The Gypsy Mama — Snapshots of life lived between countries, callings, and kids.

In which I tell you thanks and buy a donkey

January 16, 2012

I’m a girl who spent a large chunk of tonight re-soaking and re-washing pots that I’ve been ignoring for an embarrassing chunk of time.
I’m a girl who has a desk surrounded by 10 (I just counted) trucks/fire trucks/garbage trucks and police type vehicles. I’m a girl who has a pile of books on her desk [...]

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You are cordially invited to un-lurk

January 14, 2012

So, once a year it’s fun to invite everyone lurking out there on the fringes of ye old blog, to come and share a comment. A virtual howdy. A shout out to let us know you’re there and what you love about hanging here.
It’s National De-luker Day
So, if you’re a quiet reader who doesn’t usually [...]

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Five Minute Friday: Awake

January 13, 2012

On Fridays around these parts we stop, drop, and write.
For fun, for love of the sound of words, for play, for delight, for joy and celebration at the art of communication.
For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Unscripted and unedited. We just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.
Won’t you join us?
1. [...]

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What a mother needs to keep running so that she doesn’t end up running away

January 11, 2012

I’m a mini van-driving mom. And I love it. Both being a mom and my sky blue mini van with enough room for another parent, my three kids, a couple of their friends and all the random collection of back packs, soccer balls, swords and snacks that inevitably make the journey with us.
This week I’m [...]

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And then after 18 years I rediscovered my mom

January 9, 2012

Eighteen years isn’t enough.
Not by a long shot.
Because she won’t remember. She won’t remember the first one when I rocked her through every night and ached from the tired and how much my heart wanted to eat her whole. She won’t feel the knitted blanket I wrapped around her and the giraffe lovie I tucked [...]

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Five Minute Friday: Roar

January 6, 2012

The first Friday of the new year.
Let’s do it. Let’s just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.
For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Let your mind and your words and your heart fly free; wild – no editing, no over thinking.
Won’t you join me?
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – don’t edit; [...]

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Be careful which mirrors you choose to believe

January 2, 2012

Close your eyes.

Close your eyes and let go of what others wrote last year. Let go of the beautiful, sparkly words that weren’t yours and that you wish you could’ve produced.
Close your eyes and let the wishing and itching at what your house isn’t, seep out your pores.
Close your eyes and stop seeing the behavior [...]

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Five Minute Friday: Open

December 30, 2011

What a week.
What a collection of posts – nearly 200 hundred delicious confections.
What a feast.
Thank you for sharing. Thank you for reading. Thank you for encouraging so many. For my part, I’m so grateful to each one of you for being part of this space, this community, these voices.
We swap stories here. We read life [...]

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The post you wish more people had read

December 26, 2011

We did this last year.
We took a day. One day. And sat around together, slumped over sofas, feet up on the coffee table, comfortably folded into chairs, across futons, stretched out on the floor and just reveled in each other’s stories.
The stories that we wished more people had read. We ate them like so much [...]