Crayola's

When I was young one of my favorite things to do was color. My Mom & I would go to Murphy's 5 & dime store and my Mom would usually buy me a coloring book. I remember they were 3 for $1.00; which was a good deal for my Mom. She knew that would keep me out of 'trouble' and entertain me for days.

I couldn't wait to get home to start coloring. I'd throw my crayola's across the bed and plop down on my pink chenille bedspread with the 'roof over the top' (canopy) where I could hide from the world and just color. All the while I'd be looking at the pictures thinking about what that 'face' or 'situation' was really about. Sometimes I'd pretend it was me in the book. I was that Barbie doll with the beautiful dress and tiara. I loved polka dots, so many times I would draw round circles on her dress to make it look more like me. I pretended I was a designer and signed my name at the bottom of the page, just in case I let someone else use the book to color too - I didn't want them taking credit for my work of art.

I remember one time in particular I was coloring a fish in a pond with frogs on lily pads. I took such care to make sure I chose the right colors, that I "outlined" the objects and shaded the insides of them so they looked real. Well, for some reason this fish just bugged me. I didn't care much for or about fish - but this one's face was so cute. I remember thinking, what does he do all day in the same pond? Doesn't that get boring? And why is he alone? So I drew a girl friend for him because I didn't want him to be alone. Oh what a picture that was :-))

As I look back to those days, it seems to me that we all have the opportunity to 'color' our world to whatever shade we desire. And as we color, we can also 'draw' others into our picture. It is our canvas and being so, it's our decision to create the artwork of our life. Sometimes it's dark and depressing, other times it's bright and fun and full of good people, places and things.

Now I know that everyday is a new day in the coloring book of life. I can pick up my crayola's and color the day. It's always my choice what picture I will color and what colors I will choose. If I don't like the page I'm looking at, I can turn the page and go to the next. Eventually, the page I passed over yesterday will show up and will be the right one another day. No page is left uncolored in any of the pages of this coloring book called our lives. They may start out blank, but that emptiness is an opportunity waiting for us to fill the page with our colors.

I'm not an artist & that's evident as I think back over some of the characters I've colored and drawn in my old coloring books - as well as drawn in my life. I continue to remind myself that I need to go back to that time when simple things like coloring entertained my imagination and filled me with visions of possibilities.

Our lives are like coloring books and we can color them with periwinkle, magenta, black, aqua, crimson red, forest green or leave a page blank. We CAN return to that time when it was just us and our crayons in a world that we were comfortable in. No adult judged our work, as a matter of fact, they encouraged us to share another one of our masterpieces with them. Somewhere between that time and now - many of us threw the crayons away, along with the power to color our world.

I encourage you today - get yourself a box a crayons, a coloring book - and color. The crayons are your feelings, the book is your life, the colors are always, always, always your choice. Plop on the floor, on the bed, at the table and let the colors of your imagination create the masterpiece(s) of your life.

The Wilson Clan Slideshow

Come on in, I've been waiting for you!

Grab a cup of coffee and a seat if you like and take a gander through the slides of The Wilson Clan - better known as my family.

They say every picture tells a story - and I believe that's true. And, as time goes on I hope to share some of these stories with you. So please, sit back and allow me introduce you to some of the characters' you'll be reading about as time goes on.

I hope you all enjoy viewing this slideshow as much as I've enjoyed creating it. It's been alot of fun for me and I hope it will display the love and pride I have for my family. I grew up just as maladjusted as the rest of the world :-) but I have family to go home to when I need a place to feel safe even though they think I'm crazy (just kidding).

The most important thing I hope it conveys is how important family is and the part family plays in and throughout our lives. That all people deserve the blessings of a family, big or small. All people include the homeless, the downtrodden, the lonely old man, the crabby old lady,the run-away child, the ne'er do well. It's our history - it reminds us that we BELONG somewhere.

I hope this will encourage many of you to open your heart and your door to someone that may be reaching out to you. Invite them, listen while they speak as we all have stories to share. Some good, some bad, some funny, some sad.

At THIS KITCHEN TABLE all are welcome - stories and sharing of life experiences are openly sought. So please - if you're inclined, share a story - a picture - a memory. There is always room for another at my table.

Thanks for stopping by and remember, the door is always open and the coffee is ALWAYS on.

The Grub, the Dragonfly and our Friend Kendal

Sometimes, words don't come as easy for me as other times. Nonetheless, the thoughts and concerns stare me square in the face begging for me to speak them out loud.. Today is one of those days. The excerpt below is from a book I read a little while ago and I wanted to share it with anyone who stops by. It's a beautiful story and touched my heart deeply. It so reminded me of one of our homeless friends ~ Ms. Kendal. We have not been able to talk to Kendal in a few weeks and she's playing heavy on my mind, as well as Lance's.

The Grub and the Dragonfly ~ exert from the book titled: Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda by Dr. Les Parrott

Imagine a colony of grubs living on the bottom of a swamp. Every once in a while, one of these grubs is inclined to climb a leaf stem to the surface. Then he disappears above the surface and never returns. All the other grubs wonder why this is so and what it must be like up there, so they counsel among themselves and agree that the next one who goes up will come back and tell the others.

Not long after that, one of the grubs feels the urge and climbs that leaf stem and goes out above the surface onto a lily pad. And there, in the warmth of the sun, he falls asleep. While he sleeps, the carapace of the tiny creature breaks open and out of the grub comes a magnificent dragonfly with beautiful, wide, rainbow-hued, iridescent wings. But then, he remembers the commitment he made to those behind, yet now he knows, he cannot return. They WOULD NOT RECOGNIZE him and HE COULD NOT LIVE in the place where he started.

Like the lowly grub, each of us fears what is beyond our current circumstances. There is comfort in knowing what to expect, even if it is not as good as we think it could be. The power of this innate desire to hold on to what we know can compel a mistreated or abused person to put up with misery in order to have the 'payoff of knowing what's coming'. So it stands to reason that when we wallow in regret, we fear what would happen if we were to let it go. That's why so many of us hold on to regret for so long.

Like the grub, we can't see what life would be like if we were to let go of our should-haves, what-ifs, and if-onlys. BUT, like the dragonfly - who gains a new perspective (sheds its layers); we can reach beyond where our past has brought us and enjoy the glory of a better day.

We can move forward - IN FACT - WE MUST MOVE FORWARD - OUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT.

Kendal is an amazing woman lost to alcohol, depression and the streets. She is bright, beautiful, generous and very, very funny. She can also be very disheartened, depressed (suicidal in fact), angry and mean when she is 'under the influence'. She is an alcoholic struggling to find her way back.

There are obviously many reasons things have been so hard for her ~ but the bottom line is that as she has gotten older, her ability to trust, let alone trust the unknown is all but vanished. Kendal needs the help of people she trusts. Kendal trusts us (Straight Ahead Outreach; Lance Greene & Pat Mishler). Time is running out for Kendal. Her alcohol abuse is destroying her body and has seriously harmed her thought processes. Lance & I are very concerned that if she does not get the help she needs very, very soon, Kendal will become another statistic that the general public will never even know about.

Yes I believe Kendal is close to death. I also believe that Kendal wants to Take Back Her Life. Not the one she has known so far. She wants to take back the RIGHT to a life she can create, a decent life. It is our goal, our desire to help her do just that. But we need your financial support to help her.

We, Straight Ahead Outreach, need funds to be able to assist Kendal. We need your financial assistance to turn this young woman around before it's too late. She is someone's daughter, someone's mother, someone's friend AND most importantly, she is a child of God - just like you and I.

Please take this post seriously. It is a matter of life and death for Kendal. It is a matter of life and death for many. We CAN help Kendal, but we need your help to do this and we need your help now.
Any donation is greatly appreciated and can be sent to:

Lance Greene/Patricia Mishler
Straight Ahead Outreach
7419 10th Ave. N
St. Petersburg, FL 33710
Please provide a return address or email address so that we may provide you a receipt for your donation.

NOTE: Straight Ahead Outreach like a non-profit. All paperwork has been filed for 501C 3 status and we are currently awaiting our formal endorsement

STA and the Story of A Life

What is this organization “Straight Ahead Outreach” (STA) Taking Back Your Life about? The bigger question is: What is the story of a life about? Is it worth reading this blog? Yes. Is it worth your prayers? Yes. Is it worth your involvement? Yes. Is it worth your investment? Yes.

STA, at this very moment, is in labor. The contractions have started and the parents (Lance Greene and Patricia Mishler) are in the delivery room waiting for the birth of a long-awaited child.

That child began as a thought in Lance Greene’s heart, mind and body and has remained there for 23 years. That’s a very long time to think about bringing a child into the world. But this child (plan) took years of attempting to find the right person to bear it with, the right location to rear it, a genuine relationship to raise it in. Tough requirements, but they have been met. Lance and I have been together six years and have a strong, supportive and loving, relationship. We are both up to meeting the challenges of a large, complex family and all that it entails. We believe in each other and our goals are the same. Doing the right thing, for the right reason and doing it because it has to be done.

STA is obviously not about a single ‘real’ child. Rather, it is about a life plan for “all children” (even though they may be adults) to help alleviate their homelessness and to intervene and/or prevent suicide so that they can “Take Back Their Life”. A life they may have been waiting to have for 50 years!!

How does a parent raise a child? After all, many of the homeless are just grown children. Many have never had the opportunity to reach any goal; some have never been given any goals. The reason – is not important. The existence of a life unfulfilled and/or plain miserable is very important. And each homeless person and/or suicidal, deserves the opportunity to realize that they STILL CAN have and enjoy a life.

We, STA, can and desire to, assist these individuals by first leveling the playing field, but not standing “ABOVE” them. We recognize that we were children just like them and we were just fortunate enough to have lived in a better environment that enabled us to progress and grow and avoid homelessness. Not that we didn’t have struggles, but we had the support of our family and friendships that we were able to develop because of our ‘upbringing’. Homeless people have lost their family support. That doesn’t mean their family doesn’t care, they just don’t know what to do anymore, they are angry, they are tied up in their own feelings of failure so they’ve put them out of their lives.

STA maintains that an approach that allows the individual to feel that they are STILL cared about, STILL important, and that their existence IS essential to the world, allows that individual to take that first step again. Of course, they can fall down. When someone is literally learning to walk, they will fall – just like a toddler.

When was the last time someone told you – you are important, crucial, you are cared about? If it was longer than yesterday, you could very well be feeling vulnerable today. Now what if you hadn’t heard that for years? Or if all you’ve heard for the last many years hi-lights the wrong things you have done. I know there are people who say that they’ve never done drugs, drank themselves into oblivion, pimped themselves, stole, lied, or cheated. But I can guarantee you, there have been days those same people have asked God for forgiveness for one of their failings or have begged him to come to THEIR aid. All offenses against another are offenses against God. Period.

Many homeless and suicidals are at their wits end. They have begged God for forgiveness and help, but they don’t expect it. Why? Because they feel unworthy to receive anything good where they are at and because of that believe that nothing can ease their pain or heal their suffering. And trust me, they are suffering.

STA’s mission is to provide an atmosphere for the homeless/suicidals that we work with, that allows them the ‘safety’ to grow and evolve into a positive participant in life. That safety comes from a family atmosphere, not a clinical, political or religious environment. These are real people that we genuinely care about and for. STA educates, coaches, acknowledges and values them, so that when a consequence arises because of their behavior – they learn to view as it should be viewed – a life experience. They have fallen and THEY CAN GET UP. This treatment enables them to acknowledge and deal with an error in judgment. That is what a family does for its own. They help them up when they’ve fallen – for the 1000th time. Otherwise, they end up homeless and paralyzed, unable to walk any more.

It has taken STA 23 years to bring this plan to full-term. It has taken that long because it is NOT just about one child, it’s about a world of children (even though many are adults), waiting to be born – in other words – “Take Back Their Life”.

STA’s plan is literally in the delivery room, waiting to arrive. Months and years of planning and hard work have built the heart and soul of this ‘concept’ion . STA has grown into a healthy, strong, meaningful plan. But we need your help desperately to continue our work and to grow.

In order for STA to continue to help the homeless “Take Back Their Lives”, we need your financial support. It DOES take a city to raise a child.

STA, Lance Greene and his organization, are ready, willing and skilled at the task of reviving and energizing a person’s attitude about themselves, as well as educating, coaching, and preparing them to become individuals that are able to “Take Back Their Lives” and develop into a positive element of society.

Please – look at our website: http://www.mobilecrisis.org

Please make your checks payable to:

Straight Ahead Outreach
2882 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. # 130
Clearwater, FL  33759
Phone: 865-964-1461
Email: straightaheadlwg@gmail.com
straightaheadpm@gmail.com

Please include an email or mailing address for a receipt for your gift.

With our heartfelt thanks,
Lance Greene and Pat Mishler
And I feel that something's coming, and it's not just in the wind.

It's more than just tomorrow, it's more than where we've been,

It offers me a promise, it's telling me "Begin",

I know we're needing something worth believing in.

~~Harry Chapin from Remember When the Music

It's Time for the work to "Begin" ~ Please help