Pick-N-Choose Last Question #8

This is it!  Last question for the Great Get-Away Give Away!  Can you believe it?

It isn't too late to jump in and join the last question before the drawing NEXT weekend.  You can read about the particulars HERE.  Basically, you just have to answer the question on your blog, link my blog to the entry, and add your link in the area below.  Bonus if you pose a question for me!  That's it!

One note/heads up - in preparation for the drawing, it will be helpful if you will have several different weeks of dates that you would be available for travel in mind, and the airport where you would depart.  In the event that you win, it will make it much easier to nail down a destination and itinerary.  Exciting!

Now, on to the question(s).  Yes, question plural.  This week, you can choose the question you want to answer!  I will answer both.  

If you could be locked in somewhere overnight, where would it be and what would you do?  Would you be by yourself or with someone, and if so, who?

and....

Many of us have that one moment or decision that, if we could go back, we would choose differently.  If you could go back and get a do over, what would you do?

  Josie, over at Josie2shoes, has asked a few variations of this question that I have spent some time pondering.  She asked if you could go back and erase one day of your life like it didn't happen, what day would it be and why?  Also, "What comes to mind as one of the worst choices you've ever made, and what would you consider one of the best ones?" 

I thought I would attempt to tackle a culmination of her inquiries here.

First, where would I like to be locked in overnight and what would I do?  This one is easy -

I would be in heaven on earth to be 'stuck' in a bookstore overnight.  I used to actually scheme about how to make this happen, scoping out possible hiding places where I could tuck away and wait out closing time.  Being locked in at one of those fabulous bookstores, the two-story variety with a coffee corner would be absolute bliss.  I would make my way around to each section and peruse various topics and titles.  I am sure I would help myself to a cup o' joe or two, considering I would be pulling an all-nighter in order to take full advantage of my great fortune to be 'trapped' in the midst of a bibliographical cornucopia.  Since reading is mostly a solo endeavor, I would most likely prefer to be by myself, but I can see that this would be quite the romantic place to be found with another bookworm.  How cozy would it be to curl up on one of the many couches in a reading corner, to read to each other?

Now for the next question - if I could have a 'do-over'.....

http://www.patio-ideas-guide.com/brick-patio-steps.html

Roughy twenty-two years ago, I sat on brick steps much like the ones above, the year my alma mater was granted university status, change of major in hand.  I began college already set on my major: communication arts with an emphasis in journalism.  I knew, without a doubt, that I wanted to invest my life and career in writing and research, two first loves.  In all my youthful idealism, I envisioned being a frontline journalist in some small war-torn country.  In many ways, I have felt over the years that I 'settled'.

I try not to spend too much time questioning or lamenting decisions I've made.  I don't really believe in regrets because every choice - good, bad and indifferent teaches us something and shapes us.  Mistakes are really learning opportunities.  Yet, many times over the years since that day, I have asked, 'Why?', sometimes through tears, sometimes crying out through gut-wrenching sobs, 'Why?'  I have wondered too many times to count why I changed my major that day.

I know the initial 'reasons' that I changed from journalism to education.  First and foremost, I felt I had sought direction and prayed about the decision for a while beforehand.  In those days, I didn't hear God's still small voice or sense His directing as I do now, but I felt I should change.  Another large part of my decision to change was that I reasoned I could love writing and share that love of writing with the young.  I also thought that since I also wanted a family one day, my schedule as a teacher would be much more conducive to family life.

I believe that any decision we make can be used for good, and I don't doubt that there were instances where I was in a place of helping a child over the course of time.  I have even had solid evidence from a few that I influenced them positively, and I am grateful.  However, sharing my passion for writing was a mere fraction of the overall time and focus that I have spent in my years teaching.  It was only in recent years that I could fully immerse myself in the craft of writing with students, and that was brief, as the winds of change and the pendulum of education forever swing to and fro.  For the most part, I've given up more focus on writing because the nature of education is all consuming.  I have come to the decided conclusion that it is akin to having two full-time jobs.  There is rarely any time, energy or brain space for much of anything else.  It has always been quite draining for me.

As for time with my family, in some ways, yes, it afforded me breaks when my children were out for break.  I did have summers with them.  Yet, during the year, they often had a present but absent mom when I was spending long days/nights at school, bringing my work home because I had to, or being the last ones picked up from the after school program, and then having to hang out in my classroom for hours beyond that.  The biggest impact was probably having a mom that had not found true fulfillment in her work.  It is why, above everything else, I am encouraging my two young adults to seek out and pursue what they truly love to do.  Someone who is suited for their work, and finds complete contentment in a job that doesn't feel like work is worth far more than any of the practical reasons to follow another pursuit.

So there you have it - I would have kept to my original major and pursued that,  wherever it may have taken me.  If I truly loved it, it would have fit into the life I had chosen.  I am not unappreciative of where I am now - I am grateful for a job, and what it might lead to.  Yet, the irony that I teach teachers is humorous some days, and confounding on many others.  But I will keep moving forward and trust I am where I need to be for the time being.

So choose a question!  Answer it and link it up!  Last call for questions before the drawing!

No Sense Question #7

  There are just two questions left in The Great Get-Away Give-Away.  I cannot believe we have quickly come to the close of the contest!  It has been a blast, and I have enjoyed getting to know many of you even better.  That's the point of all this - right?  Building community.  Being relational.  Life's too much of an adventure to miss out on sharing it.

So here is the question for this week:

You have to give up one of your senses.  Which one will it be and why?

Being highly attuned to senses, I landed on this question because it is a challenging one.  I wanted the chance to think slowly and deliberately about each sense and what it means to me, and then choose one to give up.  This won't be easy.  For you, it might be.  For me, it is hard to fathom a day or a lifetime without the ability to see, hear, taste, touch or smell.

http://azweird.com/human_body/curious_facts_about_human_senses-767.html

The human senses are evidence to me of a divine Creator.  Just in thinking about the eye and the fascinating way that it processes the world in images is astounding.  I think about all the things I would miss if I were to lose my sense of sight:  sunlight pouring in rays through morning clouds, my daughter's freckles, hands and eyes, butterflies fluttering into view, sunsets, the moon's changing phases.

http://www.doctordisruption.com/sensory/the-chemical-sense/
http://www.senseofsmell.org

What about the sense of smell?  What would you miss most if you could no longer pick up a scent in the air?  The first whiff of coffee brewing in the morning, and the way it smells when trapped in a car before dawn on a long road trip.  Ocean air steeped in brine and drifts of suntan lotion.  The nape of a baby's neck.  Orange and clove during the holidays.  The crisp knowledge bound in the pages of a new book.  All the myriad of aromas that harken memories back to present.

www.innerblissdesigns.com

Some may consider the loss of taste a blessing in disguise.  Cravings would no longer be an issue.  Food would truly become just a matter of fuel and energy.  There would probably be no need for diets. And yet...

     ripe blueberries....                   the first sip of coffee.....           dark chocolate.....           

                         the contrast of a salt rim on a good margarita .....              a summer tomato.....

                              a robust red wine.....               homemade pumpkin pie.....    

                                           warm salted mouth of a lover's kiss.....

A few weeks ago, we discussed hearing loss in my Exceptional Child class and one of my students who had worked with the hearing impaired shared the story of a woman who was completely deaf and had decided she didn't want her hearing improved with cochlear implants.  Her reason?  She wanted the first sound she ever heard to be Jesus' voice saying her name in heaven.  Powerful.

If suddenly I couldn't hear, I would miss music, the sound of my son's voice saying, "Hey Maaaaa!" over the phone, ocean waves that have, on more than one occasion, lulled me to sleep, voices of loved ones that, although I do not hear them daily, are imprinted on my heart.  The crackle of a fire.  The crunch of leaves and the absolute stillness of a first snow.  A heartbeat matched with yours.

It has long been established that touch is needed for humans to develop emotionally.  Touch helps in communication and bonding.  Touch is what gives us connection to another life.  So to be without touch would leave us isolated, stunted and missing so much of the world.  I couldn't imagine life without having my hair brushed, the warmth of a friend's hand on my shoulder when no words will do, or the sensation of being wrapped up in an embrace.  While these are vital, I believe we are becoming more starved for touch in our highly technological, social media existence.  The ramifications of this have yet to be explored fully.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201010/why-have-we-lost-the-need-physical-touch

So what sense would I give up?  This is tough, but if I had to give up one and it left me now, after years of having all five,  I believe it would be the sense of smell.  I realize that this sense is connected to the sense of taste, but of the five, the other three to me, are paramount to the intertwining of lives.  I could still see the faces I love, hear their words and laughter and give and receive the healing benefits of touch.

What sense would you give up?

Updates from the Junk Drawer

I think this could become a semi-regular feature.  Semi because if you've landed here on any level of regularity (that sounded like a commercial for Kaopectate or something...), you know I can be consistently inconsistent.

I realized that there were many things I may have referred to before that might need some updating.  There are also, as always, random things that float my way, or drift through the ol' bean that I like to contemplate and might like to share.  So this is my effort to rummage through the junk drawer of my mind again and find those hidden 'treasures'!  {grin}  Here you will find a collection of unconnected nonsense and pictures from the hodgepodge that is my noggin and phone.

Random display around town.  I found it very compelling.  So many captions could go here.  Insert your own political rant here if you want. 

Lately I have been working.  A lot.  Working too much for one who needs balance and margin like I need air.  I keep being told by more seasoned professory types that this will pass, and that it does get better.  So in the midst of my own personal cliff (not THE economic cliff aforementioned in the news) I vacuumed.  Yes, to cope I vacuumed my whole department's building.  I also decided that in an effort to learn more about this odd professory life I had better learn a thing or two so I went ahead and signed myself up for an upcoming professor's conference in the spring.  The one I mentioned before.  I have my place reserved and my pre-registration sent.  I figure if I'm going to do this, I might as well learn from somewhere how to do it, and do it well.

On any given day, THIS is what I schlepp to and from campus for all the work I end up doing far into the wee hours.  I came in and just unloaded it all on the couch.

I have a tendency to do that - fall to the bottom of a cliff and feel the world's weight in dirt smothering me, and then I dig and scrape my way out and try to find ways to make things better.  Such is the evidence in the subsequent post following my housekeeping episode in No Excuses November.  Usually I get fed up and decide, 'No more!  Quit cher whinin' and do something about it!'  (said to self).

So how is No Excuses November going?  I officially started last week and did some form of walking or running three out of the seven days.  It's not where I want to be, but it is better than zero.  Progress.  It's progress.  I have also purchased  -

thanks to my friend Melanie, over at The Positive Pessimist and her inspiration to get this behind fit and in shape.  My semester is coming to an end (cue Hallelujah chorus) and I think I see some time available very soon to do this. Update on my update:  I actually started this THIS week.  Holy smack a monkey.  It looks simple enough.  It is only 20 minutes which is honestly all I can do right now AND JILLIAN SUFFICIENTLY BUSTS MY TAIL in that short amount of time.  Melanie warned me I would probably cry when I had to sit on the potty but my bigger issue is the noodle-like state (I like the word 'noodle'.  Say it over and over.  Say it fast.  It is just funny.) my arms are in at the moment.  How do I ever even function?  My arms are SO WEAK!  After day 2 of this workout, I stood at the sink to brush my teeth and had to flail and fling my arms up and around my body in high hopes that my toothbrush would make contact with my teeth.  What I lack in upper body strength, I do make up for in lower body. I might not be able to take you down with a death grip (you'd most likely feel tickled to death instead) but I can roundhouse kick you out of nowhere and send you across the room.  

One of the days last week that I decided to run, I stayed on campus one evening.  I enjoyed it very much, and since I don't get out of my own little corner often, it was great to see the campus from that vantage.  I also saw this down in the married housing area:

Hilarious.  Someone has Kmart Inflatable Yard Art Spirit!

Many of you know I attempted to start a little garden and see how that goes.....well.....it is still 'going', I suppose.  I have to say, it takes the patience of Job to wait for a salad doing it this way.  It has shown me just how much of an 'instant' people we have become.  Want a salad?  Get it through a drive -thru complete with croutons.  Seriously, I have enjoyed the experience for the most part.  I like tending to something connected to the earth like that.  I don't like that it almost became a very expensive buffet for some critter that visited a couple of nights and helped itself.  So I rigged the loveliest of 'fences' out of what I could find and covered a suspicious hole beside the garden that looked like its hideout.  Here's the garden in all its tacky glory.  Good thing our backyard is a big slope and you can't see this from the street.  We'd be getting hate mail taped to the door for sure if our neighbors could see it.

 Tack-ay!!!!

I haven't killed anything!

I had also been sharing here about my experience with this book since August:

You can read my previous posts about it here Wiling To Be Wrecked, or here 7 Continues or here Simplicity of 7 in September.  How was October, the month of possessions?  In all honesty, I am going to have to revisit that chapter again this coming summer when I will have all the time (or more time) to invest in cleaning out my stuff, purging the basement of its collection of things that are just sitting down there not being put to good use.  The concept of giving away your things, sometimes sacrificially wasn't conducive for one that is usually found sequestered in one office or another.  I had hoped to be presented with an opportunity to give sacrificially, to take the very shoes off my feet or coat off my back if I needed to, and did not encounter anything like that.  However, a few things that began during the month of October could certainly count as giving but more in process than instant: my Get-Away Give-Away and the growing of my tresses to donate them to an organization for children going through cancer.  It takes time to grow hair, people.

So my plan is to move the month of giving to summer when I can work more diligently on purging of 'stuff'.  In the mean time, my ragtag band of 7 comrades have come together to do a Good Gifts give-away at the beginning of December.  The idea is to dig deep, give sacrificially and put together a whole experience where those that are truly in need can come and get those needs met.  We have stocked a giant warehouse with clothing, furniture, toys, warm items and outerwear, household goods, food and other things.  We made a space to cut hair.  Our hope is to make this more than a 'handout' because we want to be relational.  Those of us involved want to be paired with a family and 'adopt' them in a way where we check on them and be a resource if they need help or guidance or anything.  So we're doing that.

And now music, of course.


Currently loving some Avett Brothers with a fevered adoration.



Finally - I haven't completely abandoned Fridge Poetry Friday.  I have actually been constructing some at random times, and have documented a few.  Some I refrain from posting - but here is one of the latest new poems:

No - you know what? I said 'finally'.  But there's more 'random' to be had.  I am the proud owner of THIS:

I took my best girl to Waffle House because I was seriously anemic in local flavor.  I have long held the belief that coffee just tastes better in these mugs - the white, thick ceramic variety.  I asked 'Tammy' (why are so many Waffle House waitresses named Tammy?) if I could buy my mug, and LO AND BEHOLD!  She answered yes, for the bargain price of five dollars!  I was fully prepared to take my own mug home but she even brought a clean one to me to take home!  I thoroughly enjoy my cup o' liquid sunshine in this regularly.

There.  Another junk drawer emptied, until I fill it again.  

I Live Dangerously, What Can I Say?

I was just taking a mind break from the ever-tedious grind of grading assessment project notebooks to come across THIS.  What?!?  Kindly scroll on down to the sixth 'banned/recalled' item, according to Popular Mechanics.  Oh what the heck, here it is...

(Article and Photo: Popular Mechanics, 10 beloved banned and recalled products, November 14, 2012)
When has this occurred?  I know nothing of this stinking recall!  I am so befuddled, I can't even get my blog post to cooperate.  I can understand some of the things on the list - did I ever tell you MY story of a slip -n- slide?  It is brutal.  Some of those other items are dangerous to children but a slip-n-slide has been banned because of adults' lack of poor judgement.  Who in their right mind would fling their 30-40+ year-old-carcass onto a thin sheet of plastic that may or may not be adequately damp enough to actually slide and not come to a jolting, vertebrae-snapping halt mid-slip?  
But back to hammocks - really?  Okay, okay so if the thing is of shoddy construction, sure.  It just makes it more interesting.  We hammock people LIKE to live on the edge!  We take risks!  Bring on secretly dangerous leisure!
Hammocks

Faulty stands, brackets, deteriorating wood planks, and poor build quality can make hammocks a secretly dangerous leisure activity. (Seriously, have you ever tried climbing into one of these things?) Since 1994, the CPSC has ordered 12 different recalls involving various hammock manufacturers, accounting for upward of 30,000 units.

Thanksgiving First Question #6

Yesterday, I had the blessed fortune to come across a particular movement of sorts going on in the blogosphere about the holidays.  I was first introduced to the concept of Thanksgiving First by Joe of Cranky Old Man.  If you haven't popped on over to his blog from my sidebar, do it.  Funny (and very insightful) stuff!  As a bonus, I discovered a delightful NEW (to me) blogger, Jim as in THE Suldog Jim.  You must also check him out, post haste.  Or haste directly over there AFTER you post your link for this question...you get the idea.

If you are just joining my blog posts, we are on the homestretch of a contest give-away.  For a trip.  You can check out the details here The Great GET-AWAY Give Away.  It is not too late to join in!  DO IT!

Jim's post echoed my thoughts, and sometimes my ranting, every time I would walk into a store IN OCTOBER or see a Christmas commercial when my doorbell is ringing with little dressed up cherubs or hear radio stations roll out the holiday tunes early.  My family knows this about me and now I KNOW I am not alone in my sentiment:  I believe the Christmas season should be reserved for AFTER Thanksgiving.  So I'll save more of my reasoning for my official post and get on with the question:

How do you feel about the holidays this time of the year, particularly the ever-melding of ThanksChristgivmasing that is continually being 'pushed' more and more each year?

Please know that you are free to share however you view this time of year.  I respect your views completely.  I just happen to be a traditionalist when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So in your post, tell us where you lean - are you a staunch traditionalist or do you roll out the carols and the peppermint mocha everything in October?  What IS your favorite holiday?  IF you happen to be of the 'Thanksgiving Comes First' camp, entitle your post as such and keep the movement going.  Spread the word via your words!  If not, deck your halls and bring on the eggnog!

As for me, I often get curious looks when I say that Thanksgiving is one of my top favorite holidays.  Particularly in Christian circles, 'What?!?!  You mean Christmas isn't your favorite holiday?  Are you seriously besmirching baby Jesus lying in a manger?'  No.  They don't really say that but facial expressions communicate so much.  I then proceed to also say that 4th of July probably ties Thanksgiving for first and I have just then committed heresy.  I do have fun with that. 

First of all, Christmas and Easter for me aren't holidays.  They are a way of life that I seek daily.  What they mean to me, and what the world says they are clashes so mightily that it could be compared to a sonic boom.  For me, if my life isn't reflecting a humility echoing from a dusty, hay-filled manger, and my day-to-day isn't laying down my life for another in one small way (or big) or another, its ALL a clanging noise...and sparkle...and tinsel and distraction.  So the chasm between what our culture calls Christmas and what my heart knows is miles apart.

Second, I came to love Thanksgiving as a holiday in all its simplistic goodness as an adult, particularly when I was somehow deemed Chairperson and CEO of everyone's holiday good cheer, and suddenly I found myself in the role of being in charge of 'creating' the perfect Christmas environment, gathering and then purchasing (and budgeting) for all the gift shopping, writing,addressing and stamping cards,  planning and preparing all the world of gluttony goodies, coordinating and negotiating family gatherings (and THIS was one of our BIGGEST point of contentions in our earlier married days).  For me, Christmas went from being a magical wonderment as a child to a season of stress and spending that left me worn out and tired by January one.  I am not singling out the guys here but I think I can hear a resounding 'Amen sister!' from my gals from around the globe.  I don't 'own' that role anymore and have changed much of what I thought I had to do for the holidays.  It is quite freeing.

Thanksgiving has managed to get through the first 200 years of our country's existence unscathed by commercialism.  Other than turkeys, you don't have to buy a single thing.  I am actually amazed that some store or company somewhere hasn't figured out how to 'market' Thanksgiving.  I think they have tried.  Hallmark has the card section for Thanksgiving cards with all the brown and orange and yellow envelopes, but to those I say, 'meh'.  I think most people would agree.  

Okay, okay - let me stop here before you all start calling me 'Grinch' or huffing 'bah humbug' my way.  I am not saying I don't enjoy Christmas - I can get my mistletoe-chestnuts-over-an-open-fire on and get into some fa-la-la.  It's a focus thing for me.  

Third, an issue with all this holiday identity confusion that you may not have thought about before:

Bringing out the Christmas clutter on the shelves at the same time as the Halloween junk is INCREDIBLY confusing to the little ones.  Seriously, people!  I would say before second grade or so, when they are still learning how to tell time and read a calendar and a concept of time is vague and they are reliant on us grown ups to orchestrate and schedule their days, throwing a cardboard cutout of Santa on the shopping aisle in the fall is terribly confusing to those little babies.  They don't understand.  They trust US to guide them safely through life and time until they can understand it on their own.  I know this because I taught these cherubs and I will never forget  some sweet loves thinking Santa was coming "next week" because they saw the Christmas stuff out at 'Walhell'.  We had not even had Halloween yet.  I had to explain to them that we encounter Halloween first, count the days and then Thanksgiving, then more days and then Christmas.  We drew a timeline.  We used buttons to count on a calendar so that in some concrete way to grasp an abstract concept.  

Commercialism is selling out our kiddos and they become a 'bottom dollar'.  They want your sweet offspring to start whining through their Spiderman masks what they want for Christmas.  Who needs Thanksgiving (who's thankful, anyway?) when we have to get people in the stores to start their shopping now?

I could go on (trust me - ask mi familia).  I will spare you.  However, I will be found on November 22nd surrounded by what truly matters - family and friends, amidst my fall decor with a bountiful list of reasons to be grateful.  I am glad we do have a yearly reminder to be thankful.  Now if I can just have thanksgiving every day.

Update!  I just got this petition via email.  Timely since we are looking to 'take back' Thanksgiving.  Sign this petition asking that Target be closed on Thanksgiving.

Change.org|Online Petition Form

Link up and share your thoughts on the holidays!

Guest Blogger Post Question #5

That's right!  I have a guest posting the question for week 5 - None other than THE Ken-inatractor!  Many of you know (and adore) him and he was kind enough to accept my proposal to guest post for this week's question.  One of my stories/pictures prompted a memory/idea for writing and even a contest question to go with it so I said, 'go for it!'  I'm so glad I did!

He is right - something quite amazing has happened in our little corner of the blogosphere - friendships have been discovered, and bonds have formed among people who have joined together there to share stories, our lives and this insane pursuit to write that very often keeps  us sane.  What makes it incredible is that my life couldn't be more different from Ken's - he rocks a tractor daily and does this amazing thing where he grows stuff on the other end of the continent, and I impart knowledge and hopefully stir someone...anyone to think for themselves.  Yet we share in many commonalities - one being that while we are doing what we 'do', our souls long to do what we really love - write,  but we struggle to fit it into the frame that is currently surrounding us.  So we have become encouragers of sorts to keep on, and make a way to get our words down, somewhere, somehow.  The important part is to keep going, even if it's just six miles per hour.  Right, Ken? 

So I gladly present - Ken-inatractor.

#126. or, The great get-away give-away guest post

126 posts ago, I would have never suspected that I would have made the friends that I've made while I've been here, blogging and sharing my thoughts with you. It's truly amazing to me at how you can make a connection with somebody that you've never actually met, in a completely different part of the world.

  I've mentioned before, (like, just last post!) that Carrie, whose blog is, Hammock in The Honeysuckle is one of those people for me. We just connected and share views on quite a few levels.

  Now, she's asked me to be a guest host on her blog. So while you're reading this, This same post will be up on her site as part of her Sunday offering on her Great Get-Away Give-Away contest. That blows my mind, that see would want my ramblings on her site, as I know it will be a step down in writing quality for her readers, but nonetheless, if your reading this from Hammock in the Honeysuckle, today you have me. I'll do my best. And I just want to thank Carrie for inviting me to be her guest blogger.

  So, as part of the great giveaway contest, it falls on me to ask this weeks question. I pose to you this:

Have you ever been on a trip or vacation that while things appeared to be going badly, something happened that changed your mind, from worst trip ever to, meh....this wasn't so bad?

  OK,  so this question was inspired by a picture that Carrie posted in an earlier question post of hers. It's from a story she told about how they made the best of a family vacation that started out poorly but they were able to turn it into something much better.

You can read her story  here

    Our family had that vacation a while back now. The kids were still small enough that we all travelled together. Like, all in the same vehicle travelling together. We had finally worked up enough funds and time to head for the west coast. It was a driving vacation and we had a small holiday trailer, that we had owned for a few years at that time. It was our very first holiday trailer and it was used, but it was still in pretty good shape and we were pretty proud of it. My wife was particularly pleased with the fact that it had a bathroom. That meant, no middle of the night excursions to find the outhouse. Because outhouses can be bit off putting even in the light of day, middle of the night outhouse darkness made her shudder. Also, the only carpeted area in our trailer was the bathroom. (you need to remember this, it comes back around later.)

  The first part of the holiday was actually not so bad. The trip to the ocean was going to take a few days and aside from 5 of us crammed into a truck that wasn't the most comfortable in riding style, it wasn't so bad. Little son was still in a booster seat strapped between the 2 older boys in the back seat. Which, while did make it even more cramped, it also had the added benefit of keeping the 2 older boys separated and from actually having to touch each other.

  So we were all excited to be going to the ocean. The very first time that our children would be seeing it. And to be fair, we were having quite a bit of fun on our way to the ocean. But the ocean was going to be the BIG THING. We were all looking forward to it.

  As we travelled, we saw and did cool things. We got to Vancouver and drove right through to the ferry to cross onto the island, despite my apprehension to big city driving. Our goal was to drive as far west as we possibly could. And as we got closer to our destination it began to rain, as is often the case on the "wet" coast. And in turn, a foul odor began to permeate our humble little abode.  The closer we got, the wetter everything we owned got, and the stinkier our trailer got.

  We had driven pretty hard to get there with the intention of spending a few days camping in the area. We found a campsite and strung up a makeshift clothes-line under our awning to try to dry out some of our clothes. But it seemed that anything that hung outside just took on more moisture, plus that foul smell was becoming unbearable. It was getting hard to be inside, which is where everyone wanted to be to get out of the rain and sleeping was constantly interrupted by the phantom stink we couldn't seem to find.

  Until it dawned on us! My wife and I were laying in bed and it dawned on us. The fricken bathroom carpet was the source of smell. Our little old , used, trailer, with the carpeted bathroom, the same carpet that had had at least a few years of our sons, plus who knows how many others, dribbling pee onto it. That mixed with the constant dampness of the climate we were in, was a terribly horrible blend. I got up in the middle of the night and ripped it right out of the floor and tossed it out into the rain. But then, I had to spend the next hour or so pulling all the staples that had been holding the carpet in, out of the floor.

  But we had enough and decided to get the heck out of there to try to salvage what was left of our vacation. We headed back across the island, the plan was, we'd cross the ferry and take the kids into Stanley Park in Vancouver. Except there was some construction and I missed the parking area turn-off and ended up being the only dumb farmer, with a truck and trailer, trying to navigate downtown Vancouver. Turning around was NOT an option. I white knuckled it and didn't stop until we reached Chilliwack.

  Having felt that we had short changed the boys out of Stanley Park, we were driving along and near Chilliwack, we passed a water slide, made a spur of the moment decision, and pulled right in. And we took the boys water sliding. And it was glorious. It was still slightly overcast, but warm and we practically had the place to ourselves. We had a grand time with no lines and any slide at out immediate disposal.

  That was 7 years ago. Sometimes, when we talk about the holidays that we've been on, our boys will talk about that water slide. Of all that they saw that trip, the ocean for the first time, the ferry trip, the fresh oysters that we BBQ'd. Of all those things, the thing they always come back to from that trip is the water slide. The water slide that we stopped at almost by accident. The water slide that we probably would have driven right passed if we hadn't been at whits end and just need a break.

  Sometimes it's the little things that are the biggest things of all. We haven't been back to that area since. Not   for any reason other that it's just too far out of the way. The kids used to ask to go back but I knew, it would never be quite the place that we all needed, just to get all unwound, the one stinky time.

Now, there's only one thing left to do. Pop over to Carries site and answer this question and link yourself to her blog with the linky thing-a ma-bob she's going to add at her site. You just might win a trip, and who knows? Something magical just might happen on vacation to you if you, if you win her trip.

No Excuses November

I suppose I should post the title's topic as the first 'story' or main idea of this post but I don't follow rules here so first, a song:



I'm determined to keep singing this.  After my somewhat 'blah' Vacuuming post, I do what I always do, and try to shift my focus on the good, and I can always find it.  So when things get tough, the tough roll out Bob Marley...and then of course there's always....



...preferably sipped while starring at that view.

Being at the beach recently, and having the opportunity to step away from my life for awhile afforded me a look at the way things are in many areas of my life, compared to  the way things need to be in order for me to function.  Up to this point, I have been existing and surviving, and that is not good for me, or anyone, in the long run.  Several areas of my life are seriously out of balance.  I have learned, the hard way, that I do not do well out of balance.  It isn't healthy for anyone, but for some reason, I am particularly sensitive to it and it wrecks havoc on every aspect of my life:

My spiritual life - when I am exhausted/consumed by something, I don't get still, pray/reflect or seek like I normally do when I have margin.

My health - Let's face it - it is hard to keep a steady and consistent routine with exercise.  When I am literally doing something (work-related things) in all my waking hours because I have to, sleep takes priority because it too, suffers.  An image hit me the other day while I sat at the computer, as I have casually observed others that spend a predominant amount of their working task sitting in front of a computer and noticing certain.....uhm...'shapes'.

www.toyday.co.uk

This.  This is what I am going to look like if I stay on this trajectory.  Do you all remember these childhood toys?  The stackable plastic rings?  Mine didn't have the clown head on top, but it is fitting.  Add arms and that will be me if I don't start being intentional about building exercise into my day. 

Besides, I can almost hear my muscles atrophying.  They sound a bit like the Wicked Witch of the West when she gets water thrown on her.  It isn't pretty.

(favorite childhood movie, by the way, that alternately scared me silly)

 Class notes will be long forgotten, discussion will fade into the recesses of memory but I have to live with this bod and myself for the rest of my days.  

And diet?  You all would be appalled.  It is so far from what I normally do because I lack the time to think through and plan accordingly.  I have actually lost weight in the last months (please don't hate...my post about THAT issue is forthcoming) and I'm not trying (again...no throwing tomatoes).  It is the stress and the poor diet.  On a good day, I might grab a banana as breakfast for after my first class.  I might throw an apple and some form of protein (if anything is available) in a bag for lunch.  Largely my fruit these days encompasses a banana, an apple...and wine.  It's a fruit, people.  

On my worst, 'rush and scramble' days, it's coffee, nothing for lunch and then I get desperate like I did the other night (Yes, I said 'night') I was still at the office at 9:00 p.m. and I hadn't eaten much at all and I succumbed to the bowl of old candy corn on the counter....'What'd you have for dinner?"  Me: 'Candy corn'.  Yeah.

My mental/emotional health - I have learned about myself that I need SPACE.  Mental space and physical space.  Emotional space.  When that space is overtaken whether it be by a person, a task, a job or whatever might encroach, I get worn.  If this goes on for a stretch of time, fight or flight kicks in, and I push back in ways that can be damaging, harmful or at the slightest, not aligned with my nature.  I grow cynical.  Resentment settles in.  I become someone I do not like. 

My sleep habits -   These days it is burn the midnight (one or two a.m.) oil.  Rise early (5-6 a.m.).  Go all day.  Set the clock.  Get up and do it all over again.  It has taken its toll.  Rewind and read all the other impacts on my health and lack of sleep exacerbates them all.  

Enter No Excuses November

I am proclaiming to all of you that I am determined to set a few things straight.  I can not, at present, overhaul everything.  As much as I'd like to shuck the main cause of all this upheaval, I can't do that now.  So - I am proclaiming that for this month, I am going to start ( or re-start) my exercise routine.  It won't be easy.  It's day 3.  Have I managed anything yet?  No but I have high hopes.  I am going to move every day even if it means I have to run in the dark or the pouring rain.  I will do something.  Planning be HANGED.  I am also going to do a short fast and then rewind my eating habits back to what I know my body needs to function optimally.  It isn't candy corn.  Why on earth would I do this during the month of Thanksgiving, you ask?  Why not?  I'm not making any excuses.  I was once of the camp 'It's the holiday season!  I must indulge!'  Not anymore.  It shouldn't matter if it is a random Tuesday or the biggest gorgefest of the year.  Thanksgiving will come around next year.  And the year after that.  I once started a rather extreme diet regime DURING December as support for a friend.  It can be done, and it's all okay.

So - it's a start.  Who's with me?