easter...

Kept Easter close to the vest, this year. Not sure why but the last week, I realized that is was ok. That Sometimes, we are private and while the whole message of Easter is to tell the world,the Holy Spirit can get His message out, if I am quiet. Social media covers more than we could ever imagine, not that God needs help but I think He does like to hear from our hearts. It is a good thing that we are not all silent at the same time. I thought about Sandy Hook and all the Easter baskets that would not be this year. Those empty spots at the table this year and lots more.

This morning it was all brought in to one moment when my favorite ever song leader was so excited,...He has freaking, risen. Could never be prepared for that, would not wish to be his inbox this week but his enthusiasm, was infectious. See beyond the word, see his heart. He has freaking, risen...Could not have said it better myself...

new kid in town...

Tried out the old/new cafe that just opened around the corner from us. Nice little addition to the strip mall that formerly held a Hostess cupcake store. They moved from a location, Down the road. Never heard of them before. Funny how in a town of only a few people, this one passed us by.

Some things are meant to change, like businesses in a strip mall. They come, they go, you adjust.The new kid in town always has to prove himself and with social media these days, it is much tougher. They need to be on their game, all the time. Left them a nice review this morning, Hope we get to grow old together.

If you noticed a new kid on your block, give them a chance to prove themselves. I know, I know. I am the worse for always making the safe choices at places I am familiar with. I don't like the idea of wasting money by trying something new but how will you learn if you don't try?

Their Tshirts say, Living the Dream. Thanks for coming our way, Blue Sky and thanks Self, for giving it a go...

champions...

If asked, we could all list the many, mnay things we are not very good at. Even those that we stink at. Really stink. We know them like our favorite cousin, we can recite them backward and forward but what would or could our inner tshirt say about what we are good at. The stuff that championships are made of. Bragging rights aside, what could we each. come up with?

Much tougher to take ownership of the things we have been gifted with, without sounding like a blowhard. It is a fine line to walk but walk it we must because it speaks to keeping balance in life. We are not all good, nor are most us, all bad. A well-balanced person has both kinds of traits and can be honest about them, to ourselves and others. If you can't be honest with your friends, time to get new friends. If you can't get honest with yourself, no better time to start than today.

Using one's powers for good, is a lifelong process. We are constantly changing and that goes for personality traits as well. You must continue to go as you change, be willing to let things go and be able to pick up something new. Baby steps, but always moving ahead.

Think about what you do that helps others. It may or may not be the thing you like best about yourself. How you feel is unimportant,but what you do could change someone's life...

kick it to the curb...

Still my book of the year, and this month's book club selection. I keep coming back to it again and again...
He was a star player, it was expected that his team would win and win quick. After watching more than a few basketball games in the last few days, it is apparent that basketball has a rhythm all its own.

This player and his team were behind, most of the game. They were ranked at #1, their oppenent, at #9. For all but a few minutes of the game, it seem like it was Opposite Day. In the last 29 seconds, he and his team took possession of the ball. A two point basket would tie the game, a three pointer would win. Forgetting the last 2 hours that he missed three points shot after three point shot. They showed them all. Nothing to be proud of, much would make one want to run and hide.

Was told that a good player, forgets what has happened. No beating up of one's self. Just go forward, be the one that you are. that you know yourself to be. He takes control of the ball with 29 seconds to go, despite his poor track record, he will not relinguish the ball to anyone else. It is do or die. With 2 seconds to go, he goes for the three point shot, not the two which would tie the game. It was go big or go home. With the clock reading .2 seconds, he makes the three point shot. Forgetting all that had happened, he moved forward. There is a lesson to be learned here. About the self talk we all do. There may be a fine line between being cocky and willing to take the risk. Maybe we would all lead better lives if we really believed that within each of us is the curse of being human and to accept it and, move on. I imagine that men can do this better than women. We ladies, hold an awful lot in and take on blame, slower to let it go. Another thing to accept and move on. Not sure if it is too late to take up basketball, but it is never too late to try, try and try again...

from the couch of...

The last 10 days have been a blur. First, Miss M gets a fever and will get to keep it for 6 days. It will be alot of nursing and threatening, going on.

Take your medicine, please... Drink more, please... It will end with her daddy offering her a American Girl doll for her effort. She also tells me that she is allowed one, small hissy fit while taking said medicine. She did not disappoint.

I was so proud of myself, staying well. All that healthly eating, is finally paying off. Then comes, The Day. By the end of that first day, I didn't know my name or where I was at. The fever lasted about 12 hours and Miss M and I would spend the next day together. I am seen more 19 and Counting, Good Luck Charlie and The Suite Life, tham ever before all combined, in my life. A couple days in bed at home, and I am starting to feel like my old self, except that I have discovered March Madness and I may not come out until it is over.

What a rush! The idea of you win or go home, is fascinating to me. Doesn't matter what your record has been up to this very date, if you lose, you go home. No do overs. No second chances.
There have been some killer games. One game was won by the team who hadn't lead all day with .2 left on the clock. Unbelievable. March Madness, where have you been on all life?

If not a chance encouter while laying, sprawled across the coach, waiting for some unknown amount of time in which moving might seem possible again. Up and sort of at em, time to return to Real Life... well, maybe, one more game...

Come on, Spring Brake...

Miss Morgan is going on Day 8 of high fevers and this nasty flu thing. We have been going back and forth doing everything we can to get her well. It has been a team effort. Now, the troops are starting to fall. Day 1 for nana, hope this ends soon. Please let next week be better. Come on, Spring Break!!!

smoke...

I know very little about smoke or the Catholic Church. Have gleamed a bit from friends and family over the years. Smoke has traditionally been sent to other body parts, and the little I know about the Catholic Church, is incomplete.

But I must say, the whole conclave, choosing a new leader is fascinating. There is very little pomp and circumstance in our lives these days. It is all about social media where word travels faster than at any other time in history. There is no rushing to choose a pope, it is all about the smoke. And waiting, is at the very essence, something most of us do little of anymore.

Shortly after the noon news started, networks broke in with the announcement that white smoke could be seen coming from the Sistine Chapel, followed quickly by the ringing of the bells, leaving no one in doubt, a new pope had been choosing. As I waited with those on TV and in Vatican Square, it was a stark reminder that not everything can be known by social media. There were not hints of who the new pope would be. For a few short hours, it was even implied that an American could be chosen, I was rooting for Cardinal Doyle!

But alas, at the time of their choosing, the new Argentin pope appeared. It was nice to see a pope who appeared in good health, able to lead a church of over a billion people. The last couple popes seemed to be circling the drain and with all the changes in the world, not able to keep up, pay attention and lead. This pope, seems to have crossed that barrier.

He took the name Francis. Named after Francis of Assisi. I like that, think I would pick that for my name.

The smoke, the bells, the tradition. One can always learn, and be thankful for those things which enrich our lives. Welcome Pope Francis...

be ready...

If you Google, Billy Joel and Micheal Pollack. You will never forget either of them after you see the video.

You can't hear but when Micheal Pollack walks up to the stage, Billy Joel askes him what key he plays the song in. His reply is, What key do you want in?

This Vanderbilt freshman was ready. He stunned the audience filled with his friends who already knew him and Billy Joel as well. His preformance was flawless, his confidence was sweet yet confident. He was ready for this Moment, and had been for a long time.

New York State of Mind, will never sound the same. Maybe that is the way it should be. The old passing on the the young because they show they are ready. We each need to ready, to be able to step up when it is time. No time to cram,o practice. It comes naturally, because we have done it a thousand times in our mind. It has become second nature, no need to be nervous.

Well done, gentlemen. Well done...

highlights...

The basketball season ended last weekend. Had a chance to watch Gage's coach and how he interacted with his team. I think he was a perfect match for 10 year old boys. By trade, he is trained to help people puts their thoughts together, to help them make sense of the lives they have been giving. He is the only coach I have ever known who has not passed out the different stars at the end of each game. He waits until practice, the next week.

Sportsmanship, Christlikeness, offense, defense. They are each given a particular star and told why. This coach ends the games a bit differently. He asks them to highligh what they or someone did right. He won't let them dwell om mistakes. He will say over and over again, just the highlights.

Not many places in life where you are only allowed to talk about the highlights of life. You complain, you get better service, or something free. Most everything we do rewards the complaints we make. Police officers don's top you for going the speed limit. There is no prize for telling someone they undercharged you. You get results when you go agains the grain. That is why we are all, so good at it.

Thanks Coach for the lesson. Tell me the highlights, what would that look like in each of our lives?...

Wow...

Im soooo ready to burst - just can't keep it in any more. My God is such an awesome God! I thank Him over and over again for all my many wonderful blessings and guess what - He just keeps them coming! Thank you my blessed God! I will continue to serve you & love you & keep you with me always!

A comment on my FB page yesterday. It was posted about 2 hours after I had a 2 hour conversation with her. We tried to catch up on 20 years. We tried to comfort each other about the past, and remind each other that we are still here. We both learned things we never knew. The reason this resonates with me is a comment she made. We have a long past together, not all of it good and we didn't talk much about spiritual things.

It must have been something else happened to her today that would bring about that kind of unbridled joy. Talking to me would not do that for anyone but I am smart enough to know, that sometimes it just happens and if you lucky, you get to be a part of it. You get to see the unbridled joy. It may be just what you needed that day. It sure did that for me. Talking to her today had a cleansing effect on me, it also caught me up on the Love that I never knew, came my way. Thank you Auntie, I hope we get to see each other again in this life but if we don't...Thank you for the Love, it means the world to me...

cropping...

There are hard and fast rules to cropping a photo, I just don't happen to believe in them. When you crop a photo it is usually to make a statement. To emphasise a image, to make it the focal point and to get rid of unneccesary clutter. These three are SOOC. No cropping. This is exactly what I saw and wanted to capture. There is a Time and Place for Portrait style photos but 90% of the time, it is about everyday life and everyday life is not about the Rule of Thirds in a 4x6 format.


As with so many things, I have my own way. Sometimes that gets me in trouble and sometimes, most of the time, it just doesn't matter. Rules are made for all and if they apply, be all means use them. If they don't, feel free to crop outside the lines...

little fish...

I am always better when I remember I am just a little fish in a big pond...

Most of us are ok with being a LFIBP if, somewhere in some small way, we think we are a Big Fish somewhere in our lives. We need to feel important, viatl, relevant, in other words...loved. In the Big Pciture, we want ot know that our time here left an imprint on someone or something.

When on eis a Big Fish, certain amenities apply. You perceive thaqt your words, your way is more likely to be the correct way to proceed. That in becoming a Big Fish, you have already been proving, right. Your chest is pumped up a bit, you stand a little straigher, so people can find you easier, to ask your opinion, or for your ideas. Things that are never asked of a little fish.

Little fish are a dime a dozen. In the unlikely event you need the advice of a little fish, all you need to do is reach out and grab one. Anyone will do, they are basically all the same.

So, why would anyone WANT to be a little fish? Shouldn't we always, always be striving to be a Big Fish? Little fish aren't about being set apart. They are about community. They are about we not me. When you take the step to become a little fish and make no mistake, you must choose, you are choosing a way. A way that may not always be easy to live with. A way, where at times, all is lost. On the other side, it is a Place where you can grow gratitude, learn the path of humility and ponder until you are all pondered out.

I have lived on both sides of the Pond, Big Fish, little fish. While one may feel good for a while, the other brings peace. And that, makes it all worth while...

everywhere we go...

First we check for wifi service and then we go straight to, You Tube and the BSU Broncos. Yes, he is obsessed. He will watch old bowl games, everything BSU. This was a highlights video of one of his favorite players. He knows the plays, he knows their numbers, he knows his guy.

Doesn't matter that football is done with for a few months, his love knows - no bounds. It is forever, until it isn't.

For most of us, most of the time and for most things... It is forever, until it isn't.

People, places, things. Emotions, feelings, thoughts.

It is forever, until it isn't.

A baby who parents were killed on the way to the hospital, died today. Can only imagine their last thoughts were all about him and then, they weren't. Got myself all twisted up in a bunch because the local school district has decided to go back to outside granduations at all three high schools. Because of a mistake, their mistake and now parents and teens have to suffer. Maybe they should cough up the $12,000 needed to rent the Big Arena so everyone can attend. I have been to an outside graduation at one of these schools. The weather was brutal and it was tough on everyone. Your mistake, you take the blame not the kids. Right now, I am still riled up. It is forever, until it isn't.

Forever in the short term, it should have its own word. We are a passionate people, yes, some more than others and we meant it when we say forever. Forever always looks like a long, winding road but the truth it, it could be over in seconds...