My birthday is October 23rd. Autumn baby. Friday’s Child. Loving and giving.
I was born in Pensacola Florida 1959 at a US Navy Hospital.
My sister and brother were both born in North Carolina in the 2 subsequent years. We all had little Southern accents.
Then we grew up in our parents original home in Connecticut. New England killed the Southern accent. Stayed there until I went my sophomore-senior years to New York, then lived in NYC for 4 years before moving to Boston. You had to have a Boston accent to communicate up there. Too cold…Moved to Florida for a second time. Too hot!! 4 yrs later moved up to Martha’s Vineyard then to the Jersey Shore, then 22 years later back to Florida for a 3rd time! I guess I keep coming home!
You could say I’ve got the accents pretty much down pat.
When I lived in Fort Lauderdale in the 1980’s everyone was called “Bud” with a heavy drawl. It’s not like that now unless you’re really back country. Not sure if that’s true anymore.
When I first moved back to Naples FL to be near my friends who had moved there I was surprised at how much development had taken place in those years between 1986 and 2002 (I had started to visit them and moved 6 years later). And it was beautiful and comfortable.
I had started networking right away so it was easy for me to pick up work when I got my Florida massage license . What started as self-care became caring for others and my first ever Spa employment. My first full-time job in Naples was actually in Marco Island at the brand new (2008) Hilton Spa. I got to be in the original training program which took place for an entire month in one room with 40 or so people. We learned about products and protocols, service and operations. We had a close knit team. And then the Economic Collapse happened and only a few of us got to keep our jobs which were barely keeping us alive.
Even then I would come home after a long day and I’d get on the computer and arrange classes, applying to the various Boards and State and the various tasks that keep it going. I would work til midnight and then be on the road by 6 or 7 the next day. For two years I did that and then started working at LaPlaya Beach Resort in Naples. I loved working there because it was beautiful with wooden floors and garden views.
I was there until March 2020 when COVID struck the world. It didn’t make sense for me to expose myself to that virus and all the people who might be jet-setting around the globe so I stopped doing spa work and didn’t work again until June 2021 when I got my COVID vaccine.
During that time I learned about giving Webinars and arranging for them to be approved in the proper channels. I volunteered with Soul Lightening International Acupressure to update their programs many of which I teach. It was a very busy time. Enforced education.
I also gardened. I volunteered to beautify the back area of my condo association. It was good to be out on the Earth and was very worthwhile.
I still have a lot of class building to do and I am confident that it will go well and grow and it takes a lot of time and energy to do so. I have not gone back to spas and am only seeing private clients now and working on creating and building my classes.
I hope to be more free to travel sometime when COVID dies down. I miss my family in Connecticut and friends in various places that I would visit occasionally.
I have been to visit my father in Pompano Beach FL, 2 hours away, who will celebrate his 85th birthday this month. I enjoy joining him and my step-mom for lunch then he and I walk in the pool for an hour. He still plays golf three times a week. Does the grocery shopping and cooking. Keeps him young. That and the 11 Grand Children and 6 Great-Grand Children & 1-on-the-way!! It is a joy to watch our family grow. A really beautiful family. Very accomplished and lovely. Lots of handfuls. Heartfuls.
My friend Rosemarie Phillips was from Hawaii. I met her in my massage class. I was 35 years old, she was 70. Her daughter Radiance (Charlene Madeiros) lived in Hawaii and took folks on treks around the islands and when I was through with school I took myself there to be with her. This is a photo essay of my time there.
One of my favorite stories to tell is of when on my first visit to Hawaii I was backpacking cabin-to-cabin in Mount Haleakala. The trip started with light, cloudy rain. The mountain was covered in a cloud, very damp and then the rain came faster and faster.
The first leg of the trip was the longest — 10 miles — to get to Poliku Camp Cabin. The walk was vigorous and rocky and slick! It was invigorating and wet!
When we got to the cabin Radiance set about making a fire and dinner from the fresh vegetables we had packed in. We took everything out of our packs and hung all the clothing around the cabin so that the warm wood stove could dry everything. We called it a Chinese Laundry.
Radiance gave me a traditional Lomi Lomi Massage right on top of the picnic table that could seat 12. She used some vocalizations along with her massage — toning. I fell completely asleep. I was so deeply asleep that I did not hear her pop popcorn which was on the counter when I woke up in the dark!!
We learned to hide our Powerbars under a heavy pan when we found the ones in our pockets had been sampled by the local resident mice.
It rained so hard that night that I got to see how waterfalls are formed…many waterfalls. And later one of the rangers on horseback who had checked on us told us that it rained more than 32 inches that night!!!
How marvelous. I thought for sure it would be on the front page of the newspaper but it wasn’t. Because such things are normal in a rain forest and in fact that is how waterfalls are formed and fill the water areas all around the island.
It also gets cold up on that mountain/dormant volcano. She had told me to bring a “down jacket”. To Hawaii???!!! I never have. It just blows my whole perception of Hawaii. I did bring a down sleeping bag. Good cozy call.
The next morning after we repacked our dry belongings and headed out it was still raining hard. I had made a poncho and leggings with large plastic bags. (The pictures here are of a later trip I took that was just as wet where I came more prepared) When we left the cabin the water was up to my thighs.
We walked about 50 yards and another couple approached us through the rain on the flooded one-lane path. They asked us for the combination to the cabin since they were supposed to be camping in tents. We gave them the combination and they said, “Stay with us!” We declined the invitation. We were heading to the next cabin — a 5-mile hike to Kapalaoa. (There are three cabins the final one was another 5-mile hike to Holua).
After we said “no” to the invite, in the downpour, with his hands covering his eyes so he could see the German gentleman yelled, “Do you know what you are doing?” We looked at each other and we looked at the trail and we nodded to him that yes indeed we knew what we were doing as we headed to our destination, swimming with our feet.
Whenever I get into a situation that is somewhat difficult I remember that man yelling through the hard rain, “Do you know what you are doing?” and it helps me to realize that I do know,, that I am prepared and I am moving forward.
The same routine followed the second night…fire, food, time together, peace.
Packed the next day and headed out to a third final day which sunnied up. Things got lighter and we could hike in our sarongs, hats covering our heads from the strong sunshine.
When we got to the end the ranger told us about the inches of rain and then asked Radiance if she would like to be an honorary Ranger. She had lived there her whole life and they knew she respected and understood the land in ways even they didn’t know. She was great with knowing which plants were medicinal and which were poisonous. Various animals and endangered species. As a nurse, bodyworker, community healer, naturalist, vocalist and dancer she knew what she was doing!!!
I took over 300 Kodak film photos on that trip. Endearingly, friends would call looking at them “Alvina Torture”, especially Aida after she fell asleep while trying to pay attention for a long time!!! Once another travel friend who was tired of my clicking away all the time reached for my camera saying, “Give it to me!!” :))
Enjoy the trip.
Radiance Ready to Go!This was from my second trip where I was prepared with rain gear.Path lined with Silver SwordsSilversword only found in Haleakala and Mauna KeuNene or Hawaiian Goose, state birdPele’s Paint Pot (Fire Goddess)A sunnier timeHaleakala in a cloudPaliku Falls Haleakala HIa mule in the rainSouth Haleakala Falls Feeding Seven Sisters PoolsRadiance crossing treacherous roaring riverComing out of the bamboo forest to waterfall that feeds Seven Sisters PoolsBamboo makes a clacking sound in the windCabinInside the cabin 2nd trip Rene & Radiance & meTouristsRadiance and Rene who had a B&B in Hana, HITai Chi by Seven Sisters Pools Ocean Radiance would say The Body Just Wants To Move!!!Thanksgiving 1994 Plumeria Crown Makawao HIPrema Desara who was granted permission by HH the Dalai Lama to teach The 21 Praises of Tara. My first meeting with her Maui21 TarasThe Taras are bedecked in jewelsEach Tara is born from a living lotus expressing a PraiseThe Tara DanceRadiance and Rosemarie
Mimi’s class, Choosing the Artist’s Path, uses Julia Cameron’s well known workbook, The Artist’s Way as the core curriculum.
She says, “Choosing the Artist’s Path is one of my permanent offerings at Project Write Now, a nonprofit in Red Bank, NJ that transforms organizations, communities, and individuals through writing where I’ve been working for several years teaching tweens and teens Songwriting.
In my Songwriting programs, students learn how to connect with themes that are personal to them, and therefore resonate on a universal level. This is a quality found in all good writing. During this strange and scary time especially, Songwriting is a great outlet, as well as a way to build community and spend time together. A way to explore our stories, and set them to music.
You may remember that the main character of my debut novel BEFORE GOODBYE is a budding songwriter. It’s really through her exploration of songs and lyric writing, that main character Cate Reese begins healing, after a great loss.
I believe that all writing is healing, but Songwriting in particular, since it involves singing. Singing is a wonderful way to focus on our breath and our bodies, similar to the way we do when practicing yoga. It’s a meditative, fun activity that helps us express ourselves, release tension, and relax, and I’m happy to be able to provide one-on-one voice lessons over Zoom during a time when people need to “make some noise” more than ever.”
A student testimonial reads:
I am creative! I am an artist! These were affirmations I could neither feel nor express until I met Mimi Cross.
Mimi Cross, course facilitator of the 12-week workshop, Choosing the Artist’s Path, takes a strategically well-planned book and methodology, author Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, and brings it to life, specifically, to your life, as she guides you through the wonderful journey of getting in touch with the creative force within you.
Mimi fully brings herself and her experiences to every class as she personalizes the course material for each student. Her concepts and insights helped me reach into myself, become aware, connect, and find the core issues keeping me creatively blocked. In her class, I learned to rekindle my creativity, spirituality, and respect my gift.
Building on this wonderful experience, you will find that Mimi’s delightful, meaningful and spiritually connected meditations take you to another place; a place deep within you. She then gently eases you from meditation into a writing or visual art experience.
If you want to get in touch with your creativity and yourself, meet Mimi Cross.
Broadway Rendition of Seasons of Love/Let The Sun Shine January 21, 202. A New Dawn, A New Day and I’m Feelin’ Good!!!! (Actually that is a lyric from Nina Simones Feeling Good but it reflects how I feel when I listen to and watch this video :)) )
….Honest friends are doorways to our souls, and loving friends are the grasses that soften the world. It is no mistake that the German root of the word friendship means “place of high safety.” And as Sant Martin said, “My friends are the beings through whom God loves me.”
There can be no greater or simpler ambition than to be a friend.
Meditation:
Center yourself and open your heart to the unnamable place of high safety.
After a time, look around in your heart and see who is there.
Breathe gently and give thanks for the true friends you have.
