Everywhere: and a tale of internal fireworks

I gave it up some years ago: linear thinking and the pursuit of perfection. 

I swapped it for this:  free association and the pursuit of just good. 

I think it’s too easy, too easy to get stuck.  Stuck in the same place.  Stuck doing the same thing. Caught up in a routine of the same job, the same people, the same place, the same experience.  Caught up in a loop that goes round and round....

People ask me how I do all the things that I do.  All the different jobs.  Building houses, decorating rooms, writing a blog, running Peacock Pavilions, sourcing for Red Thread Souk, throwing dinner parties, writing books, taking pictures, starting a non-profit, doing humanitarian aid, and traveling the world.  And yes, with a family and yes, with a base in Marrakesh. 

How do I do it?  Well, first of all, I have help.  And second of all, I accept that  things are going to be far from perfect.  But I am not afraid of failure -- I am afraid of not trying.

You see, I hold tightly to a wish….a wish that my life be like a fire cracker:  sparkling, sparkling in every direction, lighting up the night sky.   I want a life that’s ever changing.  I want a life that's no, no, never the same.  

PS I took these photos with my new iphone.  So excited to get on Instagram.  I'll do that as soon as I figure out how:-)

Cairo: and the saddest tale in the world

She was whispering when she told me.  About her father.  Her eyes looked away. It seems that one minute he was there and the next he was gone.  It was sudden.  He was not particularly old, you see.  Or sick. Or fragile.  

She murmured, choking,  I'm the most sorry that I didn't tell him.  That I didn't tell him enough how grateful I was  for all that he had done for me, all that he had taught me.  

She shook her head.  I never asked him about the things that really mattered.  Like the moments that stood out for him, shining, important in his life.  Like if he had ever been scared - really scared.  Like if he had ever wished for something more. 

And then she said in the saddest voice in the world, I just took from him.  I never gave.

She began to weep.  After a time, she  said, Now I will never be able to ask him.  Now I will never be able to give him anything.  Give him anything at all but flowers in the cemetery.