Where do I feel most connected?

And, you can't make this sh#t up!

I recently began studying astrology. After stumbling down this remarkable rabbit hole by happy accident, I am truly addicted. More on that later.

I now know that I am an Aquarius with Taurus ascendant and the moon in Cancer, which is to say I am a social, intellectual type balanced with a good dose of earthly grounding and the absolute need to nurture.

Knowing this about myself makes me feel better for some reason. It also helps me accept the many things I am not: musical, highly competitive, patient, or likely to work in a hospital.

Others on Substack: All this thinking about the cosmos has kept me up in the air, so to speak, but I was brought down to earth by a beautiful post written by my friend, Megan Walrod, titled “We Kicked Funeral’s @ss!” and which I am sharing here.

Megan writes about returning to her childhood home along with her siblings to spread her parents’ ashes. Her story literally brought me to tears. “That’s how I want to return to the earth,” I thought as I read. I want my final resting place to be a beautiful, peaceful place where, during my life, I shared all the mortal joys and hardships with the people I love most.

But where? What place holds the most significance for me?

I no longer own the home in Ft. Lauderdale where I raised my children and walked the beach for almost forty years. When I moved to St. Augustine in 2020, my physical connection to my adopted home city was severed.

Our beloved Luna on Ft. Lauderdale beach, one of my happy places.

So where?

I’ve always loved being in nature. The Grand Canyon holds a special space in my heart, so much so that it became a main character in my book. As a child, I adored the farm in Virginia where my grandmother lived and where I learned to ride a horse. I’ve always felt a profound sense of peace in the woods. And, as an adult, I discovered mountains and a love of skiing and hiking, especially out west.

But none of these places are home to me. And I now know that part of my astrological makeup is the need for “home” in a traditional sense. Perhaps that is why, since leaving South Florida, I have felt a bit untethered. I am straddling two homes but don’t feel at home in either one.

It is a strange and unsettling question: Where is home?

I have no answer to this newly raised dilemma, but I continue to contemplate it. I know from experience that the thoughts we hold during contemplation have real power.

Dr. Wayne Dyer suggested that contemplation is about being open to the guidance that arises from within. He viewed contemplation as aligning oneself with the divine flow rather than trying to impose desires or requests onto it, and that we can use this practice as a way to see beyond the surface of daily experiences.

Maybe the stars will align to point me in the direction of home. Or perhaps I need a new definition of what home is.

You can’t make this sh#t up! I set this post aside, unfinished, to go to yoga class this morning. At the start of class, the teacher invited all of us to choose an inspirational card at random from a deck. This is the card I chose:

Need I say more?

On reading:

On my nightstand and on my audible app is astrology, astrology, and more astrology, so instead of that, I’m sharing an eclectic list of book recommendations from my distributor, Simon and Schuster. S&S Book Club

(Hint: There’s a new addition to their list of books and authors. If you type my name in the search bar at the top of their website, you’ll get a little preview.)

Which leads me to publishing news:

The final proofread was done by a most talented French teacher, translator, and editor, Anne Durette. Anne and I came together by accident, but we know there are no accidents! We quickly discovered we share many interests, not the least of which is the poet Rumi. When I told her about a quote I was thinking of using at the beginning of the book, she exclaimed, “That’s one of my all-time favorite quotes!” Needless to say, it’s in the book! Thank you, Anne! And thank you for dealing with all of my errant commas!!!

(If you’re keeping count, Anne is the third editor to work on the book, and no, that is not unusual. I had a developmental edit, a copy edit, and a proofread, which turned into another copy edit because I am out of control with the commas.)

I won’t keep you guessing. Here is Anne’s and my favorite Rumi quote:

Your task is not to seek for love but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

On keeping things in perspective:

We will live, if we’re lucky, 80-90 years.

The earth is 4.5 billion years old.

The earth is 93 million miles away from the sun.

1.3 million earths would fit inside the sun.

The sun is one of 300 billion stars.

The closet star is 4.5 lightyears away.

In one second, if traveling at the speed of light, you would circumvent the earth seven and a half times.

With all that in mind, do we really have a care in the world?

Lastly, for all the puppy and baby lovers out there: (that should cover everyone)

Elvis got his first bath today.

Elvis, 10 weeks

And Harvey says, Happy Fall!

IT’S FALL Y’ALL!

That’s it for today! Thank you for being here. If you like what you’re reading, please let your friends know they can Subscribe here.

And remember,

Life is short. Read fast.

From one lover of the written word to another,

With love,

Jayne

Coming July 8, 2025! Bottom of the Breath is the story of a woman catapulted from her tranquil life on the Florida panhandle onto a cross-country road trip with her recently estranged husband. She must outrun a hurricane, digest a shocking, decades-old family secret, and come to terms with her own pain-filled past. Laced with mysticism and set among the majesty of Sedona and the Grand Canyon, the novel explores the power of friendship, the importance of forgiveness, and the vital need to create a future that embraces the past.