Tag: being silly

A few days’ time

Whenever I want to do something that 1)will take extra effort, 2)requires extra time, and/or 3)is a shift in or from routine, it usually takes me a few days’ time to process the idea. First, I hit the point of knowing that I really would like for it to happen – not just that it would be nice, but that I truly want the resulting shift or change or whatever. Then, I just kind of sit on that idea for a bit, let it simmer, let it develop naturally, rather passively, without putting intentional effort into it. After a few days, I have causally developed a plan. I start doing little steps that assist with the impending shift. Eventually, I determine that I’m almost certain that I want to do it a certain way or time or whatever. And then, somewhat suddenly, though usually within 24 hours or so, I dive right into it and make it happen.

And then it’s done, like it was no big deal and was always going to happen on this day and at this time, and now my life has shifted in some subtle or huge way.

No matter what it is, be it rearranging furniture, unpacking boxes, getting rid of things, shaving my legs, or putting up a shower curtain, it almost always takes the same few days’ processing time before I make it actually happen. Tonight, it was the shower curtain.

And it looks great.

And it feels silly that it took me days to put up a shower curtain, once I’d determined that I was pretty sure I’d wanted to put it up.

But it did. And it almost always does. And it was perfect that it was tonight, and I am grateful that I got it done at a time when it didn’t cause extreme stress, as it would have done had I done it at any time beforehand when it had come to mind. Instead, it got to sit in the background and ruminate, and I was able to arrange time and effort for it to happen with ease, rather than total stress. Tonight, I fit it into the schedule without having to sacrifice sleep or any other already-scheduled task. For that to happen, it always takes a bit of time to get everything to shift just right. And, tonight, it did,

Thank you, God, for the ease of tonight’s shifting task. Thank you for giving me these opportunities to make positive changes in my life without having to stress immensely over them. Thank you for the ease it allows just to let things sit for a bit before taking action. Please, help me always to see clearly my next step in pursuing and fulfilling your will in my life. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Well, then…

I was supposed to go to the rodeo with my friend and her husband and baby (and the husband’s stepmom) tonight. But the friend was so exhausted, she ended up not going. Therefore, I turned in my exhaustion card, too, and stayed home. So, it is 7pm, and I am already in bed and finishing up my bedtime routine.

I wasn’t joking when I said I was exhausted. While I would love to wake up early tomorrow, I have a feeling I will need all the sleep between now and 7am… we shall see!

Thank you, God, for this unexpected blessing of having plans cancelled. Help us all to sleep well tonight and to prices and release that which holds us back from loving you fully and pursuing and fulfilling your will on Earth. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Homecoming

Tomorrow is the homecoming football game. I’m not going. Not even for a few minutes. And, for the first time, I’m excited about that fact.

I normally love the homecoming game. The buzz is exciting already, but I also really enjoy all the silly and utterly stupid mums that kids are wearing nowadays. I aim not so much to consider the cost of these things, though. Haha

Nonetheless, I normally like to go, at least for a little bit, and am sad if I cannot attend. This year, however, I am so darn tired, I can hardly wait to go home and go to bed tomorrow after school.

(Coincidentally, I just remembered that I’m signed up to go to the Pasadena rodeo with a friend and her family, though she did say this evening that we might not be going after all… so, we’ll see.)

Post-a-day 2023

Did we grow up?

My cousin is staying with me the next few nights. My alarm is set for just after 4am tomorrow. I usually aim to go to bed no later than 9pm on such nights. Yet, she and I stayed up until after one o’clock just talking and hanging out together. Frankly, the disregard for a need to sleep and for the responsibility of sleeping enough reminds me of any sleepover we had as kids. The only thing missing was being yelled at by my aunt for being too loud and up so late. It all calls to kind the question of, “Did we actually grow up? Or are we still totally kids?” At least when we’re together, it seems to be the latter idea that is more true… 😛

And I am grateful for that. Though tomorrow might be more than a little tough at school. (See? School. Totally still a kid. 😛 )

God, thank you for this friendship and family tie. Thank you for the time we now get to spend together. Help us both to sleep well tonight and the next few nights, that we be energized during the waking hours and ready and able to take on the days and to pursue and fulfill your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

An abundance of bishops

This morning, the auxiliary bishop led Mass in a special celebration of and for police and all law enforcement who wear blue (like border protection, etc.) at the Blue Mass. It was an unexpected surprise for me, the bishop, not the Blue Mass. It was all really cool.

Tonight, I attended a donor event (not as a financial donor, but a time donor, an employee), and guess who also was there. The auxiliary bishop! A fun and entirely unexpected surprise, indeed.

When I sent the second round of photos to my mom and man, to let them notice his presence at both events in my day today, my mom replied with photos of her own from dinner, though having not yet figured out that the bishop had been in the photos I’d sent. In her photos, I am reminded that she was at a celebration for a family member, and I see that she, too, was at a dinner attended by another local bishop… but she had dinner at the same table as that bishop. Swanky and fun and the same time.

So, in a way, today, we had an abundance of bishops in our immediate lives. How fun!

Thank you, God, for the love and offerings of your devoted servants and family who so clearly love your children and devote themselves to sharing your love and your word in all that they do and in all that they are and in all that they represent and for which they stand. Thank you for the priesthood and those who choose it so lovingly and freely. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

P.S. Have you seen Mark Wahlberg in Father Stu, yet?? If not, definitely go watch it! 🙂

Dress-up

We went to a theatre show that took place in Japan in the 1950s or so. Naturally, my mom and I wore kimono and looked awesome. When we first entered the theatre, the director lit up, he was so excited to see us dressed up as we were. One thing led to another, and I was entering into my schedule that I would show up the next evening for closing night to dress the director before the show, in kimono, of course.

My mom decided that she wanted to join me in dressing him, because how could she not? It’s quite fun to provide such an opportunity for someone, especially for someone who has never worn kimono before and has a desire and a reason to do so.

So, I packed up my men’s kimono – most of them, but not all of them, because some belong to my man and to my man alone – and headed back to the theatre this evening. We had a blast dressing him and picking which belt went best with the kimono he selected, and getting it all to sit appropriately on his non-Japanese body. Once he was dressed, not only was his delight visible, he went and showed all the actors and workers his outfit, and they all were really excited about his outfit. (Of course, they remembered us from the night before, because, well, kimono aren’t easy to miss or forget when they’re sitting in the front row for the entire show.)

As people began to arrive, the director was speaking with various attendees, and it was clear they all appreciated his attire. Plus, he just looked really cool. It was definitely the right color and all. I even had had him go take a photo on the actual stage, with its Japanese style walls and all, it just looked so complete a picture. It was just a really great way to complete the show’s run, and I’m very grateful I not only got to be a part of it but the source of it.

Thank you, God, for this blessing. Thank you for this life. Help us all to experience your love and to spread gratitude. In your name, I pray. Amen.

My mom in kimono
Here I am in kimono, looking wonderfully and ironically awkward
The director all dressed up and on stage
Kimono really are awesome

P.S. Always remember to play in life. Tonight’s playing dress-up was such fun, and I look forward to more play and fun to be had tomorrow in some way!

Post-a-day 2023

Ballet

I went to a ballet class this morning. My friend has signed up her daughter, who recently turned three, for ballet classes at a studio in a nearby neighborhood. I had joined them to watch that class this week after school one day. While it was absolutely adorable and a total morale boost, it also made me want to do ballet classes myself.

I had only officially done a beginner series of six classes eight years ago, plus a private lesson and a single drop-in in an intermediate class after the series. I also had had a few beginner drop-in classes here and there years before that. Very little had stuck from those, though.

So, eight years after the beginner series, here I am, stepping into a class that is for middle- and high-school-students, but that is technically an open drop-in class for adults, too.

I was terrified, and I showed up anyway. This morning was certainly a morning filled with courage. I didn’t do amazingly – not at all. But I did do most of the stuff in the class. By the end of the floor work, we were doing some things I had not ever learned to do, so I was guessing and making it up as I went, and also stepping back to observe more before trying it out again. All in all, it was a good time had by me. I imagine the kids in the class were thrown by my presence, but I rolled with it happily. And the teacher made it clear that I was, in fact, invited back both for that class and for certain other ones, too. (I even asked if I could take the lower level classes, and she told me that I didn’t need to take them. So, though I was happy yet serious with my inquiry, she was, too. I apparently am functioning enough to stay in the class.) So, that was cool. Woohoo!

I look forward to improving and to doing better each class.

I certainly have things to work on before I go back, and I hope I can make that happen consistently, starting this week. Because I really want to go back and to do better by a lot each time. I truly enjoy the feeling of doing ballet right. It is such a good feeling. Not because it’s right, but because ballet itself truly just feels amazing to do.

God, thank you for this blessing and opportunity of today. Thank you for the dancing. Thank you for my own sense of humour and easy acceptance of my current levels with everything. Help me to honor you through practice and dancing. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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P.S. God, would you heal my grandma and my brothers’ dad, please? In your name, I pray. Amen.

Only at rodeo

Only at a rodeo meeting can I casually mention that I discovered that Willie Nelson is 90 years old now, and have someone respond, and absolutely unpretentiously, “Oh, yeah… He is. He’s a long-time personal friend of mine, you know.”

These people. What a beautiful mix we all are. I love it and I am grateful to be part of it.

God, please, continue to bless us all at the rodeo. Thank you for the blessings you have granted us thus far. Thank you for the love and the learning and the countless opportunities to make a positive difference for others and to share your love with the world around us. Thank you. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Learning SOMEthing

Context: As a way to help them behave, we did a bad word/phrase of the day two years ago in one class. The words and phrases weren’t actually very bad, but most of them were quite useful for the kids – they were things that they said to each other all the time in English, anyway. Now they could use them in French.
…..

In class this week, a student asked, after finishing the test, if he and another kid could go study in the hall. I told him to ask in French. He said, “N—— et moi pouvons… casse-toi?”

The first part was right… “Can N—— and I…”

The second part means either the command, “Get out of here!” or, even, “GTF out!”

Most of the class, after a momentary pause for all to process and draw breath, burst out laughing as his well-intended effort of unintentionally forcefully telling the teacher to leave class immediately.

At least he remembered something from sophomore year! 😛

Post-a-day 2023