Purpose driven lives

There are multiple purposes to my life.  Some of them endure, some are constantly changing.

Currently they include:

Raising thoughtful children.
Working really hard while I have the ability to do so.
Trying to "create something" now, to "have" later when my ability to create things has diminished.
Being a good person.

While they sound vague, perhaps, this short little list keeps me very busy.

I think it's the last one with which I struggle the most.

I do feel like I'm not giving much "back" at the moment.  I have at times, been more involved in enhancing the common or greater good than I am currently.

I tell myself that the work I'm doing professionally, the the work I'm doing in item number one, above, is somehow, peripherally, contributing to the last item.

And then I go and read something here:

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/about/

And I think, WOW!  There's so much more that I could be doing.  At least someone is doing it, and for that I am grateful.

Sharing

My cousin posted a link to this woman's blog post about teenage girls.

I agree with all of her points, (and am grateful for the opportunity to recognize that this woman does not need to address any of these points to my daughter since none of these are issues she has).

http://kateelizabethconner.com/ten-things-i-want-to-tell-teenage-girls/

I like this woman's blog.  I think she's thoughtful, clever and funny.

Food for future blog posts

I secured a summer job for my daughter (the aforementioned Catholic zealot) with my former boss, an irreverent and cantankerous Jew.

I am beside myself with anticipation.

Here I go again

Because, clearly, I've forgotten how grueling the last Marathon was....or because I'm seriously perimenopausal and insAAAAne.....or because I bow easily to peer pressure.  Or (C) perhaps all of the above.

In any event, this little bit of insanity is bought and paid for:

http://www.richmondmarathon.com/

Anyone care to join me?

It's fun.  Really.

heh heh heh

Stuff I see

A man and his son walking to preschool, they cross the street in front of my car so I stop and wait. The dad is tall, in a suit, serious. The boy is 4ish, in shorts. They are holding hands. The dad is focused on the school on the opposite side of the street as he strides purposefully forward. The boy, however, is jumping his way across the street, from one white crosswalk square to the next, with his own sense of determination, similarly purposeful, yet completely with glee. They are a funny duo on the same trajectory yet oblivious to one another's mode of ambulation.

Blonde Girl Math

This is me....or it might as well be...sadly

Universal flow and a karmic bone to chew on

I meet a lot of people.  I meet hundreds of new people every year just through work, and then when you throw in people connected with the kids, or my husband and his many many creative ventures, it's a whole lot of names and faces.  I'm not always good at remembering, or at distinguishing, months down the road if it was this Bob or that Bob unless either of the Bobs happened to make an impression on me for some reason. 

Every once in a while, however, I meet someone who immediately "sticks."  Someone who I instantly have that "where have you been all these years" kind of feeling, which is really fun.

What is that all about?  How is it that one person out of the hundreds just stands out?  There's no rhyme or reason; sometimes they are male, sometimes female...older younger taller shorter wiser sillier.... there's no detectable pattern.  Perhaps the bond is enhanced by circumstances or environment.  Or maybe it's just chemical.  Whatever the reason, it's always fun when it happens.  I'm going to consider it a little gift from the  universal flow .... a little karmic bone to keep me fresh while I shake a couple hundred more hands attached to faces that I'll never remember......a reminder that somewhere along the way there's going to be a keeper or two!

 

Roe V Wade V My daughter

I gave my daughter a ride last night to meet her friends.  You know how teenagers are, always shirking responsibility and hanging out and stuff?  I dropped her off in a parking lot next to a row of mostly unmarked office buildings.  There was a small group of her hooligan friends already there, loitering in the parking lot.....PRAYING THE ROSARY....... in front of an abortion clinic.

That was a really hard thing for me to do, to take her there in the first place, willingly and supportively.  I've mentioned this before here, that she and I have agreed to disagree on this topic, but part of me really wanted to roll down the window and scream at these young girls "DO  YOU  HAVE  ANY  IDEA  HOW  HARD  WE  WORKED  TO  ACHIEVE  REPRODUCTIVE  FREEDOM  IN  THIS  COUNTRY ?????"

But I didn't do that, because they don't actually know how hard we worked, nor would they understand it or be impressed by it, and I guess that's the way it goes. So, I just smiled, and told her I loved her, and drove away in a surreal state of mystification.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she wouldn't be who she is able to be, today, without the blood and sweat of generations of women who paved the way for her to be a member of a society where the choices she makes she is able to make so freely. Yet, because the road has been paved so smoothly now, for so long, I fear that she is not able to appreciate how dusty and full of potholes it truly used to be. 

Summer!!!

It is EIGHTY DEGREES outside!

Seriously, Mother Nature, wth?  (I know you're just setting us up for some molten lava kind of August, right?)

The fact that I'm chained to a desk, clicking buttons to approve IT permission profiles for my 750 docs right now is almost too unbearable considering what's happening outside my window.

It makes me want to play hooky and go here:

Chandlers!

This place is totally awesome. It is stuck in a random parking lot between a CVS and a Tractor Supply. There are 4-5 benches and a few trees, but people just pull up and stand around slurping the best ice cream ever!

Now, I realize those are strong words, because we all prefer different kinds of ice cream.  I am not a custard girl, or a fro-yo girl, and while I worked at B&Js many moons ago, and still love the product, sometimes they're just a little too much for me.

This stuff is good old soft serve.  Vanilla, Chocolate, and "Swirl." Keep it simple, right?  Of course they make milk shakes with add-ins (al la DQ, only way better) and banana splits and sundaes, but my favorite is a vanilla cone, dipped in chocolate. The kind that hardens instantly.  On a 70 degree day, you can eat the whole thing before the ice cream melts through the shell. On an 80 degree day, you just don't stand a chance, and if you don't order an empty bowl to go with your confection, your tongue will chase the melted marvel right off of its coney perch and onto the pavement.

This place personifies Summer for me.  Good thing it isn't within walking distance right now.

Updates and stuff

So, the date went well.  My son's, that is, in case you're keeping score at home. 

He planned the date well, literally had it all mapped out...down to the time I was instructed to leave the house to pick them up after the movie.   The funny thing about planning, though, is that things rarely work out the way you anticipated, and it seemed (from the distance between where they were in the living room and where I was in the kitchen) that he was not totally prepared for the moments of down time.  If they get to know each other better, those moments will disappear (or they'll figure out they can spend them kissing).  Overall I was proud of him.  Especially the way he handled himself when said date's father appeared at the door.  He puffed up a little, I thought.  The father, that is.  He seemed sort of borderline "this is my daughter and I'm not sure your son is good enough," (which, clearly, is misguided, since it is more likely the opposite is true) but I just smiled a lot and chatted amiably until he left.  Those moments will probably diminish as well.

He was my captive audience in the car the day after which gave me the opportunity to have the serious "girls only want to have sex with you talk." 

I love being a mommy.  :)

My daughter

Clearly, the boot thing is genetic.

Quote of the day

My brother and sister in law are farmers.  Not a 1,000 acres and a barn full of combines farmers, but more like 20 acres and a mule farmers.  In any event, it's always fun to go over there and see the animals.  My SIL is a bit of an animal whisperer.  Seriously.  She just has this way.  Her animals all LOVE her.  The pigs and cows come running when she walks to the fence.  The chickens follow her around the barnyard.  One of the roosters will rub up against her leg until she picks him up and then he'll just snuggle with her until she gets tired of him.

It is pretty adorable.  For the record, however, they do eat what they grow....as do we when there is enough to go around.  Best bacon I've ever had.    Anyhoo.  I get this text from her today:

"It just feels so wrong to be at the drive thru at Chik Fil A with a chicken in the back seat."     

Parental Rites of Passage circa 2012

#11

Noticing that my son has changed his status on Facebook from "Single" to "In a Relationship" for the first time in his life.

32 people commented on this status change with comments from "get it get it" to "you are the man" to "dang man, lucky"

That's just HILARIOUS to me for some reason. 

She's coming over for dinner this weekend so I can get a good look then. 

Upon thee I build my rock.... or maybe not.

My daughter is converting to Catholicism.  I've almost hesitated to write about this here, because it's such a big deal, momentarily, that I almost feel compelled to start a whole brand new blog to devote to it.

That she is converting to Catholicism is odd for a number of reasons.

1.  She is 16
2.  She's had absolutely no formal introduction to Catholicism from her family since we are non-churchgoers and non-religious
3.  What teenager decides they are going to join a religion and then does all the work to actually get themselves not only enrolled in a confirmation program, but also dedicates themselves, completely, to pursuing this passion with only veiled support from their family?  Who does that, I ask you?  I'll give you a hint, she's 5'4", has red hair and lives upstairs at my house. 

It's just SO WEIRD.

I can't say this to her, so I'm saying this to you instead.  I say more supportive things to her.  When I'm not being sacreligious that is....a little problem I have that didn't used to be a problem, but now, clearly IS!

Apparently telling her things like "blessed art though among women" when she unloads the dishwasher unsolicited is NOT a compliment to her in the way I mean it. 

I'm telling you, the sands upon which I've constructed my little metaphysical vacation home are shifting.   It's definitely food for thought. 

Oy!

On Sunday I went to a planning meeting for my 30th high school reunion.  For what it's worth,  I did not go to this on purpose, but went because my BFF from HS was going, and I wanted to see her, so I showed up at the end.  Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.  Or something like that, to quote one of my french teachers.  (Who would be proud, no doubt, to know that I still speak a little french...in spite of them.)

Did I mention 30th?

Yin and Yang

The waves roll in, depositing a new layer of sand on the beach.  As the water receeds, it leaves a few on the top, shining and beautiful, but just for a few seconds, and then it rolls in again, pulling those glistening grains under, leaving a new collection on the top, burying the others underneath.

And so it goes.  For a few seconds at a time, we escape the cold water and we get to lie in the bright sunshine and sparkle, everything being perfect.  But it doesn't last for too long, because we always seem to have another spin cycle in our future.

But I think that's okay.  It's nature's way of polishing us. 

This weekend was a moment of sparkling in the sun with a friend I adore.  Followed, this morning, by a tumble in really cold water with another.

There are all kinds of platitudes about life not giving you more than you can handle.  Maybe that's true.  Or maybe it's true that we CAN actually handle anything life gives us, we just don't realize it until the time comes. 

HAHHAHAHAHAAH or is it just me?

I got an email this afternoon inviting me to a "Group Debrieding"

Maybe it's just cause I work in a hospital, but that's just a really funny typo!