Wow, where to start?!

First, let's address the obvious. COVID sucks. 

My heart goes out to everyone that's been affected by COVID, whether it's been due to sickness, a death in the family, loss of wages or a business, or even just feeling so cut off and removed from the world and the people we love. COVID sucks. 


Of course, COVID wasn't the only negative that brought this past year down, but it was the biggie. I won't run through them all because I KNOW you're fully aware. 


That said, there were a lot of positives in this last year that the news media don't always cover quite as thoroughly as they do the negatives... that IS their job, I suppose. 

Personally, I did quite a few weddings in 2020 that were wonderful, beautiful, heartfelt occasion and I'm sure many other officiants did as well.   

Babies were born! You have to feel a little bad for people that are going to grow up hearing that the year they were born was one of the worst for the country, the world, in recent history, etc., don't you? 

As rotten as things may have been this year, if you're reading this, you're doing alright. You have internet, you have somewhere to read this, you may be in love...if you live in Texas, you live in a beautiful state (that, for the most part, ISN'T under two feet of snow and ice!), you may not have been able to see friends and family as much as you'd like, but this time last year, you likely didn't even know what "zoom" was!

Maybe you took the time to job hunt for something better, gone on line to meet people - partners or friends, taken the chance to prioritize your life, set goals and plans, organize your closets or entire home, get some gardening done, spend more time with the people that you love, or discovered that sometimes you're the person that needs a little bit of help, but at other times, you're the one that can help. 

So, may I suggest that you start the year, not focused on what you missed or lost in 2020, but realizing how resilient you are, how much strength you have that you weren't even aware of and how love still finds a way, even through some dark times.  Concentrate on the new babies, the new families, the new loves, new friendships and new priorities and, with patience, 2021 will be a more peaceful and centered year, no matter what comes!

At your service, 

Poppy Lynn
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When it comes to cliches, the sky's the limit. 

Because sometimes, out of the clear blue sky drops the thing, or the person, we've been waiting for, whether we know we've been waiting for them or not!  

But cliches are cliches for a reason. Many of them have a kernel of truth! (Although, I'm not sure where the truth or the kernel are in "kernel of truth"?)  

So, here's my list of some love-themed cliches that are words to live by, questionable and just plain "out there" 

Take this advice to heart:
"You can't pour from an empty cup".
In other words, if you don't love, respect and take care of yourself, how can you love, respect or care for anyone else?  You need to treat yourself better, or at least as well as you would treat the people you care about and hold dear.  That isn't selfish.  Is it selfish to make a pot of tea and then offer a friend a cup while you sit and enjoy it with them?  You need to make the large pot yourself in order to have it to offer.  If you're sitting there with an empty cup yourself, you have nothing to offer them. 

"If you love something, set it free.  If it doesn't come back, it wasn't meant to be".
Experience talking here, trust me.  If someone you love finds themselves urgently drawn to having to leave for some reason; they want to backpack around Europe for a summer, they want to teach English in Korea, they need to tie up loose ends on an old relationship... whatever it is, if they're drawn to it for compelling reasons that they may not even be able to explain, let them go.  You aren't being a doormat, because, as painful as it may be to let them do this, it's something they need to do for whatever reason.  They may be internally torn apart over leaving you, too, but feel that this is something they NEED to do, but still aren't sure why.  If you offer up an ultimatum, you'll never get you way even if you think you did in the beginning.  Do you want to be 10 or 20 or 40 years into a relationship and find out your partner holds still feels incomplete because they never did this "thing" they've always felt they needed to do? Do you want to feel like you kept someone you love from some sort of inner peace and happiness.  Do you want to be the reason they feel like a small part of them is incomplete? Or that they've had a perpetual question mark hanging over their head for years?
In another vein, do you want to be the smothering type? Do you want your partner to feel like you're trying to control them, their every move and their entire life at the times you aren't together?  They'll feel like you don't trust them and like they aren't able to make a responsible, adult, independent decision. 
Either way, holding on too tightly, is bad news.  

I'll be contemplating more cliches and posting again soon!  Until then, let me know what you think! Comment, post or e-mail to get in touch and until then, I'll be

At your service, 
Rev. Poppy Lynn