Tag: Health

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 201

I am so happy that now the editing phase of my new book is done! WHEW! It was not nearly as terrible as my sometimes exaggerating mind had made it out to be. In fact, I GREW from working with an editor! Thank you Amber Losson from Tate Publishing company for helping me to sharpen my writing and polish up the content 🙂

I am going to start posting some of the poems I cut out from Salsa! The Taste of Life. They didn’t make it into the first volume of this book because it would have made the book to long and more difficult to market. Yes, you read correctly, this is a first volume of I what I hope will be more in the future.  I will keep you updated on the progress of my book!

HAIR!

 

Hair! Hair! Hair!

Hair is everywhere.

It’s neither here nor there.

Those who have none, or very little, say,

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

Those who have too much say,

“Hey! I feel like such a bear.”

The curly heads cry,

“Wish mine was twig straight.”

The twig straight reply,

“Why can’t we have spirals?”

 

 

It’s all such a terrible bore,

when you have hair galore.

 

We all go on and on

about a bunch of dead cells.

We spend millions of dollars

on all manner of fancy hair products,

that never quite deliver

their sales pitch promise.

 

 

But there is one thing to be said about hair,

the more you treat it and tease it,

one day you’ll wake up to find,

your head has become quite bare.

So be kind to your locks,

treat them with care!

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012

365 Snap Shots of Life

Hi readers! I’m back after a few days of being away from my blog. When I don’t post rest assured that at times I’m reading other blogs and everyday I do check into my blog to see if anyone liked or commented on my posts. I DO love hearing from you. Lately though, I was working on the last round of edits for my up and coming 2nd book; Salsa! the Taste of  Life and as you can imagine, that was consuming my time because I had a dead line to meet.

 

Now the book has moved on to the process of designing the book cover. I received a couple of samples and I had to pick one over the other. When they finish working on it, I will post the cover on here so you can get a sneak peak of my “baby”. I have always said that publishing a book is a  lot like child birth; with out the physical pain. Oh there IS pain involved in publishing a book, no doubt about it! The pain comes though, during the editing process when you have to listen to your editor’s suggestions that will help make the book better. Honestly, I enjoy this whole process  so much,that I don’t see myself doing anything else.  So I leave you with this quote from yours truly: ” The day I stop writing is because they had to pry my pen from my cold hand!” 🙂

-Eva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 136

FORCED to FIND MY FAMILY…

I was certain I would never know the love of a mother for myself. God has a wonderful way of completing us when we least expect it and with the most unlikely people. I have been friends with Margaret for 20 years. We met back in Atlanta at a time when I would not allow myself to peek into my damaged,trauma filled past. Margaret came into my life back then with arms opened.

She would look at me with such warmth,enough to begin the process of melting the glacier that was taking over my heart in those days. She knew what I needed emotionally and freely gave it;for the first time in my early 20’s I experienced a mother’s unconditional love and I craved for more.Much like a new-born in dire need at feeding time.

My heart broke when a few years after meeting her our lives changed,sending both of us in different directions temporarily. Like everything else in my life,I embraced the new changes ,still clinging to Margaret even from afar.

A few years ago I reconnected with her and I felt great to have been able to become re-acquainted with another member of my family. Ever since then I have chosen to call her Mamacita because she  embodies  everything I have ever imagined about having my mother.

Have you been ostracized by your own blood relatives as I have been? We all have choices to make. We can stay bitter in our isolation or the alternative is to open our hearts to the people who God sends into our lives to give us the family we need. I chose to forgive and stay open to what God has for me. People get blessed with good looks,good genes,talents wealth and strong family ties. I was not one of the fortunate who comes from a loving family;this set
me on a course that forced me to search out and find a family of my own. And I have,through my friends.

Fear will hold some of us bound ,keeping us from opening our hearts to those who offer to love us.We all come into this world in dire need of love;yet few of us are brave enough to admit our need to ourselves and to others.

Mamacita,thank you for offering me your cup! It was you who offered a drink from your over flowing vessel;to this dusty,weary,thirsty traveler. Cheers to you and I will forever be thankful that you did! Had you not offered, I would not have had the courage to ask you for a drink!
Te amo…tu hija

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 127

I went to a get together last night and I met this young woman. It was her birthday and her appearance inspired me to write this poem in her honor. This is my “picture” of the day. I hope you are enjoying your Sunday and as you prepare for your week, be thankful for everything you have and everyone in your life 🙂

MAZE of HAIR

You peer at me through a maze of hair,
your eyes are dark, crying in despair.
You wonder if I care.
As you peek at me through your maze of hair,
your demons roar from the lion’s lair.
I know deep down,
no one in your short life has ever been fair.
You peek at me through your maze of hair,
your eyes looking at mine- a sacred stare.
Baby, I wish I could hold you.
Baby, I wish to tell you I care.
Baby, I want to soothe you-
wanna let you know I’m there.

What happened to you- I ponder and wonder,
to make you hide behind all your hair.
Your scars you wear on your face,
a cry for help from a soul in disrepair.
Your mask is your hair.
Your demons peer at me from the lion’s lair.
Our eyes connect for a moment- in a sacred stare.
Your cuts in your flesh,the slashes on your face,
you bleed out your pain,
but there’s one who’s already taken your place.
You’re numb.
You say you don’t feel anything.
You’re numb.
You say you don’t care.

But as you hide in your maze of hair,
I know you think opposite.
You hide in your maze of hair,
‘cause all inside is a big ‘ole mess,
broken to bits and in disrepair,
waiting for someone to sort out the mess.
Your demons scream from the lion’s lair,
they call out to stay away-
“Don’t you come near- don’t even dare!”
Your demons are numb.
Your demons are dumb.
They have no power.
In the dark they cower.

As you hide behind all of your hair,
the light has come,
darkness cannot mingle with light.
Light apprehends the night.
And the demons no longer fight.

Eva Santiago © 2012

 

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 126

VACCINES: THEY SCREW YOU  ROYALLY

Those vaccines screw you up BAD. So here you take a baby who comes into the world without any defects and then you are told to vaccinate them to prevent them from getting sick. So they give your baby a TB shot and that disease lays dormant during the child’s younger years but then as the child develops and gets into  adolescence, things start going screwy on them and you begin to attribute that to just normal teen behavior and it’s something far more sinister . Then you find out one day that those shots your child received during her infancy are wreaking havoc in her body. The TB shots have affected her at the cellular level to where the cells in her body cannot communicate properly with her organs and glands. Essentially your daughter is RNA deficient. She feels out of sorts and you try to help her, she gets temporary relief but nothing lasting. A few days later she’s back to feeling chaotic inside.  She even confesses that she’s beginning to feel like if she could only turn to some substance for temporary relief, that would be better than nothing.

So as the parent you wonder if this isn’t just “normal” teen behavior, and something tells your gut it’s not. Then your child starts to want to hurt herself in the physical sense and that’s when all bets are off and you begin to look for answers. You rule out taking her to a conventional doctor because you’ve seen from first hand experience that all they’re going to do is put her on some drug in attempts to calm her nerves. They won’t really investigate because they really don’t care. So you take her to your naturopath whom you have trusted for years because she is a very good one. Doc Lisa talks to your daughter and she finds out what’s been troubling her . She then starts looking in her books for the answers.

Then you mention that of all your kids, your eldest child was the one who received several of her baby shots. Lets’s face it, you realise because she is your first child, you didn’t know what was going on back then and you followed everyone’s bad advise blindly.  You gave her those shots because you just did not know any better. The drug companies and quacks capitalize on your ignorance. Please let THAT sink in. Nodding her head, Doc dives back into her books. Next you hear the most troubling news. There are 5 diseases which have plagued humans since time began. She names them: Leprosy, TB, syphilis, gonorrhea, cancer and


. By then you stop listening because your mind is racing, connecting all of the dots and now everything you ever suspected is confirmed as truth. These diseases can be traced back to ancestral family lines and a family can be predisposed to one of those diseases because of an ancestor who had the disease and that’s how diseases become hereditary. She mentions that the disease gets activated in  a person through trauma or get ready, drum roll please
.VACCINES! You are dumb founded and relieved to finally be getting some answers.

Well, we ruled out trauma because your daughter hasn’t experienced anything like that . And the culprit are the vaccines just as you had suspected. Doc continues telling you that  your daughter is exhibiting ghost like symptoms of TB and you can only sit back and be angry. Angry because you were lied to. Angry at yourself for not having listened to what your gut instinct was telling you back then. You knew before you even gave her one single shot that there was something not right about giving a very healthy baby a disease to prevent her from getting the disease later on. Then you asked people whom you thought wiser than you for advise and they just told you the same thing: “ Give her the shots because you never know what can happen later if you don’t.” So you stop listening to that inner voice and agree to it because you’re a new mother who wants the best for her child and you go against your God-given gut instinct and allow her to be poked in her arm with TB.

I wrote this in the 3rd person to remove myself from this anger I’ve been feeling lately towards this. I also wrote this to inform people. Please listen: If you have a brand new baby whom you are considering vaccinating, DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST! Don’t take my word for it. Look into things yourself regarding everything that pertains to your children. The medical establishment DOES NOT have the answers. I have seen so many kids who are sick and the parents blindly follow what they’re told. And let’s face it, even though there ARE some very good MD’s out there, many physicians still try to make you feel stupid as if you don’t know anything because they have all the answers and you don’t know a thing. NEVER accept anything blindly when it comes to your health or that of your children. With all of the information we have available at our fingertips today, your best defense is to stay informed.

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 124

ALL NIGHT

I stayed up all night,
pondering and pacing,
with sweaty palms and heart racing;
what to do what’s the next step?
You don’t care, this I know.
All that concerns you,
is your one man show.

I stayed up all night,
pondering and pacing,
with sweaty palms and heart racing,
What are you gonna do girl?
You are here and he’s in another world.

I stayed up all night,
pondering and pacing,
with sweaty palms and heart racing,
4 young souls looking at me,
they all seek an answer.

I stayed up all night,
pondering and pacing,
with sweaty palms and heart racing,
Why are you so mean?
Won’t you ever come clean?

Alas, sleep came ever so sweetly,
I fought her I did,
sleep came ever so sweetly,
weighing down both my eye lids,
took my cares away and I left the scene quickly.

Eva Santiago © 2012

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 115

Yesterday I blogged about how a very dear friend of mine passed away this past Sunday. What caught me off guard were the strong emotions I felt when I heard the news. Then I realized that you don’t have to talk to a friend everyday or even see them to feel close; when a  dear friend passes away you’ll feel the loss just as strong . Then I remembered the letters I received from her and I took them out and re-read them to my kids. There was my healing balm. Re-reading them after all these years, I felt her love all over again.

The cool thing about hand written letters is that when your loved one is gone, they are pieces of them you get to keep. ♄
 I am so happy to have those! So today my photo is of those precious letters I’ll treasure forever. Happy Tuesday everyone :)!

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 114

I just received news that a wonderful woman I knew passed away today. She was the midwife who assisted me in delivering my 4th child in a lovely home birth. I wrote this poem a while back about her and I’m posting it here today in remembrance. R.I.P. Sweet Kaye…

I post no actual photo today but in its stead, I’ll paint you my word picture of this precious soul.

KAYE

Blue eyes that tell a story,

of loves’ loss,

tinged with perhaps a bit,

of yesterday’s glory.

 

Eyes of azure,

tinted with sadness;

azure,cerulean, lapis-lazuli,

oh why have they not seen their jubilee?

 

Hiding behind a curtain…

…seen way too much?

perhaps losing hope?

is it too much with which to cope?

 

Life and death situations abound all around,

one day up, the next, she’s low to the ground,

and still Kaye hearkens her ear to the sound….

…. phonic, sonic, supersonic faith sings her resounding song.

 

Not a faith based on what is seen,

but on trust and belief,

that only comes once,

from the secret place.

 

Kaye will dwell ,occupy and reside,

in the secret place of The Most High,

she’ll abide and remain under His shadow,

proclaiming Him always her refuge, her tower, her strength!

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 103

10 Things and then Some…

10 Things I have learned in 17 years of home schooling:

1. Children are children until they grow up so let them be kids for as long as they can get away with it. You are training them to BECOME adults. So don’t treat them as “little adults”; they’ll be there soon enough.

2. Nobody is perfect so don’t expect perfection from your kids. Instill in them a sense of excellence instead.

3. Practice what you preach. Kids see right through their superiors and if you’re phony they’ll call you out on it.

4. When your child does her best, accept it.
5. Don’t even think that you’re going to pretend that you know everything. We don’t and kids learn that soon enough.

6. Sometimes kids ask questions not because they want an answer, they want to see how much you know.

7. DO NOT lie, especially to kids, in the guise that you’re trying to protect them. As they get older, they’ll see right through the BS.

8. Kids are honest as long as you’re honest with them.

9. The home schooling journey tends to get lonely at times for both parents and children.

10. Now a days education is a big money-making business. It doesn’t take a lot of cash to give your children a good education.

 

This is just a VERY brief over view of some of the things I have learned in this amazing, challenging and at times frustrating journey. I had never stopped to think about it until now. If you were to ask me 25 years ago when I graduated from high school what I’d be doing 25 years later, this would have never popped into my head. I was headed to live out a completely self-absorbed life style and then what happened? Faith took over and led me here. I’m so glad I listened to her instead of following my way. My 25th class reunion is coming up this summer.  I dare say I’m pretty sure I’m not going to hear too many of my fellow classmates of the class of ‘87 saying they are in my profession. I’d probably get the usual bewildered looks that I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. But alas, I don’t see the point in going to a reunion where I hardly knew anyone back then and I’m certainly not going to know any of those people now. It’s time to celebrate my daughter’s accomplishment and that’s what I’m going to do this summer!!!