Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 5:50 am
Well Helen is in New York, her big brother Eddie is in New York. Helen’s mom had 8 brothers and sisters, and the cousins’ reunion is taking place in New York now. Helen must have a zillion cousins. And they are flying in from all over the country for the cousins’ reunion, their children and grandchildren too.
It was Helen’s idea and she organized it, and she finessed it too. It required a lot of finessing because not everyone wanted to go. When a California cousin said “I’m not going!” it had ripple effect. Helen’s sister and her cousin Margot said “if she’s not coming, then neither am I!” It rippled out to half the reunion. So Helen had to beg and to join with two other cousins to offer to pay the airplane ticket. So she’s coming and that brought back the whole ripple effect.
As far as I could make out from Helen’s hurried phone call about this yesterday, as she was on her way to Wal-Mart to buy an electric toothbrush for the trip. It is 7 dollars at Wal-Mart and 90 dollars everywhere else. Helen was still in Maui yesterday, she flies to New York City today. The conversation ended when she reached Wal-Mart, so she must have called me as she was driving there. Everyone is coming except the cousin who lives in Minnesota. Helen is heartbroken about this. “I have not seen her in 40 years” she wailed. Helen wants to see her and meet her children and grandchildren, and said “maybe she can make a video of her family and send it to us so we can play it at the reunion.” There are also the cousins who are too depressed to go, Helen mentioned two of them, the two depressed cousins, but maybe they are showing up, I am not clear on that.
It certainly sounds like a huge event, my mind boggled just hearing about it. I can’t imagine flying all the way across the country and going to a family reunion. To me it all sounds as amazing, as dramatic, as exciting as going to Mars, it seems like a totally earthshaking thing to do.
I considered it an amazing experience in my life when I took Alice out for her birthday few days ago. That is why it seems so gargantuan what Helen is doing. Because just taking Alice to Village Inn on her birthday on Saturday, 3 days ago, was earthshaking event in my life.
Alice had really wanted me to do her astrology chart and the charts of her two sons, ever since she found out I could do that. And even tho I did try to figure out how I could do it, at that time I didn’t know if my printer was working, so it would mean her coming here, and us looking at computer together. Or doing it on phone while we both looked at the horoscopes up on the computer. When I was on a New Age site briefly last summer, someone posted “here is the link to a free astrology chart site.” So it only took 5 minutes for me to get all 3 charts up on my machine, and I did send the links to Alice. But the meaning of a chart is in its interpretation and Alice wanted that, and that is a big deal.
And so I just put it off until Alice generously got Bill in the art show about 6 weeks ago. I was ecstatic about that! Bill was ecstatic about that! It was such an incredibly huge favor! She had simply casually generously spontaneously offered it. When I wrote back my amazed happiness and amazed gratitude to her and said “if ever there is any favor I can do for you Alice, just ask, I will be overjoyed to do it.” And she said she wants the 3 astrology charts and I emailed back “of course!” Now I really wanted to do it, I wanted to make Alice happy in anyway I could.
And Friday, when I realized Alice must be back from Mexico (she had gone for two weeks, she has a farm there from when she had lived there for 20 years, and one of her sons is living on the farm now). I wrote “Welcome back Alice! Did you have a nice time?” And she wrote about the early birthday party her son had thrown for her in Mexico. And I remembered Alice’s birthday would be right about now. I emailed back “When is your birthday? Is it today or tomorrow or the next day?” I planned I would send her a very nice email card on her birthday. And she emailed back “it is tomorrow, want to get together for it?” And I realized the time is now! I emailed back “let’s do your astrology charts on your birthday, I will take you to Village Inn.” And Alice emailed back “great.” She was happy about it.
And so I planned it all out with my Higher Self, she had good suggestions. She suggested Village Inn, because it is a family restaurant, it is very close by, it is air conditioned, it is very comfortable, we can sit in a booth next to each other, and we can spend all afternoon there. She said Alice may want a drink on her birthday (Village Inn has no alcohol), but she said it is better for her to be clear-minded, astrology takes concentration and focus. And she reminded me that Bruce always went to Village Inn for crepes suzettes and maybe Alice would like that.
And Alice emailed back great, great, great, to all. The morning before her birthday, while the plumber was working on trying to get the bathtub to drain (that story did not have a good ending, he said the tree roots are growing into the pipes, that is why it won’t drain, the roots are clogging it, and to get the roots out of it I would have to take out the bathtub, break up the floor, then put the bathtub back, and then put the floor back, and it costs $4000. So I decided I would just shower in Bill’s shower, I am going to let the bathtub go)-- But while the plumber was here finding out what the problem was, and Bill was sitting outside with Beanie, so Beanie would not be in plumber’s way, I crossed my fingers and tried to put in the inkjet myself in printer. Usually Bill does that for me. And I did it! And I figured out how to print all 3 charts for Alice. Actually that was when all systems were on go. That is when I emailed Alice “I printed up the charts!” And said “pick me up at 2:30 on Saturday, we will be back from swimming then, Village Inn is just 2 miles away, we will go there, and I will do it, and I will treat you to lunch.” And I wrote out the directions to my house and my phone number.
And after I calmed down from the plumber drama, I remembered the beautiful red bathing suit I bought last month which is 2 sizes too small. So I emailed Alice “what size suit do you wear?” And Alice emailed back the two sizes she wears, the suit is the bigger size. So I said “I have pretty red suit maybe it will fit.” And the white linen skirt, simple but nice, is also Alice’s size, two sizes too small for me. I don’t know what had possessed me to buy them. But I had desperately needed a treat, it was dark time in my life, and the discount store didn’t have anything in my size, just these pretty items 2 sizes too small. So I had thought “maybe I can stretch them and make them fit.”
But they were still in the bag, and it was Alice’s birthday, and it is size she wears. I was getting very excited about Alice’s birthday party. On the way home from the pool, the day of Alice’s birthday, I did have Bill stop at Ross again to see if they had the red suit in exactly her size. But they had trillion beautiful bathing suits last month and none on Saturday. I was very lucky to have that beautiful red one for Alice at home. And it is a knock-out, one of those dream bathing suits. A beautiful red and a beautiful design.
And when we got home I decided I would give Alice Eat, Pray, Love too. Margot gave me that book as gift and I loved it, and I thought Alice might like it too. I was getting together a little bag of her presents, the red bathing suit, the white linen skirt, the book Eat, Pray, Love.
And of course the astrology charts in a manila envelope. And extra paper and pens for Alice to take notes if she wanted to.
And when Alice arrived I invited her in. I knew Bill would want to see her. She sat at the big table and when she said she was thirsty, she chose iced limeade in tall glass. And when she got out her tobacco to roll a cigarette, I brought in my pack of cigarettes. And said “let me give you a carton of cigarettes for your birthday, I get them on the internet, they are so inexpensive.” So I added a carton of cigarettes to her birthday package. I was sailing in bliss because I thought "these are all great birthday presents." And when Alice arrived, I saw the suit and skirt would fit her perfect, they are Alice’s size.
And I showed her some of Bill’s paintings up on the walls of the house. Bill didn’t want me to bring Alice into my bedroom and computer room because of such a mess. But he had cleaned the rest of the house beautiful few days before, and I thought Alice could handle the such-a-mess in my 2 rooms. And it was interesting the paintings she loved. And when she got back to the table she said “we,” referring to her and Bill as artists. Which is nice. Alice has been in art shows all over the world, and Bill has just been in Dahlia’s show, the one Alice arranged for him to be in with her. And it is first time Alice saw any of his work, other than the 4 paintings in Dahlia’s show.
And then I noticed Beanie would not leave Alice alone. He had his nose by her legs wherever she went, so softly, gently, like kissing her. And when she sat down to smoke her cigarette, drink her iced limeade, and chat with Bill, Beanie went right under her legs. He was completely smitten with Alice.
And my heart soared up with joy. Dogs love visitors, but I am not in the era of visitors. 18 months ago Jim came to watch Superbowl with Bill, so Beanie had a visitor then, he loved Jim. And Saturday was his second visitor, Alice, and he gave his heart to Alice, he would not be away from her. O Margot, that’s right, when we first got Beanie, Margot was in the yard with him, and she petted him, and Beanie wanted those pets to go on forever. It was a big love affair, Beanie loved Margot. That was a long time ago tho.
This was Saturday, I watched him spend every instant trying to be close to Alice. She wasn’t aware of him. She wasn’t aware of what he was doing until I pointed it out, and Alice said how she loves dogs. It’s interesting that Beanie’s love for Alice did not spring from her giving him any attention. He was content to just love and be close to her. It was truly a beautiful and wondrous thing for me to behold.
Alice decided she would order the crepes suzettes when I told her that is what Bruce always had there, altho I don’t know if either of us knew what it was. And my Higher Self had told me “give the waitress 5 dollars when you first arrive, because you will be there long time, so no one else can sit at that table, and we don’t want her to lose money on tips.”
And when we arrived I said to the guy who seats you and hands you the menu, “it is Alice’s birthday and I’m going to do her chart,” and he brought us right to very nice table in booth. And when the waitress arrived, I explained it all to her, and gave her the five dollars. And she was an angel. And we both ordered iced tea and Alice ordered her crepes. And my Higher Self said “let her eat her food first, so she can enjoy it, then do the charts.” And Alice loved it.
And then I took out the charts and moved over to sit next to her. I was incredibly rusty at doing charts. I did one for Jan two years ago, one for Harry 8 years ago, and I would talk about astrology with Nicole about 14 years ago. And I only thought about astrology extremely occasionally over past 10 years. It was something I used to always think about, I was always studying it in my mind. Till I read A Course In Miracles and I began to think about other things all the time instead. About God and Heaven and perception, and how the mind works.
That is why I was so insecure. I wasn’t close to astrology in my mind, I had been away from it. Plus I had already had momentous day before we even got to the chart. Alice had been a guest in our house and we never have visitors, it was thrilling for all of us. We had date in restaurant and ordered something to eat, and I never go out with girlfriends to restaurants anymore. A lot had already happened in my life where nothing ever happens in.
But I did my best, which is what I promised Alice I would do. I was a little frustrated because I am used to interpreting charts I draw up myself, and I had a very hard time reading and understanding the chart the computer made. But luckily Alice recognized the symbols for the Signs, and saw where they began, she was very helpful.
I would say I gave a terrible reading, because at no point was my mind crystal clear, I was not on all 8 cylinders. For me it was like driving a car which is riding rough, the motor acting up, and swerving all over the place. But maybe it was the right reading for Alice. Because when I gave her the information, and was going to try to crystal clearly put it together, to give its meaning, and my mind drew a blank, Alice supplied it. Given the facts, she was able to put it together and see what it meant for herself, and in her own language. Some words mean a lot to me, some words mean a lot to Alice, and so she used her words, and that was good.
When I wanted a cigarette break-- I had purposely put a pack of cigs in my purse and two lighters, so I could walk outside for a cigarette, I couldn’t find my pack of cigs. But luckily I had given Alice a carton of cigs for her birthday. So she gave me her keys, I went to the car, and took out a pack of cigs.
It was long reading because of doing Alice’s two sons too. And she told me all about her sons as we were doing it, what they were like as children, what they are doing now, what they are like now. But luckily, the more my mind started to sputter and malfunction, the clearer Alice got. Lucky for me, it turns out she has real talent for astrology. It was very much a joint effort. And when I got out my chart to show her the contrast, to explain something to her, she looked at the shape of my chart and said “Look! It looks like pyramids, you have 5 pyramids here, you are involved in 5 different things.” Which seemed so interesting to me because it is true and I never thought about it. It was an interesting way to see and understand my life.
Alice is a very talented astrologer, maybe even more talented than me. She has genius. She just didn’t have the knowledge about astrology, what the Planets and Houses and Signs mean. But as soon as I gave her the information, she did a great job putting it together in her chart and her sons’ charts. The girl could be a great astrologer if she wanted to study the science.
For our second cigarette break, we went out together to have cigs. And she said “what about all the awful things which have happened in my life?” and she said about them. Alice’s conversation used to always be about all the awful things which had happened. I said “It’s just not in your chart Alice, there are no difficulties at all in your chart. Of course you do have Leo Rising, and Leo loves to dramatize things. Maybe you just wanted to add a lot of drama to your life, to make it more interesting.”
The interesting thing is, when we first sat down and I got out her chart and looked at it, I had never seen a chart like that. Nearly every planet is in her 10th House which is career or position in the world. And the very few planets which are not in that House are in the Houses right next to it. I said “Alice I hope you will take this the right way” and she made that scared face, “but this is the chart of a big-shot, you are a big-shot.” I didn’t mean to scare Alice, I guess that is my humor, I like to tease. I knew something good was coming, not bad, when I said “I hope you take this the right way.” I didn’t realize she would respond with so much alarm.
And it is true it is the chart of a big-shot, of a very important person. And it actually does explain Alice’s life. She has no ego, no self-importance at all, so it doesn’t appear on the surface in any way. She leads a totally humble life, she is totally humble. But it explains why she has her finger in everything and makes everything happen, and her prodigious talent in the world of making things happen, in the world itself. To give contrast, I didn’t say this to Alice, but that same House, the House of the world, I have Neptune in it, which dissolves it. I have zero activity on the world stage. I am just not out in the world at all. But Alice is, the world is her whole life. She has more planets in that House and bigger planets than Einstein. Her House of career is major.
But of course she is a humanitarian and idealist first, last, and always. I saw that in her chart, which begins off with the planet Uranus. “Your passion is for truth, Alice” I said, “you begin off with passion for truth, and Uranus is totally humanitarian.” It was Alice who supplied that word and attribute. When I showed Alice how her chart starts off with Uranus in the 9th House, I recognized the passion for truth (Uranus is my ruling planet), but Alice recognized the humanitarian.
And then we both went to the ladies room together, which seemed like a very intimate thing to do with your friend. And we did a little more astrology till my mind stopped working totally and Alice looked a little tired too. And I think Alice liked the reading. I thought it was the worst reading I had ever done in my life. But when I was paying the check (it was such a bargain! can you imagine only 8 dollars for all of that!) she told the girl I had explained astrology to her, she seemed pleased.
And I think Alice was very pleased. Some friend of hers had once said something about her astrology and told her 3 terrible things. I don’t think Alice really had an idea what an astrology reading really meant, or one by me anyway.
And of course on this day of happy miracles on Alice’s wonderful birthday day, it turned out the bathing suit fits like a glove, she loves it, and her old bathing suit is completely worn thru, she needs suit anyway. And the skirt fits perfectly, and who does not want a pretty simple white linen skirt in hot desert summer. And I think it all had a transforming effect on Alice too. Her stories became happier and happier, she recalled good things, happy things. And I think it satiated her all the attention. Alice likes to express and has so much to express. That was the one thing my Higher Self told me before I went to do the reading-- about Alice’s chart-- she said “it is good for Alice to talk a lot.”
I had noticed it myself two days before Alice’s birthday, at the very end of this Sign we have been in. For the whole Sign, I talked so little and had so little urge to talk. And then suddenly there was an explosion, as if all the not-talking I had done, just wanted to be released. I couldn’t stop it. There was just such tremendous urge for talking and communication, after not having it for so long. And Alice is born right in the middle of that 3 day explosion. I understood why Alice likes to talk a lot, and why my Higher Self said she needs to talk a lot. She has Sun and Moon in that Sign, she has to have that release. It is the whole Sign releasing itself.
I think it was very good for Alice to get a chance to talk to her heart’s content at our birthday party. Plus to have all focused attention on her. Because she bloomed under both. Right before my eyes I saw her bloom. I saw her happiness bloom, her contentment bloom, her loving beautiful being bloom. “You need to talk a lot,” was the first thing I said to Alice when I looked at her chart, per my Higher Self’s instructions, and she lit up. “But everyone moves away from me when I talk, they say I talk too much and leave the room.” “You need to talk a lot, Alice, it is good for you” I said.
And it’s very interesting how it all worked out. Last night I was bored to tears with the TV. I had tried watching it all day, and other than “The Housewives of Orange County” marathon, I was so bored I was going out of my mind. And finally my Higher Self said “well let’s talk, we’ll talk about something which interests you, so you can have something interesting.”
And to my amazement my Higher Self did my chart. And it was a brilliant reading. All the brilliance I had wanted to offer Alice, and which was totally not there at all, was in my Higher Self’s reading of my chart.
She said things which were so interesting and informative, I wished I had known it to tell Alice, I learned so much. She said the 10th House, which is where all of Alice’s planets are, and where I just have Neptune-- I had pointed out to Alice her chart begins with Uranus in her 9th House and ends with Neptune in her 12th, she begins with passion for truth and winds up with divine love. My Higher Self told me “The 10th House is actually your mission in life. And you having Neptune there, doesn’t dissolve the 10th House, it just means divine love is your mission in life.” And she said “Pluto in Gemini in 8th House-- Pluto, the planet of transformation, in Gemini the Sign of the writer, in Pluto’s own House of Transformation-- means your writing is about transformation.”
It was so interesting having such a brilliant interesting illuminating interpretation of my chart. It was such a gift to me, that I thought “it really is true what the New Age teaches, what spirituality teaches, giving to another is how you give to yourself.” I don’t know how to put this into words, but suddenly it hit me: As the day follows night, that when I went all-out to give the best astrology reading I could for Alice, it was inevitable a great reading would be done for me. That it has to happen, that this is how universal law works.
And of course my biggest joy in all of this is the success of the red bathing suit, how much Alice loves it. And how happy Alice is. Her phone call and email put me in bliss. There is no joy like seeing Alice happy. She is the most generous girl on the planet, she deserves this happiness....
Postscript,
And when I saw Patsy in the pool yesterday and was swimming in the lane next to her, when she said “how are you Anne?” I said “I have bad news and good news. The bad news is the plumber said he would have to take out the bathtub and break up the cement floor. It will cost $4000. I’m not doing it, I will shower in Bill’s shower. The good news is I took Alice out for her birthday and I had a glorious time.” And I told her the whole story and she was so happy for me.
I skipped over about the astrology reading but expressed all my joy about the miracle the ravishing red bathing suit fit Alice to a T.
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