Wonder Week

Several years ago I was on the beach in Pensacola, FL with my family. (By the by, far and away the lovleliest beaches I've seen are in the Florida Panhandle, and the few miles of beach afforded Alabama. This is just my opinion.) We were walking in the sugar white sand along the ever changing "line" where the blue-green water meets land. I looked out at the Gulf of Mexico and the great expanse of blue sky above it. I then looked eastward and westward at the shoreline traveling many miles. We always look for shells as we walk along and always manage to bring at least a few home. I was looking at the tinyness of some of the shells and I noticed the teeny tinyness of the grains of that gorgeous white sand. The universe we live in truly in a wonder to behold. Moreover, its Creator gave us so much to wonder at. From the grand size of what may be an infinite universe to the smallest atomic particles. He made sure we would never run out of things to discover, do, learn, or wonder at. It's a wonder He bothers with us at all. This week, I am determined remind myself of that epiphany.
I will celebrate the wonder of all of creation, and wonder at its magnificance, as it truly is a wonder.
By definition wonder can be a noun, a verb, or an adjective. It really is a cool word. I hope that this will leave you wondering. (Trust me, I have left a lot of people doing just that.)

Ah, the dreaded week of X

How in the world can one possibly come up with a theme for X. It is "X" Week nonetheless, so after getting a little help from my banker, (no, really!) on some ideas, I think I have this thing licked. So the theme for the week is Xenodochial. This is someone or something that is friendly to strangers. In the case of software, it would be called "user friendly". A person who is a xenogogue is a guide, or someone who conducts strangers. This would be my current job description as a life coach/business consultant.
Unfortunately, in the past month or so, my family would say that I have been a xanthippe (a word derived from something to do with a wife of Socrates, and apparently she wasn't Miss Mary Sunshine as it means ill-tempered woman). Of course we have another word for it but this is not "B" week, so we'll leave that alone for now. Besides, they are not strangers, now are they? I really have been quite ill-tempered. Perhaps if it were Xanax week, we could all just hang out in Xanadu, and live happily ever after.
In the mean time I will remember it is Xenodochial Week and be kind to strangers. Yes, I will remind myself that I have chosen the path of a xenogogue. But for now, I shall x-it (exit). Here's to having a great week!

Special Tribute

Last week we learned that my sister-in-law has cancer, and it is pretty bad. A few years ago we learned that her husband, my brother-in-law has luekemia. They have been living with his eminent demise for years now. (Although, I guess we all do.) However, she has been though so much prior to this news, just really difficult life events. They lost a beach house in Hurricane Ike only a few months ago. I am not trying to be a downer, I just want to say, that I have know this woman for 25 plus years and she is amazing. She has to be in the top ten of the strong women I have ever know. My hat is off to her and she has my utmost respect and admiration.

Last night I called the daughter of a "friend" I adopted one rainy night while having drinks on the patio of a local pub. My friend's name was Martha. She had been a realtor, had been married for over 40 years until her husband passed 6 years ago. Her children raised, she still worked at a local real estate office. When she told me where she worked I stopped by a few times and took her little gifts. We had drinks one other time at the same place over a month ago. She was so amazing, at 70 years young, still so social, still working, driving living life to the fullest. Her daughter found her dead in her bed the other morning. Our lives crossed so briefly, but I will never forget that great laugh and her zeal for life.

Wow, what more can I say!

Okay, "Y", YO-YO!

I thought about yummy and yucky, but I decided that for this period yo-yo would be best. What with relatives with cancer diagnoses, a child with the flu, and the unexpected death of a new found friend, I find that life definitely has its ups and downs. For yo-yo fun facts I welcome you to look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo-yo#Origin_of_name_and_the_Filipino.2FPhilippine_yo-yo in Wikepedia. My friend and I use it to stand for "Your On Your Own". This is generally applicable to conversations about our children or husband. You know those fun people who follow you around asking you questions and arguing with your answer, leaving you to wonder why they asked you in the first place.

I'm feeling a bit more cynical that usual. I had a rough week, I think, and sometimes it takes me a while to figure out that I am having a rough time. Those husband and children people let me know in no uncertain terms the other day that I was in terrorist mode. You know the place where you are simply not fit for human consumption? I was there. I had been so short tempered, short sighted, and just down right mean to those I love the most. I have just been wound around the axel about getting stuff done for the upcoming street festival worried about my sister-in-law, and brother-in law, and their family. Tailspin would be a good word to describe where I have been. Fortunately my family loves me enough to tell me of my faults. So, I prayed about it, and apologized for it and I am trying hard not to notice their incompetencies so much. After all it's only life and like the yo-yo if your gonna play, you're gonna have ups and downs. You don't get one without the other. But sometimes ya wanna say, "hey, YO-YO! (Your on your own, I'm OUT!) Well it sounds good.

Whatever Shall I Do With "Z"?

I started thinking about a theme that started with the letter "Z" earlier this week. It seemed that it would be difficult to find, and now I'm finding it difficult to decide. There is Zest, Zeal, Zinger, all of which have amazing definitions. I however am particularly fond of Zany. What a great Scrabble word! By definition zany means "amusingly unusual". I like that. I feel that it is reflective on the past few weeks. In these weeks we have been madly preparing crafts, product, and a presentation for a street festival. The fesitval is March 28th, so we have a few weeks of zany left.
Our 20 year old son Bo (an Industrial Design major) has spent hours on making a teapot. Really? Really, a teapot! In the interim, we have been turning ceiling tiles into bulletin boards, creating Crazy Lady Survival Kits, making cute scarves from inexpensive materials, and today, if all of that wasn't enough, I made 2 skirts.
Our construction office has looked like a craft store threw up in it for days on end. There is glitter everywhere! If this life is not zany, I don't know which life might be. If at the end of my life I were to be described as "zany", I would like that a lot. Amusingly unusual, what more could I ask to be. If there is anything, well, that ship has sailed.