MsTiara’s Thoughts

If you could replay one moment over and over again what would it be? What is your pinnacle moment?

Sitting in a café in New Orleans with the sun streaming in from the windows above with the sunlight touching the walls painted the colour of the sunset, filling the room with warmth.

The air smells rich from the baking cookies and the chair beneath me is slightly chilled. The table I am sitting at is wrought iron and could be found on a patio on a spring day.

The sandwiches were perfect, toasted bread, crisp lettuce, the ham’s flavor bursting in my mouth so perfectly. The ice tea I was drinking was cold upon my tongues and I could feel it going down my throat as I sipped it. Every sip was connecting me to the energy of the world.

I was more alive in that moment, sharing laughter and friendship with my friend Suse, realizing that life and living was what this moment was all about. That THIS was living, not the making or spending money, not the constantly striving, but this single moment in time.

It was a dream and a wish that I had since I was a child, to travel and meet my friends in places and moments in time. To be able to experience them and to be able to live rather than to survive or live in the past or trying to create the future.

What we talked about, what we shared, I do not remember. But, I do know, that at the end of my life and when it flashes before my eyes, that of all the snapshots I pull out to remember, this one would be one of my favorites.

I wonder, why people replay the ugly moments in time, the negative words and voices that negate us and bring us down. Why wouldn’t you want for the snapshots that define you to be filled with moments of living and life?

How Bad Project Management Can Bankrupt a Company

Why the world doesn’t revolve around you (going to meetings on time)

Bad apples, no matter brilliant, are still bad apples

Them – How that single word can cause your project to fail

If you don’t know the answer to your question, asking it in a meeting may not be wise

Can a meeting with 50 people really work and finish ahead of schedule?

The best PM is the one who makes it look effortless

It’s a whole bunch of letters, am I going to be successful now? (PMP, MA, ISO, SOX does it all really make for better project management)

It is what it is…

So what IS the best project management style?

Why must there always be that ONE person?

Arrogance

It weighs so much I can’t even take a step, let alone make it to the end (How compliance and methodology can sometimes hurt more than it helps)

I don’t know what I don’t know

Whose fault is it?

I had been born a Star, no, not a famous person or an actress, an actual Star. You know, when you look up into the sky at night and you see me twinkling down at you and then you tell me all your hopes, dreams, and wishes. I then listen to them and I have to decide which ones I help along to coming true and which ones you have to make happen. Each Star when they are born is given a protector to look out for them and to believe in them. For you see, a Star will disappear from the sky if no one believes in them. My protector and friend happens to be a small dragon, no bigger than my head and he is always with me as I go through my time in the heavens.

One day, Cyn and I decided to take a morning walk through a forest on a warm summer day. The forest path we walked along had little coolness as we wandered underneath the shadows of the ancient trees and shared stories and dreams. The silence of the day was broken as we could hear shrieks up ahead and off the path. As we got closer we could hear childish voices raised in terror, “No! No! Don’t catch us.”

Cyn and I looked at each other in fear and started to run to see if we could help the voices that were crying out. As we rounded the bend we saw a field of grass where a large, black dragon was flying low and deep towards the ground. Ahead of him were 3 baby bunnies running away and they kept on looking back over their shoulders and tripping as the dragon came in even lower before he grabbed them with his claws. As I watched in fear, the dragon swooped around the clearing skimming over the trees and the shrieks of the bunnies could be heard throughout the woods as the dragon came in low over the grass again. Then, gently, he let each bunny drop daintily upon the ground.

The giggles of the bunnies were then filling the clearing instead of their shrieks, and as they ran away from the dragon, I could hear their voices float back upon the wind, “Again! Again! Catch us again! We want to fly as high as the clouds this time and cool off.”

Cyn and I looked at each other in wonder and surprise. It appears we had come across a dragon who had decided to spend his day playing with bunnies instead of causing terror. As I looked up into the sky, the dragon lazily did a loop de loop and turned his head and looked towards Cyn and me. His voice echoed in my head, “Come and play with us.”

I looked longingly at the bunnies, playing in the tall grass as they worked out their strategy with glee. I wanted to run and join them, but I knew that I had so many things I needed to take care of for the day and I was much too old to play with the bunnies. “I want to, but I am too big to play with the bunnies.” I whispered back through the path he had left in my head.

“Then I will just have to make you into a kitten.” As the words whispered through my head I felt myself slowly changing until I was low to the ground. As I looked up at Cyn, I could see myself through his eyes and what I saw was a cream colored kitten with aqua eyes and a white star in the middle of her forehead.

I felt joy rush through me; I had never been young, always having to be wise so I can grant the wishes of the people who look to me with their dreams and hopes. I wondered what it would be like to just be kitten and play for the day and not have to worry about everything I needed to do.

As I once again looked up towards Cyn with the question forming in my mind, he smiled down at me, “It is okay to play for awhile as long as you remember it is for play and it isn’t who you are. You will have to go back to being a Star at the end of the day.” I felt all of my worries slip away as I ran towards the bunnies, and they let me into their circle and we started to whisper out our strategy of just how we were going to evade the dragon before we let him pick us up so we could fly through the clouds and let our laughter shower the land with joy.

As the night sky grew darker and the Dragon carrying the bright star on his back flew farther out over the ocean, if you listened closely you could hear in between the night sounds a voice talking into the darkness.

“Where are we going?” Astrid asked Dragon

There was no audible reply because Dragon was speaking to Astrid using his soul link to her. What Astrid heard in her head was, “patience Little Astrid, patience. Enjoy the night breeze, watch the moon play upon the water and turn it into liquid silver. We shall be there soon enough.”

Astrid sighed deeply and in case Dragon didn’t hear her the first time, she sighed even louder. “Shush” Dragon murmured “and listen.”

As the night grew quiet, Astrid started to pick out all of the different sounds in the night. The closest was the rhythmic flapping of Dragon’s wings. This deep, but almost quite whoosh as he flew steadily onward. Down below she could hear the water rustling into the night which sounded like a back up singer to the drum beat of Dragon’s wings. Then all of a sudden she could hear the main singer, these beautiful deep moans that lifted up to a higher note at the end. One of the most beautiful songs she ever heard. Astrid wondered where they were coming from, who was making them when Dragon started to fly lower towards the water before landing lightly onto a rock that seemed to be floating in the middle of nowhere. As she slid off of Dragon’s back onto the ground she felt the chill from her toes and then winding it’s way up to her head. She looked around and realized that they were on a glacier floating in the ocean and that was what was so cold. Dragon then turned into a boy and created from the very air two long velvet capes. One for Astrid and one for himself.

Star was looking around at the beauty of the floating ice that looked like it had diamonds thrown across the surface as it shone in the moonlight, while all around her the song continued to play. Her back was turned to the water when she heard a splash behind her and the ice rocked gently. As she turned around quickly, she was just able to see a large black shape with a very large eye before it disappeared back under the water.

As she turned to Dragon to ask a question, the shape once again emerged, but this time continued to float at the surface.

“Talk to him,” Dragon encouraged

“Talk? But, Dragon, how can I talk to him? He is an animal.” Astrid replied

“An animal? Astrid, you know better than that. What just because someone is different than you, you can’t communicate with them? They don’t have a brain? They don’t have a soul? Does that mean that neither you nor I truly exist because we are different? Think, Etoile, think”

Astrid continued to stare at the whale in front of her, wondering how she would be able to communicate with it, when she felt Dragon nudge her mind before quickly pulling back. She wondered, could she talk with something who doesn’t speak her language by reaching out to it with her soul? Would they be able to truly understand each other with no words? She slowly opened her mind to the whale in front of her and as she did, her senses were flooded with so much knowledge and love and experiences that she couldn’t even begin to understand. She knew about the whales family going back thousands of years and how they knew all of the stars intimately and the stars knew them. How this very whale was watching the sky the moment she came into existence and had made a wish to meet her. That the reason why she was there in that single moment, was because the whale made a wish on ‘her’ star.

In gratitude for all that she was learning, Astrid shared back to the whale the beauty of the night sky from where she was in the universe and all the dreams and worlds she had been lucky enough to see and experience and be a part of.

Time in that moment ceased to exist as the two met in a world not of words but of light and love. Finally as the sky slowly started to lighten, Dragon touched her arm to bring her back into her physical self. “It is time for you to go back to your home.”

Astrid looked up at him with tears in her eyes, “I don’t want to leave, there is so much more to share.”

Dragon sighed deeply and just in case Astrid didn’t hear him the first time, he sighed again. “Silly Astrid, why should time or distance be any different than physical words? All you have to do is open up your souls to each other and it will be as if you are physically there. Now time to say goodbye.”

Astrid reached out with her mind one more time and showed her friend her opening up her arms and embracing her with all the loving energy she could. Her friend reached back and filled her soul with song. Then Astrid slowly winked out of existence on the glacier before winking into existence on her Star far up in the sky.

A girl lies sleeping in the bed as the evening moves towards midnight. From the shadows in the corner, whispers can be heard, a deep male voice that seems to rumble through the room and a higher voice that seems to whisper and curl around the other.

“Do you think she will ever see me?” Rumbles the first voice.

“She is one of the special ones that can; she is really kind and sweet.” Whispers the second voice.

“What if she doesn’t?”

“It won’t matter, I can see you and I believe in you.”

“But, what if that doesn’t matter, what if SHE has to believe in me.”

“I know she will. You are too special to cease to exist and I believe and I am a part of her soul.”

As the moon shifts in the night sky, a moonbeam highlights the corner of the room. Two figures can be seen curled together so that they blend. One is a red dragon that scales glimmer in the moonlight and the other is a cream colored kitten with a star in the middle of her forehead.

The girl mumbles in her sleep and turns over and curls into a little ball. She is a timeless beauty with blonde hair, pale skin and a small bone structure.

Kitten uncurls from around Dragon and lightly jumps onto the bed to place her paw on the girl’s hand. “Come on, join her in her dreams.”

The Dragon stretches and flexes his wings and lightly flies into the air and toward the girl dreaming on the bed. As he curls around kitten and wraps her in his wings, he places one wing lightly on the girl’s hands.

Kitten purrs and whispers into the night, “Etoile meet Dragon…”

In Etoile’s dreams she is standing in a meadow surrounded by trees that seem to reach into the eternity of the night sky. In the distance she can hear something moving through the sky toward her. There is no fear just a happiness and joy of something special, a gift, that she is about to receive. The stars fill the night sky as Dragon lands lightly before her and on his back is her Kitten, Star.

“Kitten who’s your friend?”

“This is Dragon, can he come live with us?”

Dragon, chuckles and ducks his head in shyness. “shhh, Kitten. She needs to know me, you can’t just ask her.”

Kitten gets all ruffled and nips Dragon’s ear, “why not? She doesn’t know what you want unless you ask her. Please? He’s my friend and he will make a really good friend to you too.”

Etoile giggles at the two of them. There is something about them that makes her smile and the world seems a bit brighter with both of them standing before her. “Hi, Dragon it is a pleasure to meet you and I don’t see why you can’t stay with us. Will your human miss you?”

“He says I can stay with you and I already asked him and he says kitten can stay with him. Kitten likes him.”

Etoile looks up at Kitten, “ummm, you are going to leave me?”

Kitten scrambles down off Dragon’s back and climbs up Etoiles leg to curl around her neck. “No, not leave you; I’m a part of you. Just his human needs a kitten in his life and you need a dragon because you are stuffy and dragons bring laughter. We will still be a part of each other’s souls and go adventuring together, honestly.”

The girl reaches up and scratches Kitten behind her ear and steps towards Dragon and puts her arm around his neck and hugs him. “Why do I have a strange feeling that life is going to be very interesting with the two of you in my life?”

As Dragon chuckled kitten scrambled up to his neck, “want to go flying?”

“Can I really?”

“Of course! Let’s go fly through the stars!” As Etoile climbed onto Dragon’s back and they took off into the sky, bunny rabbits snuck out of the trees and cheered as they tumbled into the meadow.

As Dragon, Kitten and Etoile flew through the night sky and started the first of many adventures Etoile turned over with a smile on her face back in the bedroom and curled around the Dragon and Kitten lying there.

The next morning, as the sun rose in the sky Etoile yawned and felt warm and happy. As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the red dragon curled up on her bed. She reached over and petted him and whispered into the morning’s dawn, “welcome Dragon.”

As Dragon flew over the garden under the full moon, we see Kitten down below talking to thin air. Dragon circled the pond and landed lightly next to the cream colored kitten with the white star in the middle of her forehead. She turns her aqua colored eyes towards the red dragon with the green eyes.

“You talking to the air?”

“Dragon!” I cried and gave him a quick hug. “I’m trying to talk the birds into making their home here.”

Dragon looked around the garden before looking back at me with a question on his face, “where are they going to sleep? Don’t they need a home?”

“You think I should build them one? They seem like nice birds and would make good friends. But, I don’t know how to make them a home.”

Dragon smiled at me, “I know how to make one, let’s go to the hardware store. Climb on and we will fly there.”

As I climbed onto Dragon’s neck he lightly took off and headed into town, we caught up on the latest adventures of our humans. I told Dragon all about Blaze hurting his ankle and he told me all about Etoile and her latest story that she is writing.

I enjoy watching the cars driving below and all the humans traveling back and forth in their little boxes. I always wonder how many people can actually see me and Dragon up in the sky. I don’t think it is very many. It takes a special soul that still has wonder and joy to be able to see the magic in the world around them.

Dragon turned to the left and I could see the hardware store down below and he slowly circled till landing on top of a wood stack and gave a toothy grin. “I love hardware stores, anything is possible. We could make a pirate ship or a tree house, we could create a fairy garden or a submarine.”

I giggled at Dragon, “All we need to make is a Bird House.”

“I think the birds would like a Taj Mahal!” Dragon said in all seriousness

“No”

“Maybe a fairy Tale Castle?”

“No”

“How about a southern mansion, you know like Tara from Gone with the Wind?”

I reached up and hugged Dragon who was now flying in excitement just above the stack of lumber “NO, we just need to make a simple bird house.”

Dragon got a pouty expression on his face. “Okay, but can we paint it with Clouds and rainbows?”

I turned my head to the side and thought really hard, “Do you think the birds would like that?”

Dragon smiled at me “well maybe not the rainbow, but I think we should paint our friends the bunnies on it. I bet the birds would really, really like that.”

I nodded my head in excitement, “I think you are right and we could put a carving of you on the roof welcoming them and a carving of me next to the door waving ‘hi’. Then the bunnies can be tumbling all around it, playing and laughing.”

“Like bunnies do!” we both said at the same time.

“So, what do we need?” I asked as I smoothed down my fur from the flight.

Looking shy and embarrassed, Dragon mumbled, “ummm… I’m not sure.”

“You don’t know? But you said you knew how to build them a home.”

“Well, I kinda do. Look, there is a nice man in an orange apron, see he is smiling. I bet he can see us and he will help us build a house for the birds.”

Picking me up in his mouth, he flew down off the stack of wood and landed in front of the man in the orange apron.

“HI, can you see us?” I asked

“It’s okay if you can’t, not very many people can see dragons” said Dragon

The man in the orange apron smiled at us both. “Well, it’s not every day I see a Dragon and a Kitten in my store, but I can see you both just fine. My name is Bob and what are your two names?”

“I’m kitten and this is Dragon and we want to build a bird house, painted blue.”

“With white clouds”

“And a dragon on top”

“and of course a kitten waving hi to the birds”

“We also want to paint our friends, the bunnies tumbling on the sides,” said Kitten and Dragon one after the other.

“Can you help us?” we both said together

“I think I can” said Bob “now, do you have any tools, like a saw or a hammer?”

“ummm, no.” said Dragon. “We aren’t allowed to play with tools without our humans around and they are in New York and Dallas, much too far away to help us. Can you help us?”

Bob nodded his head yes and gestured for us to follow him. I climbed onto Dragon’s back and asked, “So, what do we need?”

“Well… Wood, nails and some paint will be enough for us to start.”

As Dragon and I watched, Bob pulled down some wood and measured and cut and placed it before us. “Now here is some sand paper, it is really important that you smooth the wood out or your bird friends could hurt themselves, also the wood will paint nicer if you sand it first.”

Dragon and I both picked up our sand paper and each of us grabbed a piece of wood and started sanding as hard as we could till a big cloud of dust floated in the air. “Look! Do you see the Pirate Ship in the dust?” Cried out Dragon. I looked and I looked and there it was a pirate ship with its sails out floating on the waves of dust.

“I see it! Oh, I wonder what else the dust will make?” and we both grabbed another piece of wood.

This time, I saw a dragon in the dust and as I turned to show it to Dragon, I realized it WAS a Dragon, MY Dragon. We both laughed as I shared my dragon story. Then Bob came back with nails and a hammer. He showed us how to put the bird house together and to put the nails in without hurting ourselves. Then Bob brought over blue paint so we could paint the bird house blue. Dragon tried to paint my toes but Bob frowned at him, because it isn’t easy getting paint out of fur.

“Now you need to let the paint dry before you start painting the bunnies. What do you think so far?:

Dragon was frowning, “well it’s a very nice bird house, but why would the birds want to stay here instead of somewhere else? It needs something special.”

“Silly, it will have us welcoming them, a Dragon and a Kitten how can they resist?”

Bob sighed, “well it isn’t going to be easy to find carvings of you two. You may need to make your own.”

Dragon looked concerned, I don’t like it when he’s concerned since dragons are supposed to know everything, kind of like adults without being so grown up about it.

“How do we do that?” I asked

“Cou take a block of wood and you use a sharp tool and you remove pieces of wood till you get the shape you want. Here are some carving tools and some wood to work on. Now put on this protection for your fingers or you could cut yourself, these are very sharp tools.”

I watched really, really carefully on what Bob was showing us and I put the protective stuff on my paws, but no matter how hard I tried my wood looked like wood with chunks missing. But, Dragon was humming away and hiding his carving from me and happy as a Dragon could be. I wanted to cry.

“Show me what you are making.”

“mmm mmm”

“Pretty Please with bananas on top?”

“Not yet”

“Dragon, Please???”

“shhh… Kitten, in a bit” and off he went back to humming while I stared down at my block of wood. I touched the marks I had made with my nails, the ones that should have been light are deep and the ones that should have been deep are light. The tools just didn’t work well in my paws. I started to use my sharp kitten nails on the wood and all of a sudden the marks started to do what I wanted them to do. I smiled and did a happy dance and picked up the wood and started to sing as I carved my best friend, Dragon, out of the wood. Now, how am I going to make him seem friendly to the birds? I know, I will carve him with his silly grin when he is juggling the bunnies making me laugh, and I sang louder as I carved.

Bob rushed back to us with a concerned expression on his face. “Everything okay kitten? You didn’t hurt yourself?”

Dragon laughed behind his hands before answering “No, Kitten is fine, she was just singing.”

I frowned at Dragon because normally he LIKES my singing. “No, Bob everything is purrfect, I just finished my Dragon.”

As I went to show him my carving Bob replied to Dragon “Singing, not hurt? Good, I am glad to hear that.” He then looked closely at my dragon and laughed at Dragon’s expression. “Very cute, I see you signed the tail.” I ducked my head since I was hoping he wouldn’t see my nick. “Don’t be embarrassed. Did you know that in Persia, when they make rugs, they build a mistake in them on purpose so that the gods won’t be jealous of their perfection?”

As Bob said this, Dragon pulled out a perfect miniature of me, right down to the star in the middle of my forehead. “ooohh, it is beautiful.” And as I said it, Dragon used his claw to nick a spot on my tail, right where I nicked his.

“I wouldn’t want to bring any bad luck onto My Kitten.”

Bob smiled at both of us, “Your paint should be dry, let’s go put the carvings on and you can paint your bunny friends.”

Bob helped us glue the two carvings on the bird house and set us up with paints for the Bunnies. “Now think out what you want to paint before you start, then you can plan how it looks around the entire house.”

As Bob walked away, Dragon and I looked at each other blankly.

“Well, how should we paint it? There are 3 bunnies and 3 walls not counting the front because that is where you and I are” said Dragon “we could paint a story for each of them on each wall. One for Topsy, Turvy and Popsy.”

“Or,” I said “we could paint a different scent hat includes all 3 and you and me on each side and we should include the birds watching so that they know they are welcome.”

Dragon liked my idea and after a lot of giggling, laughter and a couple of scowls, our birdhouse was all done.

Bob came back to see how we were doing and we showed him the finished bird house. On the front was Dragon and me with the birds singing to us as we welcomed them. On the left side was Dragon swooping down taking me and the bunnies flying while the birds watched and sang from the trees. On the Right Side Dragon was juggling the bunnies and me as we laughed and the birds were flying around in a juggling formation themselves. Then on the back, there was a picture of all of us sleeping on the grass and the birds were sleeping in the trees cause they were tired and happy from all of the fun.

“What a beautiful house you have created. I am sure your bird friends will be very happy because you can tell it was made with love and friendship.” Bob praised our house as he smiled and nodded approvingly.

“Thank you, Thank you for everything.” Dragon and I called out as we flew away with our bird house back towards home.

Dragon landed lightly next to the pond and we hung the house up on the tree. Topsy, Turvy and Popsy all came out and laughed and were delighted over the bird house, but still no birds. I was sad and Dragon and I climbed into the hammock next to the pond and Dragon whispered, “give them some time, they will come play.”

As we drifted off to sleep, I could hear bird song in my dreams and when I woke up there was a bird singing in delight over the house. She came and perched on the hammock and sang out her thank yous and hellos.

The sun was starting to rise and Dragon had to head off to Dallas to be with Etoile and I needed to head to New York to be with Blaze. But, we knew it wouldn’t be long before we saw each other again for the slumberlands were but a day away.

Dragon flies Kitten down onto the beach at Whitehaven, but can’t help but take her gliding just above the water so she can look down onto the amazing creatures swimming in the depths of the water. There is a sea turtle lumbering along in the light green water, dancing with the sun as it beams down. In the aqua area a stingray is lying against the bottom until Dragon’s shadow falls over him, then he slowly glides up and gracefully flies through the water away from the shadows. As they continue along, skimming the water, schools of fish dart along singing their songs. Dragon and Kitten’s laughter rings along the beach as he lightly touches down onto the sand.

Kitten scrambles off his back to set up their two beach towels. Dragon’s is a huge Batman towel with the Batmobile on it and Kitten’s is a Wonder Woman towel with her soul kitten sitting on her shoulder. As they settle down, Dragon and Kitten look around for what they can make their kite out of. Grabbing leaves and twigs they slowly build their kite and decorate it with starfish and dragon fish all over it.

As they fly their kite up high, they start to explore all the secrets of the beach, talking to the crabs, playing chase in the sky with the seagulls and making up songs as they go along. The sun started to get higher in the sky and Kitten started to turn pink, so Dragon curled up in the sand and created a shelter for her under his wing so they could nap until the sun left the height of the sky.

As it slowly slid away, they shared their dreams and their silences, slowly building the ties that bind their souls.