Pop Goes The Weasel!

The rhyme "Pop Goes The Weasel" originated across the pond in the 1700's.

A boat "Pop Goes The Weasel" participated in the Durham Regatta in June of 1852 and the rhyme rose to prominence that same year while a slightly different version became well know throughout the continent known as North America.

National Pop Goes The Weasel Day should not be on June 14 because "Pop Goes The Weasel" went from figurative and poetic to literal and physically obvious when I was born on November 24, 1966 in Saint Cloud, Minnesota!

Pop Goes The Weasel!

Snow always makes winter more enjoyable and beautiful!

Because I was to be put up for adoption at birth I was instantly rejected emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually!

How so?

My biological mother and her sister were not allowed to hold me as I was immediately taken away.

Talk about starting life with intense abandonment and self image issues which have influenced me throughout my journey.

Sometimes bad.

Occasionally uncomfortable.

Often excruciatingly horrific!

Sometimes the pain is so intense that you need to scream!

"The secret of joy is the mastery of pain." ― Anaïs Nin

"How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another heart? How much can we hope to understand those who have suffered deeper anguish, greater deprivation, and more crushing disappointments than we ourselves have known?" ― Orhan Pamuk

However . . . I am exhausted that pain has been my lifelong companion emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

I am sick and tired of that narrative!

"If you must look back, do so forgivingly. if you must look forward, do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the the present . . . gratefully." ― Maya Angelou

I have finally understood the base of who I truly am!

I only make authentic connections with people when their personalities, souls, and spirits encourage me to love myself, especially when I am in their presence.

We must love ourselves before we are capable to love others.

There are lots of people that I have encountered throughout this journey called life that make it extremely easier to love myself because of their uniqueness.

"Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you." ― William P. Young

Because of all the strength and wisdom I have received from these life affirming Divine connections with people, I have been able to spend the better part of my adult life coaching/ministering/serving children and youth.

"It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being." — John Joseph Powell

Y'all are so precious to me!

"Once we recognize the fact that every individual is a treasury of hidden and unsuspected qualities, our lives become richer, our judgment better, and our world is more right. It is not love that is blind, it is only the unnoticed eye that cannot see the real qualities of people." ― Charles H. Percy

Come along with me as I attempt to document "The Adventures Of Weasel" in such a way that readers feel me daily attempt to embody the spirit of the late great North Carolina State Wolfpack Basketball Coach.

"There are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think ― spend some time time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that's a heck of a day.” ― Jim Valvano

My journey has been filled more often than not with emotional days when laughter, thinking, and crying work together in beautiful harmony.

If you currently do not agree that this A-Z description of me is accurate, hopefully you will understand me a bit more with each new adventure!

Adventurous 

Blessed 

Charismatic 

Devoted

Emotional

Funolicious

Gentle

Humble

Inolvidable 

Joyful

Kind

Lovely 

Marvelous

Nitpicker

Opinionated 

Peaceful

Quirky 

Resolute

Strong

Thoughtful 

[]_[]nique

Vexing

Weasel

X-Rayable

Youthful 

Zoetic

I would enjoy reading an A-Z List describing you and if y'all would like to contribute a story of our connection that would be greatly appreciated.

"There never has been, nor will there ever be, another like you. Your singular perspective may patch some small hole in the vast tattered fabric of humanity. Uniqueness alone, however, does not make you valuable. If you don't do, if you don't dare, then you rob the world and yourself of the chance to contribute something meaningful." ― Ryder Carroll

¡Pura Vida!

"The grace of GOD means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you." ― Frederick Buchner