chip chip, chip away

Today we celebrated the legendary Australia Day! Oy Oy Oy! And it was wonderful! But in the midst of that we spent some more time scrapping the old coating off of our once legendary waterslides. This event in the festivities of Australia Day was named "Hands Across the Globe" which I thought was pretty funny because so many departments on camp were helping.

For those of you who don't know, these waterslides used to have a big name. Much like Wooly Mammoths or the late great T-Rex. Kids and counselors would slide down them singing, "Wicky, Wicky Waterslides. The Red, the Blue, the White..." so on and so forth. But during the last two years, they have met their match and have been enduring a slow and painful death. Over the last few weeks, we have shed even more of their blood by scrapping that old paint away, sometimes accidentally digging deeply into their porous fiberglass. (Ooo, I liked that sentence)

But anyway, I am blogging about this tonight because sometimes I feel a little bit like I'm being attacked by tiny shards of fiberglass in my own life. Things will happen that will just prick at the surface of my heart, and I will choose to ignore it. But then those things will build up and I'll feel pain, much like I'm feeling the pain of that fiberglass imbedded in the arm I was leaning on most of today. Okay, maybe that's a little melodramatic. But after something stung a little bit too much tonight I was looking at some verses, and my eyes stopped on this one:

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 C 4:16-18

These promises are so amazing. I know that while there is some pain on this side of earth, my inner "woman" is being renewed day by day and there is an eternal weight of glory attached to it. And you know what, the most comforting thing is that our eternally happy dad rejoices so much more in his name than ours. So I will take that fiberglass, and be reminded that there is purpose behind all things. And that my dad is a restorer!

Wordsless or Wordsworth, my new name

There are times when I start writing and I know exactly what to say and there are other times where I am Wordless instead of Wordsworth. Communication has always been a struggle for me, both verbally and through the written word. I tend to ere on the side of being too cautious with my words because I know that everyone perceives words differently. Something that might mean one thing to me will mean something completely different to another person.

But one thing that I desire as the days go by is the ability to effectively communicate these things that I am feeling and going through daily. Things that I am learning and that are changing my life. Because if they mean something to me, maybe they will mean something to someone else.

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I am sitting at Rockwells and didn't ever intend to spend this much time here tonight. But it has been really good. I've downloaded some music and I'm enjoying listening to it.

If you have a chance check out "Hope for Haiti Now".

It's a benefit concert full of wonderful artists raising money for Haiti, my personal favorite is Beyonce's Halo.

A Week Full of MOO

If you ask any one of my co-workers, I'm sure they would mention that this past week was life-changing. There are things that I saw, experienced and heard this week that I hope I will carry with me through the rest of life.

With the tornado that brought devastation to Mineola, I learned and saw that dad truly gives and takes away. It was crazy to see huge trees, 10-12 feet in diameter, totally uprooted by a wind stronger than I can even imagine. We were able to speak with people this week who lost so much and who are living among their own devastation.

And I was truly blessed by the school that I had the privilege of working with this week. I learned so much from them and hope they learned at least one thing from me. We spent Wednesday night watching talents and hiding from the tornado blowing through Mineola in a candle-lit dining hall. My favorite student was a boy who insisted after MOOing that he was speaking cow. I now know how to say both "yes" and "no" in cow. Oh, I love being enlightened by children.

The Ocean

This week, my parents and I went to Cape Cod to explore. If I ever thought that I was more of a mountain person, I know now that I was very mistaken. The Atlantic was so big, powerful and beautiful. And it seemed to capture all of my hopes for the next year. It was so fun to look at my parents laughing as they were running away from the tide coming in. It was amazing to chase the tide out and then be chased by it coming in.

So,

Christmas break has been wonderful this year. Well worth taking time off of work to go and see my parents. And as my time in Connecticut winds down, I feel a little melancholy tugging at my heart. But maybe it's just the weight of what's coming next, after all, it is a new year. With all sorts of new possibilities.

Ramblings of Travelings

The holiday has been wonderful so far. Full of Christmas traditions and restfulness, both very important things.

At one point in the last two weeks, we went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox. And I have to say, I really enjoyed the movie. Jason Schwartzman as Ash was by far my favorite character and I thought Wes Anderson and the artists did an excellent job of capturing Roald Dahl's novel in a very beautiful, furry way.

Now, my parents and I are relaxing in the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis, MA. We arrived around 4 pm and went to the Resort's restaurant for some eats. During my dinner, I mistakenly thought my father flicked me off only to look across the table to see my mother flicking me off (just to indicate which finger her middle one was apparently). Nevertheless, it was funny because as my mother mentioned, "it was my first time to ever do that." And good thing it was with family.

The Last Dickens

This weekend, I finished reading the book, "The Last Dickens" by Matthew Pearl.

I'm not one for mystery novels, but I enjoy them now and then. Matthew Pearl is a well-known author who entangles the historical lives of authors with a little ficitonal mystery. And he did it very well.



The book is based on the life of James Ripley Osgood, a co-publisher of Fields & Osgood in Boston. When Dickens passes away without finishing his last book, Osgood goes on a journey to figure out what Dickens intended for his mystery novel's ending. Osgood is met by mysterious characters, some dangerous alley ways and Dicken's close family and friends while on his quest. It was a very good book and I would recommend it!

Traveling

I arrived in Connecticut last night fairly late, around 10 pm. And prior to that my day was full of travelings. Now to my extensive knowledge of all things traveling (not really), I know that the word travel comes from travail.

Merriam Webster defines travail as: Work especially of a painful or laborious nature.

Thankfully my travels yesterday were not so much like this, they were actually quite pleasant. And I read something very amusing in the Cincinnati airport women's restroom. Over the automatic faucets it said:

Automatic Faucets:

Approach sink to turn on

Faucet will shut off automatically

Dark clothing may not activate sensor

Now, I don't know why I thought this was so funny, but I started laughing so hard! Unfortunately, I was the only one in the room so I could not share my musings with anyone. But just think about it: What would I have done if I were wearing dark clothing? How could I have EVER washed my hands in that restroom. I would probably die there, unable to move until I washed my hands, afraid of going out into the world and catching the H1N1 or another horrible disease. My life would have ended so differently... and that would have been me "travailing."

That's why you should always wear a lot of color when traveling.

Nose Rinse

I just coached a dear friend through the use of a homemade neti pot. Neti pots have saved the last year and a half of my life because I have not gotten sick since I started using one.

Maybe it's silly, but I feel like a true friend because I was able to coach someone through a fear they had. Oh this is the way we make memories.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

I recently joined a 29 Day Giving Challenge. For 29 days, I give one gift to a random someone a day. The first night that I started, I gave the gift of a willing ear and a shoulder to cry on.
Day 2: A welcome gift of sorts
Day 3: Quality Time with friends
Day 4: I have not decided yet

It's an interesting challenge for me to begin because I have had a hard time thinking outside of the box on this one. It's really easy for me to consider material things gifts, but other things such as quality time, I'm not so apt to think of as a gift. But what I have realized in the beginning stages of this is that intangible things are sometimes the most important gifts. So, I'm not only going to challenge myself to give, but I'm also going to challenge myself to be creative. And to create opportunities for life-changing gifts. Because hey- anything is possible, even if it's only my life that's being changed. :)

A New Chapter

Last time I wrote in this blog, I was living in Denton, still in school and working at McConnell. Many things have changed since then. I have moved to Michigan, Connecticut and then back to Texas. I have experienced happiness and heartbreak. I have learned how to teach and how to learn. I have learned how to love and how to step away from hate. I have learned many different things.

Now:

I am living in Lindale with two wonderful roommates and working at Sky Ranch as an Outdoor Education Instructor. Everyday I wake up early to have some quiet and some coffee before I go to work. This time in the morning is what keeps me sane. In every place that I have been in life over the past two years, the one constant thing is my relationship with pops. He has loved me like no one else ever could and teaches me how to love others like that. Over the past year, he has affirmed that my passion is working with kids, even though the stress of the day can make me forget this. I have loved teaching kids about science every day, it is such a blessing.

There are times when I look over into another pasture and wish for my life to be different. With my schedule and the lack of time I have to invest in my family or meeting people out of my circle of friends, I start to feel claustrophobic and wish for more space, more time. But then I slow down for a bit and realize that I have everything that I need in life right now and I don't want to waste time wishing for something else.

I recently went to visit my family over Thanksgiving in Detroit and it was wonderful. I spent time laughing and crying with them. They remind me of pop's love so much. They know me the best and know how to love me in everything. I can't believe how blessed I am with them.

As December continues into the Holiday season, I want to make a promise. That I'm going to look for opportunities to give and to love well. I'm going to stop worrying about what's next and I'm going to focus on how to live in the present. I'm going to slow down and spend time loving those the pops has put into my life, but most of all, I'm going to let them love me.