thoughts on gratitude, blessings and prayer

So DH and I are moving.  EXCITING!  I think I've finally gotten over my fear of "missing something" in the process, and have accepted this as the blessing that it is.

During two of the most nerve-wracking days of my life, as I waited to hear if we had been approved, and I worried about where the deposit money would come from and so on, I decided to make a list of all the blessings I've received and experienced.  In fact, I looked back through my posts to remind myself of lots of them.  You can too.  I'll wait.

Ok, so it wasn't quite like this, but I pulled out a pad of paper and joted them down and reflected on them.  I beleive gratitude is one of the best forms of prayer.  I also jotted down a few personal notes on gratitude at the bottom.  and you know what?  As soon as I finished my list and notes, the phone rang.  We had been approved.

Ok, so it wasn't quite that instantaneous, but probably within an hour.  And it certainly felt connected.

The first thing I did?  Went straight to the cabinet under the sink I'd been thinking about decluttering for awhile, and pulled it all out and sorted it.  About 1/2 still went back, but that's twice as good as before.  While going on to declutter a few other areas (we had no boxes yet to start packing), I made up a box of jewelry for Alice and I found a stuffed animal that reminded me of my friend.

Boxing up the jewels for Alice reminded me of my own aunt.  Frequently when we went down to visit, and I was a young girl, my aunt would take me up to her master bathroom, and we'd pour through her collected jewelry as she sifted out things I could have.  These included funky, geometric, blue and pink '80s earring, parrot earrings, and sassy bangles and necklaces.  They always felt like precious jewels, and I felt honored and wore them with pride saying, "Oh this? My aunt gave it to me."

Looking back, I'm sure she's doing much the same thing I am; culling though her collection, and sharing what she no longer cared for.  And now I'm doing the same thing with Alice.  I wonder if she'll say the same thing to her friends.

As for the caribou dressed up like a duck?  It reminded me strongly of my friend, so I brought it to her.  Turns out, she had asked me to buy it for her years ago when I worked at the coffee shop, but I never gave it to her.  Now it sits in a place of honor on her desk.  The world works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?

conversations

Me:        So here’s your check.  It looks like it was returned because there was no apartment number.  Do you have an apartment number?

Youth:   Yes.

Me:        Ok, this is what we have on file.  Is this your apartment number?

Youth:   Yes.

Me:        Ok . . . those building usually have a letter in their unit numbers.   Do you have a letter too?

Youth:   Yes.

(pause)

(blank stare)

Me:        Okaaay, so what’s your letter?

Youth:   M.

(Thank God, I finally got her to say something other than ‘yes’!)

(anyone else reminded of a knock-knock joke?)

cousins

I am an only child.  Even beyond that, I am an only child who isn't super close with her cousins.  Her whopping total of three cousins total.  But by sheer coincidence, I've happened to be in the company of all three of them in the last few weeks.  And you know what?  My cousins? are hot.

Now, before you get ahead of yourself, let's be clear.  I am in no way physically attracted to my cousins, in the slightest.  For example, my female cousin on my dad's side?  Looks exactly like Emma Watson:



Not bad, right?

As for my two male cousins, they are just as good looking, but have no dopplegangers, so you'll just have to trust me.

So obviously, if my cousins are all really, really, ridiculously good-looking, there must be a lot of good genes in my family.  On both sides.  But myself?  I'd rate as squarely average.  And you'd think since I'm the eldest, I would've had first pick, so to speak, of all these genes.  And yet sadly, still average.

Where the hell did things go wrong?

It's a naked-in-front-of-the-fan, ice-in-the-cat's-water-dish, klondike-bar-for-dinner kind of day.  98 with 50% humidity.  And I biked home, because I'm tough like that.  Or because I hate the 5 and C got a ride home today.

Yuck.

things to ponder

Let's take a list of tasks:
Vacuuming
Dusting
Cleaning windows/mirrors/glass
Emptying Trash
Minor Repairs
etc

Who do you envision doing these tasks?  What does the person look like?

Now let's change the setting.

Does the person look different if these tasks are done at a school or in an office rather than in the home?

This is the question I asked myself at work this week.  Through our program, we had placed a number of youth (over the age of 16) at maintenance jobs at various non-profits throughout the city.  This year, a lot of those positions were filled by young women rather than young men.  When we spoke to these non-profits and let them know who had filled these positions, the most common sentiment was surprise.  Huh!  We figured it'd be a guy!

And yet, most of the things they're doing would be considered "women's work" in a household.  A similar thing occurs with food.  Most kitchen staff, be they short-order cooks or personalities on Food Network, tend to be male (except possibly the exception of bakers and the salad station).  And yet, when those same activities take place in a household, they are considered traditionally female roles.

So what makes it different?  Why are these things considered men's jobs in one setting and women's job's in another?

What's your take?

goals and such

I'm completing my last week of my 16 week long.  I'm proud of the success I've made, but I still admit I'm damned slow.  So since I skipped my run this morning, I decided to make it up at sunset tonight.  It was cool day, an even cooler night and lots of light late in the day.  I realized that if I can run for (almost) 60 minutes straight, there's no reason why I have to take my 30 minute run so easily.

Last week, I ran for 30 minutes at about a 15 min/mile pace.  So I decided to really kick it into gear tonight, and ended with a pace of about 13:25, shaving more than 1.5 minutes off my mile pace over the course of 2.25 miles.  I'm immensely proud of this success.

I also must admit that I have a secret goal.  I've only told DH.  He and a mutual friend of ours ran in a 5k together.  DH hadn't had a chance to train, so had a less than stellar result.  But our friend had worked really hard to train and finished the 5k in just shy of 30 minutes.

When I run my first 5k, I want to beat his time.

I still have a lot of work to do, but I think it's possible, maybe even by the end of the summer.  I'm not going to push it.  But I do want to accomplish it.  And I want to incorporate more biking.  One book on running I read said that cross training like that can actually help improve times more than just running more.  So that's what I am going to do.

Wish me luck!

Things I accomplished yesterday

Finally got the two bags of donations and the box of books out of my car.  This means they went to the Salvation Army/Half Price Books store, not back into my humble abode.

I cleared out 4 containers of stuff from my childhood bedroom in less than an hour.  This is particularly important because it shows a marked difference between my previous self and who I am today.  As I child, I wanted to collect everything.  Mostly this just ended up a mish-mash of dusty junk; sea shells, polished rocks, horse figurines and miniature tea sets.  Today, I define my collections differently.

Today, I collect memories; I collect experiences; I collect space.  I do not collect doo-dads, marbles, tchotchkes, or polished rocks (despite vehement protests from my inner-ten-year-old).