one time or another.
It came on quite suddenly, if I’m being honest. Usually, the symptoms are small and slow to appear… at least, that’s how it’s been for me, in the past.
Not this time! I was not prepared for it to bring me to my knees (metaphorically) in the middle of Walmart, yesterday. There I was, innocently looking at yarn, with the hope that I can make one last baby blanket, before my arthritis robs me of this passion. This has to be one of the most important blankets I’ll ever craft, as this baby seems to have become the bridge in which God might mend something that I, myself, broke. Sorry, I went sort of deep, there for a moment.
Anyways, I found some really adorable colors to work with, as we don’t yet know the gender of this upcoming little blessing. Here, I’ll show you…
Hopefully, this will become something lovely… and I’ll show you update pictures of my progress, just for fun!
So, there I was in the aisle of crafts, with my chosen yarn held firmly in my arms, when something caught my eye. I spied a stuffed bunny ear… and I cannot be held responsible for what occurred next. It wasn’t my fault! I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of all those symptoms of Babyitis.
My poor husband had a hard time keeping up with me, as we were heading toward the check-out. Finally, he says, “why on earth are you walking so fast… wait, what’s in the cart that you don’t want me to see?” Busted!
No worries… Babyitis comes with a positive perk…
I think it makes one smell like either chocolate, or cookies… or both! For some crazy reason, whenever I have an symptoms of Babyitis surface, my hubby just smiles softly with a strange look in his eyes, similar to when he drinks the cocoa I make… weird, huh?!
When these crazy symptoms first surfaced, yesterday, I did attempt to promise that it wouldn’t happen again, but then changed my mind. While I may be able to exercise some amount of restraint, being the mature adult that I am, I cannot say that this won’t happen again… in fact, I have a feeling that he’s going to have hide any spare change laying about!
Journey With Me! 