friendship | under1000skies

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Newsletter 1.6

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ” –M. Scott Peck

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“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”
–Mark Twain

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“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” –Lucille Ball

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“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” –Fred Rogers

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“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” –Jean Shinoda Bolen

Moon Songs 50!

In celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the lunar landing, I hope you enjoy this short fictional story about the first Moon Colony Celebration and a family of musicians on the moon. I wrote this a month after my first granddaughter was born and set it 150 years in the future where Evie, and her granddaughter and namesake, and her great-grandsons are very much a part of the world, and the moon, and having a grand time.

Moon Songs

50! ☼ July 20, 1969-2019 ☼

Evie needs to prepare for the big show on the brand new Moon Colony in three days. She and her jazz-band family have been preparing for this moment for months. But now, her sax reeds are missing. It’s unlikely anyone else in the colony has a baritone sax reed since theirs is the only jazz band in the lineup. All the years of practice, the months and months of auditions just to get here, and it could all be lost, because of a single sax reed.

The Old Snake

In the past two months, I have met two new friends who are sight-impaired. It has really helped me understand a little about the difficulties and frustrations of living in a world without vision. One of my friends is a young, talented writer. I’ve been recording their stories as I have time. I also have been recording and posting some of my old stories and publishing these on Wattpad. This is a writer’s interactive (free) website my new friend introduced me to recently. It has a really great way of connecting writers to readers and to each other. Currently, I’m reading three stories by other writers and leaving comments as time allows. You can comment on individual paragraphs, on the chapter, or you can leave private messages. The feedback is so welcome. It’s helping me to be a better writer. I hope you enjoy this story poem and recording.

This story poem came about after two conversations with two of my wise friends (who don’t know each other), and because of Joseph Campbell. One friend was diagnosed recently with an illness that totally changed her life. We were talking about the grief that goes along with that, and how she was trying to let it all go, all the things she could have been and would never be. My heart went out to her so much, and I really understood. I have some things going on too. Then another very wise friend showed me a funny poem about wrinkles. Then I started thinking about the Joseph Campbell quote, “You must be willing to let go of the life you have planned in order to be ready for the life that is waiting.” Something like that. I started thinking about a snake, shedding skins, and …pop. My old snake was born.

1.6 under1000skies

The music is by me (Niki Flow) and is performed by Carter Parker. The lyrics are found in the poetry collection “Elanthian Love Songs: A Bard’s Tale” by Sara Michele O’Sullivan (former pen name) available on Amazon.com, and 100 percent of all profits go to buying artist packs and supplies for homeless creatives. See our “About” page for more information.