Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 Diamond in the Rough (Transformative Writing Alumni) Meeting, at Gaylene’s @7:40 pm

The theme tonight is angels and the many faces of love.  The trigger table is a collection of lovely small angel statues, all doing something or holding something different.  Our writing table is ablaze with angel candle holders down it’s center.

Focus Reading – “Things I learned about Friendship, Love & Life”, author unknown.

I am aware that on a scale of 1-10, I am about a 7.  I feel I should be a lot lower because I am still grieving the loss of my Dad.  However, being with my “Diamonds” will always take me up 3 or 4 or even 5 points on my 1-10 scale.   Reading, writing, sharing, could anything ever be better?

I chose the phrase “I’ve learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words.  It may be the last time you see them.” from the focus reading.  I feel I have done that with my parents.  I spent a lot of time doing that the last few years and now that they are both gone,  I take comfort in feeling I have no regrets where they are concerned.  Regret can be such an overwhelming waste of time and energy.  My need for tonight, my intention, is to start to reconnect to writing beyond spilling out raw emotion on to the page.

Affirmation: I am reconnecting to writing in a place beyond spilling out raw emotion onto to the page.

Readers Forum: everyone in the group tonight read a piece of their writing.  Unplanned, everyone’s writing, spoke in different ways about angles and/or the many faces of love.

As we end the evening, I am taking with me, a renewed, precious, and heartfelt love of angels and the many faces of love.  Love of chocolate, we actually had chocolate treats tonight.  Love of all the angels that watch over us and guide us to put pen to paper, guide us to paint personal and vivid word paintings of the many faces of love we have experienced.  Its joys, it sorrows, it’s peaks and valleys, it rawness and it’ warm fuzzy comfort.  Being a member of the Diamonds is like having my own personal group of writing angels.  As we write, share, listen to each other’s words, we are each to the others, guardian angels of this precious gift of writing.  My angel from the trigger table is playing a flute, notes of simple sweetness that enfold us, protect us, give us permission to speak and write our truth.  “Angels Watching Over Me” springs to my mind, the hymn we used for baptisms at St. Paul’s when I lived in Churchill.  We are all in this group of writing angels, baptized by love.  Love of writing, love of sharing, and love of supporting each other.