Life is amazing. We are amazing, and I need an intervention.
Have you started your spring cleaning yet? I remember when I was pregnant, one of my favorite things, besides the kicking, was the nesting. I loved being possessed by the strange natural instinct to clean every nook and cranny of my house with super-human strength. The desire to clean in the spring feels a little bit like that.
I had a visit from one of my greatest friends yesterday. (I know, lucky me, right? Two close friends in less than a week!)
Michelle and I met twelve years ago when we taught preschool together. She is a kindergarten teacher now and her spring break is this week. My kiddos went back to school last week, so it was great to catch up without any distractions...well, except for this one right here.
She wasn't at my house ten minutes when she asked, "Can we watch the eagles?" Apparently this had become some sort of addiction for her. I didn't want to be an enabler, but seeing as how the third egg had hatched that morning, how could I say "no"?
I should have said "no"...because now I can't stop watching it either! Have you seen the live feed of the Decorah eagle's nest? It's amazing! Usually they're just sitting on the babies looking around, but I get lost in the details...how they built a five foot around, two ton nest in a tree for starters.
I told one of my neighbors (who has a bird) about it and when I asked him later if he'd been watching it, he said, "No. It's just a bird in a nest." I respectfully refer to him now as "hater". Our human nature amazes me too...
Dr. Drew has a new show that started on Monday on HLN. I love Dr. Drew, and I'm hooked on his show now as well. The story of this girl he had on last night totally blows me away. She is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
We had to pick my little monster up from preschool at 2:30pm, so I took Michelle and showed her a real eagle's nest, although it wasn't as exciting as the one in Iowa because even with binoculars, you couldn't really look inside of the nest. (A nice couple at the overlook loaned us their binoculars and Michelle very quickly pulled them into her sickness. Poor unsuspecting couple.) Maybe this addiction isn't for everybody, just weirdos like us, but that's why were friends...amazing friends.
So, it appears that I'm going to need an intervention now, for my new obsession with the eagle's nest, my extreme interest in the human condition, and obviously my overuse of the word "amazing".
Simple pleasures or simple days can sometimes be all that's needed to make you feel full and complete.
I made a CD for a friend once full of songs about "perspective". Inside the cover I typed out the "All I Need" scene from the movie, The Jerk...
It's funny, you know it's not all he needs, or even anything that he needs, it's just his perspective at the moment. (He does need to pull his pants up though. :))
My friend, Ann, came over on Sunday and we made gourmet caramel apples. (Well, she made the apples. I just sat there with a glass of red wine, talking her ear off, occasionally drizzling some chocolate or handing her something...how sweet is that?)
I call this photo, Delicious Apple Sitting in the Driveway in the Rain with Messed up Cellophane...
For the past couple of years I've been lost in some sort of depression?, isolation?, I'm not sure what to call it. Anyway, I haven't really been living. I've just been going through the motions.
A lot of that (because of time) has been out of my control, but some of it, I'm starting to notice, is not. I need to make time for me. I need time to remember who I am and BE who I am...not just go through the motions. Having my friend over on Sunday was really something I needed.
Ann and I met in junior high school...32 years ago (check out the Farrah Fawcett bangs)! I'm so lucky to have a friend that knows me as well as she does, because when we do get together, it feels like no time has past, nothing has changed, and I'm just me.
We live about an hour away from each other now, and our lives are in different places. Her kids are in college and mine are still in elementary school (one, not yet), so we don't see each other very often, but I'm glad we finally did last weekend. It's all I really needed to feel full again.
Well, her visit and the delicious apples, but that's all I needed.
Well, her visit, the delicious apples, and this card that Macy made me...
I was all set to write a post today called "Thanksgiving in April", because there are two main things I am really thankful for today...
#1 - I am thankful that the thing on the side of my sink is a soap dispenser and not a spray hose, because every year on April Fool's Day when I was a kid, I would wrap a rubber band around the button of the spray hose on my mom's sink. My kids know this story...yay, soap dispenser!
#2 - I am thankful for my forgiving heart, but this is where I got all befuddled. I have an important story to share. I was all ready. My mind and heart were ready, but the words didn't want to come, just like my Soul Restoration post. It's kind of frustrating, like there is some sort of internal wrestling match going on inside of me. One side says, "Tell the story that's on your heart," but the other side says, "I don't want to go that deep. I just want to be light and carefree!" This second voice feels like my spirit, my old spirit, the one that I thought was lost.
Have you ever asked anyone to describe you in one word? There was an email like this going around about five years ago. I sent it out to my friends and these are the words I got back...natural, whimsical, genuine, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and this (from my friend Rick, who passed away a couple of years ago)..."Only ONE WORD!! ?.... hmmm, let's see... no.. not that... well maybe .. no not that... hey I know... Vivacious!! (in case you are wondering why....here are the synonyms MS Word lists for vivacious: lively, bubbly, cheerful, spirited, full of life, energetic, chirpy -- I love this one!, and effervescent!" (I miss you, friend.)
I asked my neighbors this same question last summer. They thought about it, and they all agreed on the same word...resilient.
Now don't get me wrong, I think "resilient" is a fine word, but do you see why I might be a little concerned as to where my spirit has gone?
I guess even though I'm frustrated that the words from deep in my heart don't want to come, I think I would be the fool, especially today, if I didn't let my inner child reign supreme.
If you feel like indulging your inner child today, I think this bird picture needs a caption...any ideas?
This is not my post for the Soul Restoration contest…
I missed the boat on that one, but I’m okay with it. The more I thought about what I wanted to write, the more I felt like I was trying to describe the ocean. If you’ve ever sat and contemplated the vastness of the ocean, you know how easy it is to get lost in that vastness, and then, somehow, the only words you can find are something like, “It’s big. It’s really big,” but that’s not what you mean at all. So, the blog post contest wasn’t for me. I’ll just have to find a different way to describe it, okay? Maybe an interpretive dance…(I’m totally kidding.)
I learned a new word today that reminds me, once again, that no matter where I am…good or bad, right or wrong, lost or found…I’m right where I’m supposed to be. I have a little book?, devotional?, something..., called the Daily Word. To be honest, some days I never read it. Some days I read it and I feel like it’s all a bunch of bunk, but some days…like today, the word is so meaningful that I rip the page out and put it in my pocket or hang it on my refrigerator. Today, the word is “unfoldment”. It’s a silly sounding word, but I think it’s one of my favorites now. Here’s what it says…
I felt like the message was speaking directly to me (I added “yes” after all of the things I hope to do). Sometimes I feel like even though I’m moving forward, there are too many obstacles, quick sand, road blocks, etc… keeping me from where I want (need) to go, but these things are all part of the unfolding. There are no closings, just openings. “Foldment” is definitely not a word.
And, guess what else..."unfoldment" is your word today too! We rock! :)
Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 11:33AM 
