A woman’s body, of course! This woman: Laurie Johnson. She was visiting with Oprah today. She lived every wife and mother’s nightmare and, incredibly, came out the other side perfectly whole. And with an incredible gift to share.

During the interview, she said she always thought, as a young girl, that "as long as I obeyed the rules and obeyed God, I would be rewarded with a happy
life and a happy ending."

Man, does that reverberate inside this tiny mind!!! Even here in the wilds of Costa Rica, I tend to stick to the rules, expecting some reward… Actually, I believe if I stick to the rules, whatever they are, nothing bad will happen. It’s a way to keep fear at bay.

On the show, Laurie said so many things that moved me. Here’s just one…

"Instead of living this life of expectation and rules and formulas, I feel like I live this life of curiosity. I have no clue what’s going to happen tomorrow, so I just take this moment to be here."

What a gift. I’m going to take this gift NOW so I don’t have to lose what she lost to find it. Oh, wait! Is that a formula???

Come to think of it, when we moved to Costa Rica, we were living free of expectations, rules and formulas. Because we were out of our minds. Desperate for relief from the pressures of that life (post-Wilma, dying real estate, in a rut, no income, schooling for the boys, the code enforcement debacle, combined with Key West’s cumulative depression laying over it all). But being out of our minds is how we
managed to do it at all. If we’d been sane, we would have been rational, freedom’s antidote.

I’d like to live free of expectations, rules and formulas without being insane and without having to live the devastation that Laurie did to find that freedom. Now. Is THAT possible? If not, I’ll just stay insane. Seems to be working for me.