**While she is technically still on the path to her profession, I felt her story was worth telling. For some of it is more of a journey to find our place than for others.
“It was my goal in life to be beautiful,” she told me. Well my friend, I couldn’t help but think, you have reached your goal. Ericka Vega is a buddy that I’ve known for a couple of years now, and I wondered what she was up to these days. I messaged her on FaceBook and invited myself over for an interrogation… I mean an interview.
We sat in her backyard and relaxed as we talked. I asked her what work she was doing now and did I get an answer! She started off by telling me about her Mr. Dave. Years ago she started to clean his home a couple of times a month, for some extra income. That all changed when his physical needs changed. When he needed more of a caregiver, Ericka stepped up to the plate. “God is pretty amazing,” she told me. What started off as a cleaning job, had turned into much more for her. Since she grew up without a dad, she feels blessed to have in Mr. Dave in her life as a bit of a father figure. Now, she takes him to appointments at Stanford, and gets him out of the house. She also is getting him involved in another area of her life, weight training. Continue reading “A Study in Pink – Ericka”
I once had a dream where I was swinging a baseball bat. The problem? I wasn’t playing baseball. I was swinging away at things (I’m not even sure what?) just smashing objects at will. When I woke up and remembered my dream, I could still recall the anger and frustration I had felt. It was really weird to see myself that frustrated, even if it was in a dream. It was a bit scary to realize that this anger and frustration was buried in my sub conscious. Like I said, the first time I had the dream, I was dealing with teenage boys. I love my children and the men they are becoming, but there was a time that they were struggling badly. Really….it was hard! 
Blue Door Massage and Spa is the brainchild of Grace Parreira and Ayla Tidwell. These two friends and certified massage therapists had a dream, but interestingly enough, it did not start with massage. Their stories are somewhat similar, as they both were using massage as a way to pay for college. At this point I was a little surprised, but I then started to appreciate their thinking. The thought was to be trained at a technical school, so then they would be able to work and earn degrees without going into debt. 
As I called on the kids and got various answers, I heard something curious from our girls. They tended to follow what their friends wanted to do. Our first girl wanted to be a mermaid, and all of a sudden we had five who wanted to be mermaids. The interesting thing was when other professions were brought up, some changed their mind and many of them chose to be something different. Oh except for the one who wanted to be a doctor AND a mermaid.
Once there was a woman, and she had gotten her feelings hurt. Nothing too bad, but the unkindness hit her especially hard at that time. Maybe she was feeling a little vulnerable. Anyway, the more she tried to analyze the situation, (sound like anyone you know?) she decided that the only thing she could really do was pray for them. She did that, not because she was so smart, but because the hurt was taking over her mind. She knew the person was probably tired, and under some stress. She also knew that the reaction she had received was not normal for them. It was then that she thought, better me than someone else who maybe wouldn’t be able to let go of the hurt. 
So I was trolling FaceBook the other day and saw a post that was shared by one of my friends. An author, Lysa TerKeurst, had come across a quote that she said had challenged her. The quote, “who you are speaks so loudly, I can barely hear what you’re saying”, had her thinking about how our actions speak louder than words.
I have a new office. Well, it is actually one of the same old bedrooms in our house, but we have given it a major overhaul. It has been cleaned and painted from top to bottom, adorned with a new desk, rug and drapes. The things that were in this room are coming back in one at a time. With each item, I am taking the time to see if I truly need it or not. This room had previously housed our computer, desk and other “office” stuff. It had also become a catch all for everything else. When that happened, it became a room that I did not like. There were things in the room that did not belong, and other things that needed to be addressed, but could be ignored because they were hidden in the chaos.
Cheryl Mendoza 