Dear One,

I hate braggarts, don’t you? It’s taken me a lifetime to learn humility, and I think I’m pretty good at it now (doesn’t that count as pomposity?). Seriously, I had such a hard time deciding what to write about this time (because there is so much that interests me: like what the heck does that painting of Jesus and my 96-year-old mom mean, besides miraculously catalyzing her current recovery?) that I decided to write about what I promised my readers I’d never do on a post … write about me.

Sometimes we have to give ourselves a little pat on the back, as a way, a ritual, a reminder, an acknowledgement that something huge has happened in our lives. This is one of those times, folks. I’ve done something major and I’m shouting about it, mostly so I don’t forget, discount, or tuck away and try to forget. Like all the other times I’ve come so close to sharing a book I’ve written with the public eye.

Those of you who’ve been following Lord Flea have heard mention, every now and then, of this book I’ve been writing. Granted, it’s gone through several incarnations, from its original inception as (working title) Global Bliss NOW. But, shudder, that first attempt turned out to be a guide for raising other people’s children. After a year of working on what I wanted to say, I realized I’d inadvertently created a self-help book–I shuddered. I probably will put all that so-useful information on a website someday, why not? People are always looking for ways to deal with challenging situations. And nothing is harder than step-parenting, for those of you who don’t know.

As both an avid reader and aspiring writer I’ve always been intrigued by story, not so much by facts. So I tossed Global Bliss NOW aside, all of its two-hundred-some pages, and began anew. I wanted to tell this story as if I were speaking to a really good friend. So I decided to speak into a tape recorder, because I didn’t want the act of physically typing to interfere with the heart connection one feels speaking to a good friend. During this second approach, I discovered that How was not what I wanted to say, but Why. Why did I decide I had to share the story of helping my husband raise his two young kids and in the process, found the spiritual fulfillment I’d been searching for all my life. By choosing to join his blended family, I discovered the path I was meant to be on but had never been able to find on my own.

During the writing of this second iteration all sorts of fires were burning out of control around me.

For one thing, my lover man—my consort/baby-man, Carter, my heart’s breath—was undergoing treatment for two different types of cancer. Every day (during times when I wasn’t speaking my story into the recorder) we were driving two hours back and forth to the major city we live nearby, for Carter to receive proton beam therapy, the latest development in radiation that is much less invasive than other types of treatments for prostate cancer. Meanwhile, we were radically changing our diets, eliminating dairy, meat, and sugar, to make sure Carter’s body chemistry went from acid to alkaline. This approach to killing the out-of-control “bad” cancer cells was not new to us, but, like most people, it’s hard to do unless one has a good reason. And being diagnosed with both (in situ, beginning stage) melanoma and (again, early stage) prostate cancer, believe me, that’s a whopping big enough reason.

Flash forward two years: all cancer is gone from Carter’s body! The amazing results of alkalizing one’s body is that disease and debilitating conditions vanish. Along with embracing other practices, like eliminating negative thinking, especially resentments, Carter now has a better attitude and a much more healthy, cancer-resistant body, not to mention a more peaceful mind, and a shining soul.

Coinciding with my beloved’s recovery, I wrote the next iteration of my book. But still … it wasn’t right. So, for the third time I began anew! Yipes, you might say, but believe me, I can tell from “gut feelings” when my creative endeavors are on track or not. Perhaps I was too distracted with my man’s health challenges to focus properly. For whatever reason, this next, third approach to my story finally felt right. The story is driven by action and acted out by well-rounded characters. Having a plot as well as universality, my personal story took shape when I put our family onto an imaginary sailboat (representing “our family”) that journeys down a mythical river I called Rio Blisso. Once I used this fanciful setting (so I could accurately portray the intensity of the spiritual experience of raising other people’s children) the story began to tell itself.

The result is soon to be available for all of you to read. When I get closer to publication I’ll share more details, like its title and availability. Check back, or better yet, sign up to LordFlea so you get notice of each new post when it’s published. I just might share about that painting of Jesus holding mom, next post, another modern day fairytale.

To my mind our world is like one universal blended family. All our daily challenges of getting along, accepting each other differences are exactly that of each and ordinary “blended family”. All the ways of getting along happily in one family, my family, can apply to the entire world’s situation. Having compassion for each other, respecting each others’ clashing religions, cultures,and other manners of living—all this applies to one single blended family as well as it does the entire united world of humankind. We are one big blended family, we humans living on earth today.

Sending each and every one of you a big hug, and the Light of our shared Love,

Lord Flea aka teZa Lord