Iskip.com got some press in Colombia, South Carolina today in an article called "Help Yourself: Some days you have to be your own therapist".

The article suggests numerous ways to deal with your, "....average, run-of-the-mill, no-good-very-bad day. Whether you are battling a grumpy boss, overcrowded malls or a blue mood..."

It includes old stand bys like a hot bubble bath, deep breathing, counting your blessings, and just saying no. This is what it says about skipping...

Skip-to-my-Lou. Believe it or not, skipping has therapeutic properties. According to iskip.com, skipping just a few steps can instantly lift your mood and help you reconnect with your buoyant, exuberant, childlike spirit.

So skip on! It's good for the soul!

Calling all Bay Area Skippers!

On Sunday February 12th, a television production company from New York will be coming to San Francisco to do a piece on iskip.com and the virtual skipping club!

We will be having a Sunday Skip in Golden Gate Park and will have a rare opportunity to share the joy of positive energy of skipping with the world via the television pilot they are producing. We need at least 10 skippers to participate...and the more the merrier, of course. This is a unique and fun way to remind America what freedom looks and feels like. If you have a free skipping spirit, we need you!

The skip pictured here was one of the very first Sunday Skip in the Park back in 1999. The photograper is the wildly talented Margot Duane.

If you are free to skip on Sunday Feburary 12th send me an email and I'll keep you informed as the details continue to unfold! Thanks and skip on!

My grandmothers two funeral services last week were beautiful. We did one in the town where she has lived for the past ten years and one where my Dad grew up in Union City, Indiana. I gave my tribute at both and made it through without crying. I was channeling my gmother's strength for sure. It was intense, emotional, joyful, energizing, exhausting, and powerful all at the same time.

In sharp contrast to the emotionally intense events of last week, I helped my sister and brother-in-law host a birthday party for my magical niece Maggie on Sunday. She turns five on the 22nd and 15 of her closest friends came to the party. If you look carefully you'll see me camaflouged in the middle of all the kiddies wearing a bright pink sweater! We were singing, dancing, and skipping to Jingle Bells and fully enjoying the moment. Talk about vibrant energy full of life!

I am extremely grateful that it worked out for me to tele-commute for work through the holidays so I can be with my family during this intense time. I feel a bit like a fish out of water being away from San Francisco for so long, but know that the special moments I am sharing with my family are what life is all about.

It still hasn't sunk in that Grandmother's physical presence is gone forever....I keep remembering how good it felt when she stroked my hair as I snuggled up to her on the couch just a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving....She was so alive then...and now she's gone....I am grateful for her strong spirit now more than ever....That's because I can still feel it so clearly that it comforts me...She is/was such a blessing..

This afternoon we planned the funeral (which is Thursday) and everyone who is speaking rehearsed what we will be saying. I wanted to share the piece I wrote for the memorial service. I know you didn't personally know my Grandmother...But I do hope you will take a bit of her positive energy and help me spread it far and wide.

MY HERO

Amazing Grace. Compassion. Inner Strength. Faith. Determination. Patience. The ultimate balance between high standards, total acceptance and unconditional love. That's my beloved Grandmother. Helen Elizabeth Brandon Corbin. My Darling. My shero.

We shared so much. Hot fresh cinnamon toast fresh out of the oven. Long stimulating phone conversations about God and Faith. Silly laughter. Free flowing tears. Inquisitive minds, buoyant spirits and an incredible zest for life.

Because I live in San Francisco, I didn't make it back to say goodbye one last time. When my friends in California asked me how I was dealing with that fact, the answer came easily. I am happy she is free. I am happy she didn't have to suffer. I am happy she was able to die with the same grace in which she lived. Of course I would have loved to have heard her say how much she loves me one last time, but there was nothing either of us could have said that the other didn't already know deep in our hearts at a cellular level. Our unconditional love for each other is eternal. It will never die. We are complete.

I believe with all of my heart that the greatest gift we can give Grandmother is to allow her spirit to live on in each of us. I am looking at her death as a calling for me to let my own light shine that much brighter, It's up to all of us as her friends and family to look deep within ourselves for the grace, compassion, faith, and goodness she so generously modeled throughout her life, and to make those parts of ourselves even stronger. I pray for our collective ability to let every thought and memory we have of her serve as a reminder that it is our responsibility to keep the positive, loving energy that is my Grandmother alive.

I also pray we will learn to see both ourselves and others through Grandmother's unconditionally loving eyes more often and more easily. That when we notice we are judging others...or beating ourselves up...or letting the drama of life get the best of us... That we will remember to stop, take a deep breath, and ask, "What would Grandmother do?"

I trust completely that she is here with me now, absorbing my words and in typical Grandmother fashion feeling more proud of me than ever. So I'd like to close simply by saying THANK YOU. Thank you Grandmother for showing my heart what unconditional love looks and feels like. Thank you for being the beacon of love and light you will always be. Thank you for being my hero. I love you forever and for always. Blessed be.

My beloved Grandmother died this morning in her sleep. This is truly a blessing as her physical suffering at the end was minimal despite a long battle with lymphoma. She lived gracefully and she died gracefully. She is my hero.

I am flying back to Indiana tomorrow for the funeral and will stay until the New Year. It will feel good to be with people who know and love her as deeply as I do. It will feel good to go deep with my family.

I am very present to the fact that my Grandmother's spirit lives on through me. I'm writing something to read at her funeral about this, and would like to share it with you once I do.

I feel complete with Grandmother. I would have loved to see her one last time...But there was nothing she could have said that I don't already know deep in my soul. Our relationship is eternal. I feel that at the cellular level.

Please keep my family in your thoughts....and I would love it if you would call someone you love deeply just to tell them how much you love them on my Grandmother's behalf.

I am busy busy and at work at the moment, but I have been skipping the blog postings far too much lately....So wanted to quickly check-in!

It looks like a production company that is working on a pilot of a new television show is going to come to San Francisco in late January to do a segment about the national skipping club! This is very exctiing as it has been quite some time since the skipping project has been covered on television.

We are going to need at least 10-15 skippers to participate in the taping....We will likely be skipping in Golden Gate Park on a Sunday. If you or someone you know is a skipper in San Francisco, please have email me for more details!

That's all for now....Time for me to skip back to work. Onward and upward! Happy Holidays!