Optimism in the Pouring Rain

Someone once told me that good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people. It's not true. Things just happen, and they happen to everyone. But you already knew that, right? This has been a week of personal trials -- it feels as if my family is melting into puddles -- and everything that's happened is beyond our control. Completely beyond, and the only things to be done are to pray, burn a little sage, and have faith.

I have my 'big show' this weekend. The Intermountain gig. I'm a little concerned that our country's economic woes will, inevitably, spill over into this little mecca of peace and tranquility. It's not been great the past few years at Intermountain in a financial aspect (I'm down about $25 - $50 each progressing year going on seven or eight years, even though the show brings in hundreds of shoppers), but the spiritual aspect is all there and growing exponentially. My enthusiasm for creating mass amounts of gorgeous soap waned at about batch four, around the time my Janus funds dropped nearly $1000 in the span of a moment. If you knew how long it took to earn that $1000 . . .

So, yes, I'm worried. About that and about the reopening of The Scented Djinn. And about the new class I'm tutoring at NNAPA. Frankly, I was surprised, and exceedingly pleased, to see how many people were interested in attending the course, even knowing they might have to shell out a bit of money for evaluation kits, essence kits and primers. Chemistry is currently my enemy and I'm studying like a mad woman everything I can about essential oil chemistry. It's interesting, enlightening and, sadly, demystifying. Chemistry. Hate it. That and math. Give me words. Words and meaning and spirituality and humanity and understanding and love. Give me those because right now I really need them.