Swim At Your Own Peril, The Ocean Of Grief is Uncharted

I am completely out of my favorite element, earth, and submerged in my least likeable one, water.  I say this just as my toes palpate a grainy sandbar, gripping on to terra firma. My short lived elation is washed away as a forceful, rogue wave shoves me back into the deep waters. My head bobs up and down like a cork, catching a glimpse now and then of land ahoy. Grief, it seems, comes in waves. Small, unassuming waves, and monster waves. I steady my sights on the refuge of dry land and begin to feverishly swim towards it. At times, the ocean coaxes me along easing my journey and grief begins to subside. At times, a riptide sucks me under and spits me out as if it swallowed a bad clam, throwing me off course. How did the ocean get so big and how did I get so small?  If I stop fighting the tide and give in to my sorrow, will the current eventually deliver me to safer ground? It's a game between grief and joy, a tug of war of sorts. I reach for joy, and grief sweeps me out to sea.  Ungrounded and disoriented, I find solace in knowing that I am not alone. The ocean of grief is vast and unmapped, even if you've been there before.  There is a lot to be said for feeling the ground beneath your feet. A solid foundation provides comfort and security in an unsteady world. I miss being centered and grounded. When I do eventually reach the shore, it will be an unfamiliar one. We can never go back once we've been swept out by the ocean of grief. But I will be a much stronger swimmer, already am.

This Green Juice Nourishes Your Complexion

There are days when I skip the exotic veggies and return to my staple juice. I craved the sweet, crisp taste of celery juice this week. A simple recipe that is the equivalent to homemade chicken soup in my book. It warms my heart by returning to the familiar. This specific juice will rejuvenate your skin & hair. You'll need: 2 heads of vitamin B packed celery, 1 1b. of carrots, 4 large blood-pressure lowering cucumbers and 1 peeled lemon. Trim the ends off all the veggies and wash well. Divide them in half into two piles. Cucumbers may be juiced on low, the rest on high. This should yield about 64 oz, enough for 4 days. Celery and cukes reduce the acidity in our bodies, believed to cause disease. They are well-know anti-cancer foods and will keep you "regular". Not bad for two very easy to find inexpensive vegetables.

I don't actually use a lemon, I use lemon ice cubes. One cube per batch and I toss it in the juice catching container prior to juicing. Our lemon tree is on steroids, so I squeeze a bunch of lemons and pour the juice into ice cube trays, freeze them, and then pop the cubes into a gallon freezer bag. Store in the freezer and you have lemon for all your recipes until next citrus season! Pretty clever for a city girl, don't you think?