You might be thinking that I am being funny, but not at all…
What one thing can be used to hold together all the education, determination, and drive to be a teacher? What is it that keeps the passion alive to serve tirelessly every day to instill wisdom, knowledge, and positive behavior in our young…
Underfunded, overworked, and bound with myriads of red tape from a government struggling to be in control of that which they have no business doing, in my opinion…
I figured it out, I think…
It’s LOVE…
I was just reading this yesterday and I figured I would share it with you, as it seems rather relevant to the daily prompt question…
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have with one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
I can still faintly recall the screams of the siren atop the ambulance transporting us to emergency care! My youngest child, barely 8 months old, fought for her life as we careened down the freeway toward the hospital. Through the whole process, I remember her eyes filled with so much fear as she fought for each breath. God Bless You to ALL Emergency workers, and I mean Globally! I want to make sure they all get that!
… It was a beautifully warm sunny Friday, and as I packed for the Woman’s Retreat I had been so anticipating. Being a young mom of 3, this was like a fantasy weekend at the Hilton. I was filled with a mix of excitement and guilt all rolled in to one. My youngest baby was still in the process of being weaned from nursing straight to a tippy cup. Why a tippy cup, you may ask? This little monkey was so stubborn, that she absolutely boycotted any bottles. I had been following the suggestions on the list I received from the pediatrician, regarding palatable food choices for her age group. Things were going well with this, so I left her to nibble on some scrambled eggs, while I ran to the grocery to stock her father with goodies for the weekend.
When I walked in the door, on my return from the store, I could hear her in her room crying and her father pacing worriedly in the doorway. I swear I had only been gone like 20 or so minutes, but in that time, things went way sideways at home…
Anaphylactic Shock, people! I had no idea! For her, eggs were a big NO NO! Long story short, I grabbed up my little Violet (willy Wonka) and her dad hit 911! They literally showed up as we hit the front doorway, I am not joking! It probably was due to the firehouse being a block away…
Arriving at the very hospital of her birth, my little monkey was whisked in and pumped full of enough Steroids and anti-inflammatories to power a city! But it worked! They stabilized her, gave us a bunch of drugs, cleared me to take her with me for the weekend, and off she and I went to a weekend retreat at Black Lake Bible Conference Center down in Olympia Washington.
I know that this memory started out rough this week, but I want to share the rest of the story to leave you with the good bits that will bring it all together for a good laugh, and/or maybe even some tears…
I was not looking forward to the weekend ahead, due to the energizer bunny I now struggled to hold into a car seat for the trip down. I was blessed to be going with a car full of other moms who “got it”! They had all taken their share of sleepless nights and mom “scares”. I felt like I was being transported into a place of safety, peace, and sisterhood.
For the next 2 and ½ days I was surrounded by, not only the woman I had arrived with, but the entire woman’s conference of wives, mothers, sisters, and aunties! Round the clock, woman all took turns vying for playtime with my little nocturnal monkey. In truth, I do not know how much sleep she got, if any, as I had been lovingly sequestered off into a quiet space to sleep all the way through the night. All during the daytime, as we all spent time together studying, random woman would quietly walk up behind me, tapping me on my shoulder, and simply reach down to retrieve my little jumping bean. They would take turns, tirelessly walking her around the back of the room and keeping her happy. I will never forget that feeling of a safety net from mostly strangers, and my daughter who normally was terrified of others “Not Mother”, loved every moment of things…
You know, I just realized that I had never written this memory down, and had actually forgotten, until recently I saw a facebook post about their summer events. Funny ole world, I’nt it? (You realize, I didn’t come up with that last sentence, right?)
I encountered three young people on my walk yesterday… they shouted profanities in my face, after I told them to get the wheelchair they were riding out of three lanes of traffic. The reality is this, bad behavior starts at home, in my opinion…
If you knew me, you would know that I am not the picture of what their naughty names assigned me to be. I was born on this soil, and my heritage is mine… no label necessary. I am not offended at their remarks, as my husband and I have raised 6 smart mouthed kids of our own, so I am fully thick skinned in this regard, but I am saddened by the widespread aggressiveness of humanity… it is a palpable feeling, this anger that radiates off of our YOUNG…
While I won’t take personal offense at this behavior, I will call attention to something I believe as a society we CAN change…
I have no intention of telling others what to do, as I believe we all know what the difference is between right and wrong. We all have a choice to change things within our own homes. The truth of it will be whether or not, we as humanity, will act the way we know we should…
If you can keep this little secret from my frenemy IBS, I will tell you of my fondness for a few things… I’m not going to follow the prompt, in its fullness, as it does not seem fair to do that to the beautiful world of foods.
I might be able to maybe select a type of food, and pick my favorite way to eat it, but to say that JUST one thing is the best, sorry…
I could try to use words to describe the way, say, cheese simply slowly and lazily oozes from the inside of the pizza crust, OR, I could show you…
I could try to describe the release of endorphins that seems to happen when one swipes their tongue across creamy soft serve old fashioned vanilla ice-cream from your favorite fast food establishment, Or
Lastly, I could make some futile attempts with words to relay how I remember it feeling after an all you can eat taco party, and your belly is full of Yummy, OR
Please, Under NO Circumstance, are you to share this information with IBS, because she will be totally offended that I even think about these foods anymore… I mean, I know better than to do it, but she freaks out and thinks I am gonna shovel death into my mouth…
But… I love you all enough that I am willing to take the risk to share with you what I sometimes dream about (not joking) and drool about when we are out and about with others.
I still eat fantastic things, but they have to be modified in order for me to successfully get the good stuff out of them, that my body can process…
Oddly, I eat nowadays, exactly the way I ate as a small girl on the farm… Raw, Fresh, or Frozen… no cans, no preservatives, and no oil, grease, butter, fat or the like. It is not nearly as bad as it may sound, as I love foods.
***But… sometimes… late at night… when no one is peeking…I like to eat a whole bag of those Twizzler pull aparts… Don’t Judge!
As I am pursuing my beliefs in regards to Church, an epiphany arose within my mind. If the church is what I think it is, that means I am supposed to think of myself as part of a body, right? In terms of where I am in the body, or the office of the Boss man running said building, a picture forms within my mind.
Imagine if you will, a hostess. Preferably, you will imagine an elegant southern bell type, charming and delicately demure… but I will settle for the lady with the baseball cap and walking shoes. When your mind enters said Church, this hostess(me) belongs inside the lobby in order to greet you and perhaps assist in directions to where you wish to go… she does not need her own office for private sessions of deep inspired directions, no! She desires to remain in the lobby, ensuring that you get to where you were headed.
This hostess takes great joy in her role within the lobby, looking forward to seeing what life blossoms there, from day to day. She takes pleasure in the cleaning and maintenance of her environment, happily refilling the bowl of refreshments, resting upon a small table within the lobby. There is a lantern resting atop the tables surface, casting a warm and gentle glow throughout the room. This light is always on and never requires anything in order to burn… it simply remains on, and in fact never even flickers! If this light is always on, then my mind says that the bowl of refreshments does the same, right? I will believe that this is true, and go further to say that it is possible then, that her presence within the lobby is not necessary for the One who placed her there, but for the visitors that she encounters in His service…
I am in no way saying that my search is over yet, in fact I am in deep study still, but I thought you may have wanted an update. I will keep you posted, but for now I must get back at it! Psalm 51, if you were curious…
So, I discovered that it is not so easy to randomly find a picture of Footy Pajamas, and I had to improvise with regular ones… But for the record, it needs to be Footie Pajamas… yup… with a zipper… and a hood! Don’t judge… I actually have a pair that I wear from fall through til spring… it’s bloomin cold in this beautiful beast of an RV during the dark times (that which is not summer).
Again, you would think that it would be easier for me to locate a usable free pic of my preferred fluffy foot clouds. For today I will settle for this picture, but I want it clear that I actually need them to be full covers and not flip floppy style… I walk nearly 6 and sometimes 7 miles a day, when I can, so I literally have 3 pair of sneakers, my mocasins, a pair of water shoes, and my slippers.
My magic slippers, as I call them, were a gift from a very special soul. I can say in full honesty that I spend at least 85% of my day in that pair of slippers. They are the biggest, fluffiest, and most marshmallowy feeling slippers EVER…
Some people might say, “She Crazy”… but I say, No No No… Contrare Mor Frare… I am the queen of “If I am gonna wear it, it better make me feel pretty”!
How about driving up through North Dakota in the dead of winter, when our fuel froze and we needed towing. You kept grabbing the steering wheel, even though you were not the one driving…
I DO…
Do you remember the painful times, like when I gave myself two black eyes in a fit of grief? You had to take me to the hospital and you were so terrified they would blame you, but you did it anyway, for me…
Or what about the time I lost my temper and slammed the RV door, breaking the locking mechanism…I was locked outside wearing a slinky nightgown and Ugg slippers, while you were stuck inside with no tools to open the door…Only after I had an all out explosive fit in my underwear in broad daylight, did the door hatch, lock and all, simply fall out onto the ground at my feet, with you sitting in the doorstep lookin at me in surprise…
I DO…
Do you remember all the moments that you stood in the darkness holding me up…
After all of this journey, remembering everything that we went through, forgiving everything we did to each other, and surviving everything the world has thrown at us…
God asked me to tell you, If you still wanted to marry me…
I would tell you what I told you 17 years ago, today…
What exactly will self care now begin to look like, for me anyways?
Setting aside THINGS… I think I can speak for most when I say that self care should mean what we need… what does the body, and mind need to rejuvinate that inner mojo, so to speak…
Sure, the pictures above represent things I would enjoy greatly, but would they fulfill what I will call my inner love tank. Nope! I can be pretty honest here, since I have none of the things up above besides the great outdoors, and my love tank has yet to run dry. It does get low, in truth, from time to time. In a world where everyone expects you to simply shut up, show up, and serve with a happy smile… well, it’s no wonder why we are all here trying to regale each other with a fancy insight into the art of “How To Pat Ourselves on the Back”!
I will share a little secret I learned along the way. For me, self care actually begins when I give… I know, strange right? Lemme break it down for you…
When my love tank is low, and I am feeling on the down side, the only things that help me are the following:
Giving Thanks – I must remember how much we do have, and how I am clothed, with food in my stomach, and a warm dry place to sleep and write to you all.
Giving Love to others – Love can come in many forms such as a phone call, or note, or perhaps fulfilling a task for another in need.
Giving prayers – Nothing reminds me how much I have to be grateful for, than when I am praying for the needs of others less fortunate than myself.
Sometimes SELF CARE comes from Selfless love. I know this seems backwards but He does truly work for the good of those that serve Him!
Meet the Boobie Bird… and I know your gonna be wondering what on earth is this doing in a blog regarding the most wasteful thing to do everyday, right?!
In my mind, there are a lot of rooms, and in them are some of the strangest word associations…ever!!!
Anyways, the first thing that sprang to my mind, upon reading this prompt, was (look up) the Boob Tube, the magic box; you know that magical machine that carries with it, the ever elusive remote. Nothing else could inspire a woman to break a nail in order to retrieve said pointy clicky stick, nor cause a man to upturn the couch with children rolling everywhere, in order to retrieve this golden right of passage, lest it fall into the hands of little inexperienced hooligans.
big, small, tall, skinny, far away, in your face, on every corner, in every window, every room, and every city…
I feel sort of like I am in a Doctor Seuss story…
I will admit the difficulty in separating ourselves from media, in all its forms, has been an effort in futility for most. It does have benefits along with every other form of useful technology. I think it all comes down to checks and balances…
Sooo… no matter what answer one gives to this prompt, we can waste time doing anything, so I think it comes down to what we do with what we have… just make it the best you can with what you have, and pay it forward whenever the opportunity presents itself…
P.S. Sometimes it is ok to waste a little time, and breathe…
Nothing beats watermelon! I remember sitting in the rain, eating watermelon in my swimsuit. The apartments where we lived, were located on the outskirts of our small town, and were just within viewing of our local water tower. I mention the water tower because, that was the reason we were siting in the rain spitting seeds at one another… or better yet, pinching them between our fingers for more force.
I remember the water tower, because the local fire department would always use these hot rainy days for their certification or training exercises. I was so fascinated with their ability to carry all of their gear up those ladders, fully covered in their fire resistant armor, as I called it.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I have always had a great respect for law enforcement and all of our emergency responders, and I think this had something to do with it. I was so impressed with all these men, and they were always so kind to us kids who were watching. My home life was not fun, and my father was a 1st rate butnugget, but I guess the kindness of these masked strangers, brought some joy into the life of a small blue eyed girl, sticky with watermelon juice, and desperate for hope…
Journey With Me! 