Ophelia’s Place Blog

A friend of mine shared an exercise she had done on New Year’s Eve.  She had written down words that represented the “best” of 2009 and words of “anticipation” for 2010.  I thought it was an excellent idea, so I tried it.  It was tough at first. Trying to figure out the best – allowing the best to go beyond what our culture and my “must look perfect” thinking believes– redefining for myself the word best to be positive, beneficial, the most growth, and also to include the hardest stuff I’ve ever done and learned from moments…

So I started to write…
Friendships
Philadelphia
Connections
Grief
Tears

 And then the anticipation for 2010
School
Me
Bold
Scary
Words

  As I looked over the lists, I was struck by the last word in each list. In 2009, the word tears and in 2010 the word words. It was incredibly telling for me. For you see, while I am able to communicate and be fun and carry on fairly intelligent conversations, my innermost being, my soul remains quiet without seemingly being capable of  words. At times, I feel as if I am mute on this emotional level of expression.  This past year has been filled with many tears. Tears of frustration, tears of feeling stuck, tears of grief, tears of being lost, tears of having no voice. But amazingly my tears have been heard. They have been heard by my family, my friends, in therapy and some days by me.  I am an incredibly fortunate girl. 

When I look back to several years ago, my hope was to just breathe out loud, to have an audible sigh escape; for that sigh to be a witness to my presence in this world.  It is amazing for me to realize my breathing out loud has allowed me to come to this past year of tears and to my willingness to believe in a process of recovery.

 So perhaps you can see my astonishment of having words on my list for 2010. I choose to believe this is my soul saying that words are coming, words are forming and these words will be shared.  I am excited, scared and terribly thankful for allowing the tears to speak until my being was willing to talk.

So what are your words?
Lori

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to college, not to my alma mater Baylor University, but rather, Cookie College with the Girl Scouts. As a lifelong fan of the thin mint, I wanted an answer to the greatest mystery of our time – what’s actually in a Girl Scout cookie?

Girl Scouts invited Ophelia’s Place to take part in one of the workshops for the college called “Cookies and Confidence.” Through the use of role playing, audience participation and girls sharing their experiences, we discovered that what is in a Girl Scout cookie is not your basic ingredients, not eggs and sugar, but rather the opportunity for each girl to grow and excel. The girls spoke about the new friends made, the trips they had been on, the skills learned and the patches earned. We took turns role playing how to share what Girl Scouts means and I was amazed at their willingness to get up and practice. I loved being with them, we had cookies and milk and I even got to wear a vest for role playing. See photo below!!!

Girl Scouts is committed to helping girls develop qualities that will serve them all their lives, like leadership, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth. But their favorite words, and some of ours at OP, are courage, confidence and character…all things needed to build leaders, who make the world a better place.

Ophelia’s Place loves being a part of Girl Scouts and I have to say, Courage, Confidence and Character make one tasty thin mint cookie!

For more information about the Girl Scouts, please visit www.gsccny.org

~ Lori Rhoads

Welcome to the OP blog… we have updated the website! (Okay, so truth be told, it wasn’t we)… it was this dynamic duo of Christopher Ames and his ridiculously talented wife, Lori Rhoads!  Yes, she is the visionary behind the “new look” and he is the “make it happen” dude who also happens to be a rock star… no really check him out at www.christopherames.com (how’s that for some shameless promotion Chris?) And, of course, my dear friend Joslyn Smith provided the photos, the grammatical corrections and many of the words we used… she’s a word guru.  Joslyn is also ridiculously talented.  I’m excited about the new website and this blog… I’m not really sure how it all works but the “make it happen rock star dude” no doubt does! Again, that’s www.christopherames.com  (if I give him enough plugs, maybe he won’t charge me for the new site… heehee). I do know that all I have to do right now (according to my charge from Lori) is welcome everyone and invite you to share your insights… dreams… truths… or perhaps what tickles you.

You should know that Ophelia’s Place kicked off a new campaign last year at our fashion show called got beauty? which basically is all about redefining beauty. What we realized is that it’s no longer a campaign… as that would mean it would eventually end. No, we decided that got beauty? has become part of our fiber (I said that to Joslyn the other day and she loved it… so I thought I should use it).  Anyways, I invite you to come along with us on this journey, let us know what you think of the new site… not that we (www.christopherames.com) are going to change it or anything… but, more importantly, let us know what you think beauty is…

How about I go first? For me, beauty is watching my new little granddaughter, Anna Jean, talk to the angels.

So, here’s to a beautiful beginning for 2009!

~ Mary Ellen

Welcome to the new Ophelia’s Place Blog! We have updated our website and have created this blog to be a place where we can talk about anything that touches the hearts and people within Ophelia’s Place. We look forward to sharing and hearing your thoughts, as well!!