Serendipity

There are many words that I love in the English language but there are a few that will always make me smile for obvious and less obvious reasons. Today a fellow Jane Austen fan did tweet this word as a hashtag and it took me breath away. Why? Well, because it is word that I do strongly believe in.

Perhaps some of you have never even heard of the word and this perhaps because it is not a word to be used on a daily basis. I do think that it is a word that is very fitting to be used at a day as today.

In Australia they are already celebrating 2012 and to be honest I can't wait to get dressed up & drink some heavenly champagne in the company of some good friends. Friends that do matter to me greatly. At a day as this I do take some time to look back at what I have ended up after 365 days more on my personal timeline.

Well,...what can I say that I am so grateful for what I do have? That I am over the moon about the fact that I am still surrounded by family, friends and human beings that make me feel very much alive and hopefull? That I feel blessed when it comes down to friendship and love? That opposite me two men are sitting that I love above all? That I strongly believe in many words that matter on a daily basis? That I this last year did find so much more out there then I hoped for? That I did let go but still try to hold on when the night is dark and the moon seems to be hiding? That a smile, a tear, a wink, a kiss, a pad on the shoulder, a song over the radio, a wave, a post card, a Tweet, a message on the my phone, a good book, a cup of George Clooney coffee, a gigantic chocolate muffin, a glass of champagne had an amazing powerful effect on me....... and I could go on for hours because in 2011 that I was all granted in the company of some amazingly impressive and loving people.

One of the many reasons that I do like the word here above is that it is very hard to translate. 'Happy accident' is one of them and perhaps that is a very good way of putting down in some very easy words what this extra ordinary word is. It has given me so much more then I could ever hoped for in a year that I do wish to call serendipity all over. The world might sometimes have gone mad but even in hybris I did find some sparks of hope.

Chances are high that you reader have been one of these sparks. So yes, before the old year comes to an end I do wish to say thank you from the bottom of heart. Some of you might not have been aware of the energy you did share with me. But then everything happens for a reason and therefor let us in 2012 go with the flow and try to share the happy tidings and hopefully find old and new hands to hold on to when the tidings are less cheerful.

I would gladly invite you over for a gigantic cup of festive Gingerbread latté with a gigantic double chocolate muffin at the Starbucks in Central Station of Brussels. This in order to just sit there and let the world pass by. But I bet that most of you will be the next few days be quite busy with being very grateful and hopeful. But please be so kind to accept my sincere wishes for the new year that is already peeping around the corner. Please stay observative and when an accident does happen then please believe in the force of 'Serendipity'. Let 2012 be the year you are after in your dreams and beyond. And let it be a year filled up with many 'happy accidents'.

P.S.: I do have a very special reason to have picked this song. It was in Central Park about 10 years ago that some extra ordinary feeling popped up in my heart and that I did not could wait to see the one smile of the person that now get to spend our 11th New Years Eve with. <3

A Merry Little Xmas

I am home for the holidays!!! And yes, I managed to get into the mood for xmas. P told me today while he tried to find something edible in this 'empty' house that he still has not found the xmas spirit. 'Well I think I did!', was then my reply. Wished that I could share it with him but the thing is that I do think that you need to discover or it rather rediscover the spirit of xmas yourself.

Where did I find my xmas feeling this year? Well,..... surprise suprise... at work. 'Boring', you might think. Because you might think that I am talking about the annual xmas party or that I fell in love with the lovely xmas tree that is brighting up the dark and cold reception area of our school building. Nope! It is more then that.

It was more....

- the amazingly cute xmas cards that I did find in my mail box. The ones my pupils made were of course the most touching. 'Mrs S did I this year spell all the English words correctly?' The hopeful look in this pupil her eyes told me so much more.
- the wonderful testimony that colleague and young mother L gave today during our xmas service. My feet were changing into icecubes but her sincere and touching words made me swallow down a few tears.
- the extra portions food that were to be discovered in many places. I must say that the pancake, the yummy 'eclaires', the delicious 'bouche de Noël',baked marshmellows and a coffee with xmas touch to it added a delicious twist to my xmas spirit that was popping up.
- the moment that a pupil of mine called my desk 'clean'. Yes, Stallie can be so chaotic but she likes to keep everything close by and then ends up with high stacks of papers. It is miracle that at the end of the term she is still visible to her audience. So yes, I did classify (read throw) away some of the 'old' paperwork to make room for the 'new' on that the next year will bring me. But this compliment did make my heart glow.
- the reactions of my sophomores when I handed over their report cards. Most faces told me that they were relieved and so was I. This year I feel blessed when it comes down to motivated pupils. Kids that will need still encounter many hard moments in their lives but have shown me in the last three months something that makes me still hopeful when it comes down to the future.
- the numerous hugs, meaningful compliments and winks I got this week. Words can give you wings. I can tell you that today more then once a co worker or a pupil used meaningful words that I did copy loud and clear. I wrapped them up and put a very big bow around them and took them along home to plant them under our xmas tree.

One look over my shoulder does tell me that at work I do find so much more then just work. Xmas is the time of giving and receiving. It should not be about getting even or taking revenge. Xmas is for sure the moment that you are granted an opportunity to observe the world with your five senses and that you do come to terms with what you already have in abundance and want to share with human kind and this globally.

Okay I admit that the best moment of the day did take place at home. Our son A, who managed to get very good grades at school and whose teacher is also very proud of him and who did star in the annual xmas musical as a doc, asked tonight for a very big hug. Not just an ordinary one but one while the three of us were holding on to each other. 'Merry xmas!', he then yelled and it was then that I did feel that xmas did arrive for sure at this house.

Because isn't it so that we find the mystery of xmas in the rather less visible? Have all of you a very Merry 'little' Xmas.

P.S.: Today during the church service someone said that the reason that many of us like the Nativity story that much is because it ends well. Happy tidings still echo while I listen or read it myself!

Getting into the Xmas Spirit?!

Today A and I did drag half the content of our attic down the stairs. The 7 year old was all in smiles because he has got this such touching excitement going on when the Holidays pop around the corner. And yes, it is contagious. By the time we put all the decorations in the right places of our cold house my heart was glowing. Outside the first snow is fighting back against warmer temperature but I guess more will come soon of that white powder!

Also did the final countdown started. The Twelve days of Xmas is one of my favorite Holiday poems. And I also love to put on xmas cds and sign along. ot even caring that I am singing of key. And today I even created a xmas card with for the first time a family picture of the three of us on it. We have never done this before. Also the first ordered online xmas gifts arrived in boxes on our doorsteps. Best box that we did find this week was the gigantic one that my precious friend C did send me over. The beautiful content is now hanging in our xmas tree. I LOVE IT!!!

Not that my spirit is already totaly wrapped up in xmas spirit. Stallie is a total last minute person on that front. As long as I am running around at work and have things to deal with work related I just can not find the time to get all wrapped into xmas. Nope, I have not attented one single xmas market so far because and nope I have not bought my secret santa gift yet for a family member.

Peace I do hope to find once I leave work next Friday. After all that is what xmas should be about. For me the peace message this festive period tries to carry out is crucial. I love to share this with as many as possible and world wide. But then there are still people out there who seem to have been less inclined to be peaceful.

Yes, Belgium tends to be rather a boring place. That we needed over 500 days to find a new government and plan to govern was perhaps a desperate scream for attention. This week our Prime Minister Elio diRupo was asked by a Dutch regional camera the way to Manneke Pis and these guys did not even knew who he was. Not that he seemed to be upset about it. After all he is only human.

I wonder if this is the case with the person who decided to destroy the peaceful xmas spirit that lingered around in the streets of Liége. That person ended up destroying so much more. The destruction, the pain, the suffering and the loss that human being created out there was/is beyond any word. The images that I found out on the internet did show me more then I wished to see. It felt like I was tresspassing. I felt awkward and then the classic one liner did pop up:'Why in the world, did he do that? What was he thinking when he decided to pull the trigger'

Yes, I am tempted to go on now and trying to express to you what it has done to my mind. But then I want to keep believing in the fact that there are still more people out there who only want peace and not death as form of justification. Liége will end up in my annual newsletter and it will for sure linger around for many years in the common mind of the Belgian people. Some scars will never heal.

Most touching story I read the day after was about a teenager whose body will for over contain a left over of the person who 'destroyed'. Surgeons decided to let one of bullets in the kids his kidney. The idea that you have got something inside of you that is designed to hurt and kill must be undescrible.

So this week Stallie does intend to get into the spirit of Xmas. I also wish you a very nice week out there to get everything done you wish to get done to have the xmas you wish for. My list of wishes is this xmas rather short but I do hope that many will find peace of mind. And yes, every time when I light a candle many will be in my thaughts and prayers. It will be a prayer for peace and enlightment.

P.S.: I did not find a fitting song to go along whith this entry. But this weekend I got to see this gem. And a zen drummer is fur sure an enlightned soul.

Stallie Says Yes!!!!

Major remark: NO THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE WEDDING PREPOSAL I STILL LONG FOR!!! So if you hoped it was about that you better do not read on! :-)))))


Sinterklaas has brought me this year tons of candy. Something I should be thrilled about if you are called auntie Lolly by your nephews and nieces. Even the ballet studio I left with in my hands a little plastic bag filled up with candy. I was also the one who dragged from one meeting to an other bags filled up with all Sinterklaas candy. I just eat myself through the week before Sinterklaas. Basically because I seem to be preparing myself for the worst weeks of the year that are heading my way.

Last week I had some set backs because I sometimes was facing the consequences of saying one more time yes. In what kind of mess I got myself by just nodding my head and commiting myself to a certain task. Yes, I have got the tendency to say that word quite often.

The last few weeks I seem to have the idea that I perhaps have said once or twice to much yes. Because I think I need a clone to get all the things done that I have noted down in my stylish black Moleskine day to day diary. In there I try to keep track of all my appointments and also the things I need to get done asap. Not that I will write a deadline behind them because that is something that I honestly not always believe in.

In general is Stallie the person who likes a bit of pressure in order to see the urgency of getting a certain job or task done. Something I picked up while writing for the High School newspaper. The fact that it took my own politicians over 500 days to come down to an agreement that most of them can live by till the next election just makes me believe that a deadline sometimes just won't stand . So much time I am never granted to proof myself right for a certain job or make sure that keep my promise. But hey, I guessed that they only wanted to say yes to something they all can believe in or at least can live by for the coming two years.

Once I have said yes to something or someone then this lady wants her to keep the end of the bargain very badly. The word deadline can trigger my mind. Not that I think that I do not have enough time. Hey, I even still have found some minutes to type this entry. And yes, there are many things that I still find the time for even tough I consider myself so busy most of the time.

Because yes is a very powerful word that has brought me more then I ever bargained for. Okay, yes it has also sometimes makes me feel stressed out (more then once I was told today that I did look rather 'shitty') but it also makes me feel very much alive. Yes, I know you need to say no once in a while to make sure that they do not take advantage of you but still...that word can add some adventure to my dull existence

This summer when flying back home from my wonderful Berlin trip the person who was sitting next to me saw what book I was reading:'Yesman' by Danny Wallace! He was very pleased. 'You know what I think that we should say more yes!', he said. It is always very nice when a stranger gives unasked personal comments on a book you are reading. 'YES!', was my response but then I added the words that I had picked up while reading:' But there are many kinds of yes! And that is what many people tend to forget!'

So when have you today said 'yes'? I challenge you to write down the numerous times you did say this little at the first glance insignificant word. You will be amazed! There are many people out there who still use their veto when it comes down to taking risks. But personally I think in the world whe live in you will have to let go the prejudice and just dare to embark on an adventure that might bring you more then you ever imagined. The power of yes? YES, I BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF YES!!!!

Read By Chance

Today I do not wish to elaborate a lot on what is going on in my life.
But I just wish to share this with you.
Something I got to read by chance.
Words I consider quite true when it comes down to friendship...

By Choice We Became Friends
It is by chance we met, by choice we became friends...

Friendship is a strange thing....we find ourselves telling each other the deepest details of our lives...things we don't even share with our families who raised us...But what is a friend? A confidant? A lover? A fellow email junkie? A shoulder to cry on? an ear to listen? a heart to feel?... A friend is all these things...and more. No matter where we met, .... I call you friend. A word so small...yet so large in feeling...a word filled with emotion.

It is true great things come in small packages. Once the package of friendship has been opened, it can never be closed... it is a constant book always written...waiting to be read... and enjoyed. We may have our disagreements...we may argue... we may concern one another...friendship is a unique bond that lasts through it all....

A part of me is put into my friends...some it is my humor... some it is my listening ear... some it is real life experiences... some it is my romanticism...but with all, it is friendship.

Friendships forged are a construct stronger than steel built as a foundation....necessary for life... and necessary for love. Friends...you and me... you brought another friend.. and then there were 3... we started our group... Our circle of friends... and like that circle... there is no beginning or end...

by Unknown

Perhaps the only thing I want to add to these lyric words is that friendship does not come along with a number. The last few years I have found more then ever that age does not matter when it comes down to friends. So stop hiding your wrinkles or trying to look older then you in reality are because it does not matter to me. It never did, it never will.

P.S.: the poem, the picture and even the clip I picked out I can all link to friendship. The ones who know me quite well will know how, where, when and what!!! ;-))

The mind is racing, the mind is full!

I have been not on for quite some time. Partly GERD is to blame for that but also time. Once half way November I seem to have the absurd idea that time is just slipping through my fingers. So I just basically did not find enough time and inspiration to spit out here an entry that I considered worth while to donate some time on.

I am dealing with some hot issues for the moment. Ones that I try to get my head around. The one day it goes smoother then others. One day it seems that the sun is shining in my mind and the next I think that I hear thunderstorms nearing that will mess up my very well constructed shedule.

But I have made some promises two years ago about me, myself and I. I do not wish to go back where it was rather dark most of time. It was a spot where I mostly met up with something that was not creating the life I was after. The day that I decided that enough was enough and that I walked out, I did slam the door very loudly. What I found 'back' made it so much more worth while to try and not to give up even when it is tough.

Mindfulness is something I very strongly believe in. It has helped me and keeps helping me to focus on what truly matters. The last few months many have asked me if it is normal to feel sometimes a bit lost at your thirties. If that what they are facing or have obtained in their lives that this will be it. If the sensation they get up with in the morning will be as good as it gets for the rest the will hang out on this planet.


More then once I was asked where the love went, the sensation they seem to have lost while building a house, finding the dream job they were after, putting children on this globe and travelling the seven seas. Most of them even used the word midlife crises and P has already the word 'motorbike. That last act made me LOL outloud because I tried to picture my other significant on one of these fierce bikes racing into Brussels wearing one of these leather outfits. I just could not get my head around that one but still the word midlife crises was then mentioned out loud. And yes, even he has his moments that he wonders:'Is this it??''

My answer is always the same:'Yes and no!!!!' Most of the time I will then get weird looks because then I wonder if they are planning to travel along with me. Because the voyage I long to take them along on is not that straight forward. For me the word that seems to get others on board is 'perception'! It is a word that in many cases holds up to change your POV.

What I see day in day out does give my life color but sometimes it is hidden and awaiting you in less straightforward places and moments. I do like the light and bright colors better when I get up in the mornings if I try to take a closer look at the sky. It is then that I refuse to get back on the dark outfits that I tend to wear when my mood is down. The moment that A walks into the bathroom and shows his blond hair and his cute smile I try to suck up the energy he is sending out into the cold bathroom. I then dive into his eyes, searching what I am desperately searching for and I do find it there. He has never let me down. And not only he. You might even have been part of some energy boost that kept me zen and 'saved' and keep on 'saving' me.

Like this week I felt it when:
- I drove into the darkness to work but saw the break of dawn (I still have not seen 'Breaking Dawn' but I hope to find my way to the cinema soon!) and the first rays of sunlight hit the earth.
- I read a meaningful passage in a book while I was standing in line at the cash register at the supermarket.
- I picked up P his positive vibes over the phone while having a good time in the eternal city. Yes, I was a bit envious that he was able to walk around without an umbrella in 20°C.
- I sensed it when I 'caught' two young lovers kissing each other in the metro and they seemed not to be aware that they were sharing the space with about 50 other people.
- I tasted while I took a big bite of a gigantic chocolate muffin.
- I smiled at the tiny baby that I did hold today in my arms and whose gorgeous eyes touched my soul.
- I listend to the music that Mozart composed and still can make my soul lift me of to a brighter place.
- I put on my perfume and I did smell that open field of daisies that Marc Jacobs was after when he bottled the odor components.
- I did hear the voice a friend who asked very sincere if I was okay and took the time to listen to what I felt like.
- I longed for it while I was having lunch with in front of me a very good friend and in the background the great skyline of the city that has conquered my heart.
- I smiled while reading the delicately hand writen letter from my Jane Austen pen pale M who I hope to share many happy tidings with.
- I felt sweat running down my backbone while dancing away on the music of Rene Aubry.
- I send of an other tweet into Twitter space and I sometimes ended up with the most unexpected reply of a stranger. Strangers that sometimes make me see things very cleary.

Yes, I have found this week the power in many things. I sucked up the energy that each of these acts tried to share with me. Because energy I will need a great deal over the next few weeks. I just hope that 'Sinterklaas' will be so kind to bring me some chocolate because that is something I might need in case of an emergency and I did ran out of Magic Mindfullness Potion.

In case he is in doubt: I was very good this year and I try to use the force wisely! Oeps, sorry wrong guy but then Yoda and Sinterklaas seem to have found out that Mindfulness can make the difference. It surely keeps them very young for their age. Because one can easily kick some ass with the Dark side and the other rides over roofs while balancing on a gigantic big white horse.