The Little Things

5 things a day that have made me happy?

Gosh - I had a fine day, but can I come up with 5? 

• My first client canceled so I had an extra hour to sleep/ slow start my day. That was lovely!

• I was scheduled at 5280 which only took me 7 minutes to drive to.

• There were 2 Aloha bars left in my car so lunch was taken care of.

• My last client only want 45 min but paid for a full session - amazing!

• There were 2 Station 26 Tangerine Cream Ales in the fridge left over from Cody and Laura just waiting for me when I got home.

• Jory asked me to come visit him in MS - yes, please! 

That's more than 5. I am noticing a theme of laziness, food and drink. 

Army Crawl

This time of year is always a crap shoot - will I be happy? Sad? Sick? Depressed? Productive? What?? 

I lost my Grandma Louise on Nov 8th and my dad on Nov 10th and my body is still keeping score.  Lord almighty! It's been several years (30 for GL and 9 for my dad) and I still find myself incapacitated even if only briefly. 

I have this vague impression lately that I am army crawling through my days, just trying to get to the next one. There is a version of a  healthy me on the horizon that just keeps floating out of reach - this frail and depleted me hopes that if I just keep reaching, I will be able to obtain what I seek. Guh. 

It's bewildering because my nutrition is good, my sleep is good, my friendships are good. There is some fragility in my relationships with family that needs healed, but it's not untenable - just mildly uncomfortable at times. 

Please, Baby Jesus, let it be a just a phase.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace

(Gesu Church in Miami, FL)

One of the things I did this year in furthering my spiritual formation is sign up for Adoration once a week. To put it simply, I go and sit in silence to pray, read or journal in the silence of the Adoration Chapel.  Because there is always supposed to be 2 (or even more!) Adorers present at all times, our Parish has us signed up for shifts. Guess what time my shift is? 

Nope. It's 11pm -12am every Tuesday.  

Tonight will be longer as I am filling in for the person after me. I am really patting myself on the back for this sacrifice, y'all! I think that might negate any extra blessings I might receive in exchange. But, anyway.

My husband has graciously accompanied me for at least the first hour tonight (and every other regularly scheduled Tuesdays!) and while I think that having him here is a distraction to me, I am also inspired by his holy worship. 

There is another person who has the same shift as me, and his snoring has become something I look forward to as it brings some humaness to this spiritual endeavor. I don't think he knows that he snores- he may not even know that I know that he is asleep! 

I am saying a prayer for you, for me, for all of us tonight. Amen.

Oh Haiiiii!!

I was so afraid that my blog had disappeared- I mean, I haven't actually logged in for a couple of years, but still, shouldn't it be there? It only contains about 200 years and tears of my emotional growth...just saying. 

I gave my momma a present of StoryWorth last year for Mother's Day. If you aren't familiar,  it's a company that sends your loved ones a writing prompt about once a month, and then binds all of the essays in to a book when they are done. It really is genius - and worth it if you ask me. I think it is just HARD sometimes as a human to answer some questions that hit too close to the bone. 

Anyway, I started thinking about how many of my learning/teaching moments from the 2000's made their way to my blog but there is a definite drop off in activity - why?? I didn't stop learning or doing really ridiculous things that I would want to save others from (isn't THAT the truth??l). Rather, I think I ran out of prompts. Ha!

I need me some prompting. 

In other news - it's been 11 years since the infamous break up with Mr. G. 

I think my body is remembering all of that trauma - what a bewildering yet awesome way we process past pain. 

I will be very gentle with myself today in light of this realization. 

What is YOUR body remembering today?

Road Damage Ahead

I am not a fan of riding the motorcycle on dirt roads, but this one was only partially dirt. The other part of the road was pavement from prehistoric times. It was a rough road any way you slice it. 

 The view, though!

So very lovely. 

It looks like it will be my last ride on the back of the bike as a single lady -I am getting married in 20 days. 20 days. Twenty days. TWENTY DAYS.

Lord, have mercy. 

That's What Friends Are For

We have a girlfriend who gets to go on lots of dates. She really is that charming and lovely!

Goodnaturedly, she has allowed us to start a pool on which of her many suitors will make it to the next level.

What she didn't know is that we would do our own reconnaissance during her dates.

We involved the bartender, the hostess, the server, AND the other guests in the restaurant - and so we got the job done.

The man in question will survive to see another date with our approval. Lucky guy!! 

Annoying Things Pt.367551

Seriously. When looking for a recommendation, why do you have to qualify it as being a request for a GOOD recommendation? Do you have people in your world who routinely set you up for failure by giving you bad suggestions?

"In Search Of: Mechanic. Must be trustworthy and competent. Not too expensive."

Really? Do you think there would have been someone thinking, "Oh! I know a great mechanic, but now that you say that you need someone trustworthy and competent...well, that one is out." Good thing you clarified ahead of time! Think of all of the untrustworthy, incompetent and overpriced mechanics your friends and family would have suggested to you.

Or this one: "Looking for free or cheap lawnmower. Must run great and be in excellent condition."

I am sorry - what you are looking for is a new lawnmower and those must be purchased at (or near) MSRP. Or stolen, I guess.

Maybe I should start ignoring those types of posts instead of answering with my favorite response: "???".