Tag: culture

All are welcome

Ironically, this song was sung at Mass on Sunday. Tonight, my love was at an event, and he very much had an interaction that specified that all are not welcome there in particular. And that really sucked for me, somehow, I guess considering how he had to be with being unwelcome somewhere, especially somewhere that had seemed so welcoming to him before. It kind of crushed me how there had been an almost 180° turn there. Only those who want to be only here are welcome here… that must be their inner motto there. And I think that is the case for many things right now. It then becomes an “us versus them” battle, when that is so often the case. Why must we keep doing this to ourselves and to one another? Why must we battle each other at all? What is truly in the way of accepting and embracing people exactly as they are, flaws and beauties and all, ourselves included? Why do we resist it so? Because it’s easier in the moment?

Post-a-day 2022

Contribution

In a class tonight for those wishing to become Catholic, a class that was only in its second of about 30 sessions, my honey man made a contribution.

There’s this main book about Catholicism – it has just about everything about Catholicism and the reasons behind the everything – called The Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is very, very big and heavy, with dense text all throughout. It’s extremely informative and interesting to read at all points of it. But it is also a lot and heavy on the brain, especially when it’s all new information and topics to the one reading it.

This is the book recommended for new people to Catholicism to read as their first steps to becoming Catholic.

Intense, right?

Anyway, so, they’re talking about this at the meeting tonight. People are asking questions about all sorts of things at the request of the leaders. The leaders also asked for any general comments or thoughts to be shared, too. My man shares that a less overwhelming but still extremely helpful resource is the YouCat, which is the youth Catechism. It may sounds silly, he said, but it is organized in a very helpful way, where it builds upon itself, and it is easy to read – much easier than the regular Catechism. He shared how it had already been helping him to understand all sorts of things about the Catholic Church and Faith. Several people seemed interested, and the leaders agreed with him. The old guy next to him apparently leaned over and let him know, ‘Imma do that,’ in response to the recommendation.

Great contribution, right? Right!

When he told me about it tonight, I was ecstatic for him. ‘Good job, Honey! Go, you!’ I told him enthusiastically and excited that he felt so strongly about the YouCat that he would speak up and share about it. And then I had the realization of how that could look…

(Mind you, I’m fully unconcerned with how it actually looked to all the people in the class. I just found this particular possible perspective to be a funny one.)

‘Way-to-make a contribution to class while also saying ‘I’m better than all of you,’’ I said to him. We both cracked up at how silly an idea it was, likely with both of us recalling some student or other in our own classes back in school days who were the overly-helpful know-it-alls, even on day one. And he got to be that overly-helpful know-it-all!! 😛

So, that was cute, and I’m grateful for it.

Thank you, God, for these classes, for this man, and for our love for you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Do your worst

How do you show up in the world on your worst days? If someone were to see you for the first time, or meet you, on one of those days, with what impression of you would that someone be left?

Something worth truly considering, I dare to say. And then, depending on the answer, worth altering or transforming.

Post-a-day 2022

Bluebell and Ice Cream

Bluebell and Ice Cream (also properly titled, but not necessarily known as “Bluebell and Pizza) for year number eight was a success. My man went with me, and we rushed over after the cool opera showcase – it was very cool, by the way – that ended at 9pm. We arrived around 9:30, but the party was still in swing, so we had some somewhat melty but cold Bluebell ice cream sandwiches and ice cream, talked with people, and let the dog a bunch. As we were leaving, we ended up with the host, checking out all the furniture she had made in her recent woodworking endeavors, and also playing on and checking the tuning of the piano she recently inherited (though doesn’t yet know how to play). My man, of course, spent the piano time roughhousing with the dog, having a grand ole time that contrasted to the previous ‘people time’ of the party itself. I could totally relate.

Anyway, it was a great evening, and I enjoyed that I enjoyed being social like that.

Thank you, God, for such a blessing as ease in such a setting, and especially for the joy of it all and the extra blessing of balance as we got the two-on-two time with the host and her dog afterward. Thank you. Amen.

P.S. I ran into a buddy from high school at the opera thing – had given him some extra tickets we’d had – and another buddy from high school and college who is an awesome musician, though on the spectrum, so is often a tad over the top or odd in social settings. However, the irony was that the former was a touch awkward and the latter was quite comfortable and fun tonight! It was silly, yet good. I was glad to see and be with them both. And it was especially lovely to have the extra-long hug the musician gave me – he always hugs me when he sees me, though he doesn’t seem to touch most people. He still talked to me while facing a slightly other direction, as though looking for someone ‘somewhere over there’, and he talked in the same upper class British cadence without the accent, as he always does, but it was surprisingly comforting to be in such an unchanged and familiar situation that brought up so many positive memories and feelings. And he told me how I can now watch the opera that he wrote and had performed! Looking forward to watching it on a television soon!

Post-a-day 2022

Have your cake…

But don’t eat it…?

Twice now, within a few weeks, I have attended a birthday celebration for a child’s first birthday. (To be clear, they were for two different children.) In both cases, when it came time for that special cake smash and devour, the baby was utterly disinterested in the cake. Dads stuck a finger-full of icing into the baby’s mouth. The baby showed no interest in finding more of the sugary stuff to eat, let alone touching it.

And it has me wondering, Are babies already clear that they want the healthy stuff, but we just condition them to like the junk??????????(!!)

A bit scary, I think…

Post-a-day 2022

Rauwerr!!

Whenever we do beer crawls at the gym, I tend to find myself wondering why everyone else seems to be so bad at them. Am I doing it wrong?? I wonder each time. And each time it then is confirmed that I am doing them correctly. So, what gives? How am I loads better at beer crawls than even the best folks at the gym??

One morning, as I lay on the ground before the workout, discussing this with a workout friend, my arms and legs resting in the air above me as I gazed at my outstretched fingers, I said aloud, “I feel like I’m part bear…” We both cracked up at both the words and the scene surrounding them, but I hold to this day that the statement must be true, for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that I bear crawl very easily and the fact that I actually growl and roar and clench my fingers like they’re massive claws preparing to attack. Now, I’m not saying a human mated with a bear at some point in my ancestry. I simple mean that we somehow got some of the same DNA as those big ole bears…

Roawr!!

Oh… and Duolingo know it (just like it seems to know everything else all the time about my life… stalkers.).

Post-a-day 2022

Restless

Do you ever find yourself, while in the middle of doing something valuable, feeling like you’re doing nothing to make the world a better place? Like you just need to go do something… as though you aren’t already on the middle of doing one of those somethings?

I’ve been sitting at school, grading papers, spending time around students, prepping for my classes that are later today… and I keep feeling so utterly antsy, like I can hardly wait to be done with this all.

And it’s weird for me.

I love to teach. And I love learning. I’m getting to do both of those things right now. So, what’s buggin’?

And I don’t know the answer to that. I am finally growing comfortable – rather, have grown comfortable – with this position, and I’m ready to move on. How come? Am I not making enough of a difference here? Am I bored by it? Am I constantly comparing it to something better that I’ve done, and seeing it fall short again and again? Am I starting to resent it and myself, because it isn’t enough, isn’t good enough on some level or other?

Am I upset, because it just keeps feeling like a constant reminder of how I have failed elsewhere, that I am in a temporary position that, though it makes a huge difference for the school and students, is merely a reminder of the fact that I don’t have my own teaching position… that I am only filling in for someone else for a short while? And so I can find endless issues with the position and the school… thereby making it fee even worse that this was all I could get…

Yeah… it’s looking a lot like that is the reason.

I’m just going to sit with that for right now, and see later what is calling me most in terms of what to do about it.

Until then, May we all experience the blessings all throughout and within our day today. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Belly…

And sometimes you have three cones of soft serve with dinner… each, of course: two as an appetizer and one as dessert on the way out.

Ah, the blessings of Mexican restaurants with self-serve soft serve… the fact that it is by the door still cracks me up. We actually went one evening just to see if we could have some soft serve. My man went inside to ask if he could buy the soft serve. He didn’t quite manage the question, but he still ended up with permission to take some ice cream for us both, even though we weren’t dining, and so was just waiting in the car! Score, for sure!

So, having three cones tonight was another bonding event for the both of us. I feel best eating paleo, yet, here we were, scarfing down ice cream on cones and chips with salsa and chile con queso… some Friday nights, it seems, just call for Mexican food and ice cream, it seems.

Afterward, as we walked to the car, eating our third cones, we detoured to the stadium across the way, because there was a game happening. We ended up getting a perfect picture of me with the stadium’s scoreboard, which happens to have my family name on it in big letters (though I’ve no idea why). We’d gone by on the bikes one day, but couldn’t get inside the fence without breaking laws. Tonight, however, the freshman or JV football game inside was free of charge to attend, and you got to walk on the track (only way for visitors to get to the other side) on the scoreboard side(!). Thus the awesome photo! Yippee!

Also, my man, naturally, spilled some ice cream on the bottom hem of his shorts while walking to the stadium. Good thing I grabbed napkins on the way out (specifically with him in mind, mind you)! But, when we were waiting for a play to end, so we wouldn’t be so ridiculously obvious taking photos by the field – keep in mind that we already stood out, our being the only white people in a stadium of mostly black and some Hispanic people – I started helping him identify spills and cleans himself up. Fortunately, the only one on his clothes was the shorts hem spill. It was a small drop. So, I figured a little moisture could go a long way to help out the chocolate spill on the khaki shorts.

However, let’s think about this for a second. We’re standing under the edge of the bleachers, down at the far end where no one is sitting anyway. I lean down and suck on the hem of his shorts a few seconds… meaning that I have my head down quite near his groin, though actually well below it… how bad does that look from a distance?!?!?! So it goes, I suppose… w broth cracked up as we both realized it at about the same time, and I said it allowed. 😛

Anyway… it was a great time, and it, surprisingly, wasn’t too hot. I even had on long sleeves still, and a scarf, from the restaurant. Very decent weather tonight.

Thank you, God, for such a lovely and silly evening and night. Help us to sleep well, please, that we have the energy and attitudes to pursue your will and share your love tomorrow. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Birthday

Today went well, I think. I gave my man his awesome birthday present I had made for rhim, as well as the awesome miniature pancake layer cake (paleo pancakes layered with Nutella and fresh bacon crumbles) I had made. I cooked a filling breakfast, and it was paleo, then headed in to school. Taught classes and did grading. Fast forward to the end of the school day? And so got to go home early by a bit and nap briefly before my mom showed up to decorate.

My man was on a call, so we had everything mostly set up but he time he came out of his office and phone call.

We ate cupcakes and played with a styrofoam airplane, then he and my mom and I went to Topgolf. My mom and so had never been. I think we all had a good time, though. It was fun. Especially considering I’ve had a real lesson, and so could hit the balls somewhat decently every time.

That you, God, for this day, and thank you for this amazing man with whom I get the honor of spending my life. I love you both. In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022