Ponderings

Taking a moment today to just wonder......

I'm wondering how long it takes for a twist tie to disintegrate in a landfill.

I'm wondering how many licks it REALLY takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

I'm wondering how long you can keep potatoes out in the summer before that funky smell fills your kitchen.

I'm wondering how much it costs to make a toothpick.

I'm wondering why clothing styles come in and out of fashion. Why can't we come up with anything REALLY new?

I'm wondering if we really are a speck, just like in Horton Hears a Who. What if we're being carried around by a giant elephant?

I guess I'm just wondering silly, pointless things today. But, thinking is good. It keeps the brain cells young. I'm just being ridiculous today, but truthfully, of all the questions I ask here, the speck one is my favorite. I wonder if God holds us, like Horton, carefully placing us down at night so we don't bang into anything and get jostled around. I like to think that we really are carried around in the Creator's hand. I can't imagine creating something so incredible and not hanging around to watch it, to embrace it, to ponder it.

This isn't something you make and walk away from. This is grand in its design, a monumental achievement in architecture. The intricate way it all fits together, the seasons, the ebb and flow of the tide...it's just too perfect to be a mistake.

We are loved, and of that I have no doubt. You can't see the fall splendor and not feel as if you are a witness to the divine. No, we are not even a witness to it, we are a PART of it. The Creator is in us all.

I feel that everyday, and I hope that you do, too.

August Nights

On an August night, many years ago, she received her first kiss. It was a hot night, the air was virtually electric around her. Excitement coursed through her veins. There seemed to be very little fear although this was all new to her. To think that someone like him would be interested in her, a mousy, 13 year old girl with skinned knees and no fashion sense. It made her giddy and light headed. What did he see in her? Why did he have that look of longing in his eyes? He must see something in her...there must be something beautiful, something worthy there.

They met by the fence gate. His gaze melted her, from the inside out. She felt beautiful, small, fragile and powerful all at once. This was sweet, and it tasted like honey.

Thirty some odd years have passed, and he is not the same person he was on that night, and neither is she. In the grand scheme of things, he was her first kiss, which of course woke her up to the joys of electricity, but that's what it was, one of many firsts she would experience. She has grown up and has children and a family of her own, and so does he. They are not discontented, they have grown and moved on. But, despite their changing, they will always exist somewhere, somehow as they did that night by the fence, two young people grasping at life, holding on to something precious. A first is, if anything, a precious thing.

If all nights could be August nights......invigorating, electric and new.

Why can't August last forever? Why must we grow old?

Our Safe Place

I gave one of my blogs some thought last night as I was tucking myself into bed. I wrote about my daughter's safe place....our home as a child and how secure we can feel when we are there and when we have memories of it. I have to say that although this time is my daughter's...that while the home I have made for her is HER safe place, I realized that it is MY safe place too.

When the world seems like too much and the news is full of sad stories of suffering, war and heartache, I curl up in my daughter's room, wrap us both up in a warm blanket and tell magical stories of unicorns, puppies, snails and squirrels...and the whole world seems to slip away and it's just us and nothing can touch us there. Well, at least that's how it feels. I got thinking how it was her safe place, but really, it is OURS, together, and I have no illusions about how fleeting these moments will be and how quickly time will change our landscape and it won't be recognizable to me as she gets older. But, this safe place is ours, now, and I am just trying to enjoy it for what it is, when it is. I hope I won't be too sad when her room changes, as she grows taller and away from us, but I know I will be, at least sometimes.

I hope I will be brave enough to let her do what she needs to do. I think that's one of the most important things as parents that we have to do for our children....there comes a day when we have to let go. I hope that I am brave.

I want to be brave. Maybe that's half the battle.

Love is Simple

Sitting by the pond on a brisk, sunny afternoon in October, she said, "Have I changed your life? I don't mean that you live in a nicer place because of me, or you eat better food...I mean..." She paused....he looked at her and said, "I know what you mean, yes, you have changed my life. You are my life. I am a better person because of you." She reached out to him, and returned those same words to him, for they were welling up inside. They held each other and watched the autumn wind blow through the red, yellow and orange leaves. They stood there together and defied the winds and rain and storms that lay just beyond the blue skies of that beautiful day.

They had helped each other to become better people because of their love and acceptance. Love is simple. It uplifts, it restores and it calms.

Love is simple. If it's not...then it's not love. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Nostalgia

I was struck last evening by a moment of nostalgia and memory and it was prompted by such a simple act.

I was sitting on my daughters bed, waiting for her to finish coloring a picture she had been working on. We were getting ready to read a story from a book she brought home from school. I was sitting there with her stuffed fox toy, pretending to read to it. After the story was done, she got up, took the fox and wrapped him in her favorite blanket and told him to stay warm while he waited for her to finish her picture. It was a simple gesture on her part...a loving gesture, really. It told me one thing...that she will nurture when she gets older....that she will care about the comfort of others and seek to make others happy. That certainly made me smile. But that's not all that moment did for me.

I watched her cross her room with the ease and carefree nature only the young can experience. She felt safe. She was in her personal zone, her safe place, her home. You could see she was comfortable and that she believed, even for that one moment, that all was right with the world, and it felt good.

I recall feeling that as a child...that my room was my safe place where the world couldn't touch me. My room as it was no longer exists in the physical world, yet, in some strange way, it still exists in my mind and I feel like on some level, it's still there, and always will be.

That thought brought waves of nostalgia rolling over me, and as quickly as it came, it was gone. I felt the past for that brief moment and could swear I could hear my mother puttering around in the kitchen and hear the television in the living room....and my father's smokers cough, too. It was a strange moment, but blissful and beautiful as well. Most people have a mixed bag kind of childhood...good and bad moments squeezed together in a tight little ball, and we had our share of questionable moments back then, but oh, there is something about the past, the time we spend being taken care of, that makes us feel peaceful, no matter how difficult those times could really be.

I could smell the dinner cooking, hear it sizzling on the stove....hear the canned laughter coming from the wooden console television, (is he watching I Love Lucy again?!) and for a moment I was back. Just a moment...but when you get to be my age, a moment is just enough.

I recommend nostalgic moments for everyone to experience at least twice a month...it gets you thinking, and lets face it, thinking is what makes us human and keeps the mind fresh...so get out there and stir up some happy memories....or make some to enjoy later.

Just don't let me catch you sitting around and wasting time...whatever you do....just DO IT!

Outlive Your Life

I heard today about a concept called "Outlive Your Life." I didn't hear the whole commercial or advertisement or whatever it was, but it got me thinking.

I think that's what we should all strive for.....to outlive ourselves....to leave a legacy behind. There are times I know we have all wondered exactly what our purpose is, how we (our little insignificant selves) can make a big difference and change the world. We may feel insignificant, however, we are nothing close to that. Not even a grain of sand is insignificant. Everything has a purpose, so how can we feel any different about ourselves? This thought rather hearkens back to my previous blog regarding doing something great and how great things are really available to us everyday. I tend to go on rants in themes for a while....hope you don't mind!

How do we find our purpose? Well, I think that we shouldn't have to look far and we shouldn't waste time waiting for a revelation from above. I think we should just take action, grab a cause and just do it. From there, doors will open, things will be revealed and your purpose will become clear. No one is insignificant, no action goes unnoticed in the grand scheme of things. All kindness is worth the effort, no matter now minor it may seem to you at the time. Take a step. Make a purpose....don't wait for one to drop from the sky and hit you in the head.

Make it happen. Outlive your life. Leave a legacy of love and caring and friendship, and you live forever.

A Gift

Everyday is a gift. Don't mistake it for anything else. It's a gift. No one owes it to you. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be sunny out or smell good. It's just a gift, and you should do your very best with it, everytime you get one. Every morning, thank whatever diety you subscribe to for this new chance to do something great. Then get out there and do something great. (Great things include: making a friend laugh, smiling at a stranger, telling someone you love their new hairstyle, asking someone if they feel better after being sick, petting a dog, feeding the birds) Great does not have to be climbing Mount Olympis. Great is simpler than that. Great can be an everyday thing, and if it's not, make it so.

You are great. You are worthy of experiencing everyday to the fullest extent you can, and if that means coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose and smiling at the mailman as he hands you your mail, then that's it. Make it the most sincere smile you can, get back to bed and take all your meds! Sometimes great is hiding behind a sick day. Sometimes great is right under our noses and we just can't see it because we're looking right over it.

You don't have to be the President of the United States to change the world. Just be you. You were made especially for this purpose. You have all you need. Stop waiting for greatness to knock on your door. Stop thinking greatness is for everyone else but you. You are GREAT. Get out there and make your mark. Wasting time is not an option.

Everyday is a gift. It's just that simple.