Saying a sad goodbye

So, I'm visiting my sister and her family in Florida. This is an important visit because my sister, brother in law and nephew are moving way up to Alaska in a couple of months. Having lived down here before and only having been gone a few months, I still have friends down here.Some I haven't gotten to see but at least I've seen some important ones. You know the kind of friends, those that you formed that immediate deep bond with. I got to see my past and my future selves while I was here. One is what I'd consider a spiritual mentor, kindred spirit and all around wonderful woman. She is so very much what I aspire to be. The other is a young woman who I consider to be a second daughter, "daughter of the heart" is how I put it. She's an incredible young woman who has known what it is struggle and have to work hard. She's so sweet and kind.

I got to see them both this time and for that I am profoundly thankful. You see, with my sister moving away, I don't really have family down here to come see so I'm not sure when I'll see them again. But I got my hugs and we got to visit. Now comes the leaving my sister on Tuesday. That'll be hard but I know I'll see her in Alaska in a couple of years. Grad school is going to make travel impossible for me for awhile. Wow, so much going on!

Ghosts of Christmas past

Every Christmas I get to relive one of the most important times of my life. My daughter was born 25 years ago on Christmas Day around 8:15 pm. Unfortunately, the labor started on December 23, at about 11:20 pm! Yes, 45 hours of labor. I don't know why it went on for so long but I can say it was worth it! I was watching "Miracle on 34th Street" and it was at the part where Kris Kringle was teaching little Susan how to act like a monkey. It amazes me how crystal clear my memory is of that moment; the excitement, the thrill, the relief, all of the wonderful emotions a mother can feel as she prepares to deliver her child.

So, every year since then, I get to remember that incredible time. It has always made the Christmas season a bit more special to me. I've often joked that I had never had to be so good for so long to get my Christmas present!

Etymology of the name

Over the years, many people have asked me how I came up with the name "Sorka Spellbound". I've been using the name Sorka since 1997.  The name Sorka came from Anne McCaffrey's fantasy series "The Dragonriders of Pern". Sorka was the first queen dragonrider. She was an admirable character, with a strong sense of adventure. I started playing an online text based role playing game called Major Mudd. That was bck in the days when the game was on a local BBS (bulletin board system). I wanted an unusual name for the character I created and Sorka came to mind. I don't recall the original surname that I gave her and over the years of playing the game there were many Sorkas. The original character I created was a mage and the name Sorka was always given to my mage, which was my favorite character to play.. The surname Spellbound was rather sentimental in its' creation. I was playing on a board where one of the highest experienced mages in the world was being played. Naturally I had quite a bit of admiration for the character (and his creator!). You could say I was "spellbound" by the character's amazing powers. So since there was a bit of a crush there and since my character was a magic user after all, I thought "Spellbound" was appropriate. She's become my online name in almost every place I go on the 'Net. It is an unusual name and I've been fortunate to be able to get it every time I've needed to register a screen name!