Arrived

Things have improved much on our trip. We talked through some things last night and this morning, and cleared up some important points in how we each were relating to the trip and aspects of it. We had a slightly tough start at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery, but ended up having a lovely time throughout it, and then an awesome time visiting with my sister tonight. We both tend to get very defensive, very quickly, so it is certainly a process to stop relating to things as a potential threat or unkindness from which e must defend ourselves… but we are improving as a whole, and I am certainly grateful for that!

I think this will be a lovely visit with my sister tomorrow and Monday morning. Thank you, God, for these blessings so far. Please, help us to continue to honor you through our love in all its forms. In your name, I pray. Thank you. Amen.

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Doors

Maybe it’s a pull and not a push, I wonder as I begin actually to focus my attention on the couple just ahead of me, the wife currently attempting to open a double glass door to the next portion of the museum…

It hits all three of us at about the same time, just as they shift apart a bit, and I can actually see the door…

It isn’t a door… not at all…

As if in reproach, the doors make themselves utterly known as we move a few yards to the side to find them:

However, to be fair, they were push doors! So, she had the right idea, but just at the wrong spot.

We three talked about it and laughed as we went through the actual doors. When we then all chuckled some more about it as they overheard me explaining to my man what had just happened, and I pointed it out to him, he commented to the older couple, ‘The cleaning person is probably gonna be like, ‘Uhp! More idiots’ finger prints to clean off today!’ And, for some reason, we all really cracked up at that – even the lady herself. I guess we could just picture that exact thing happening, and we wondered how many people did that every day. It is, after all, directly where the walkway leads from the front section…

Fun times at the Parthenon, y’all. And yes, Nashville has a full-scale Parthenon. It was quite bizarre and cool.

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Tennessee

We’re going on an airplane to Tennessee tomorrow morning. I’m terrified slightly, as usual, for the flying part, and I’m excited for the Tennessee part. I’ve never been to Tennessee. So, we’ll be checking out some super famous places that I wasn’t ever sure I’d see, as we’re going to Nashville.

Pray for safe travels for us both, please.

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Meant to be

Naturally, I didn’t want to go to the meeting, as it was so late in the evening (6-8pm) and far away from home, both on a school night.

Naturally, I didn’t leave until almost 8:45pm, because I was having such a great time.

I guess that’s how it goes when we end up where we’re meant to be.

Thank you, God, for such a blessing as this new rodeo committee seems like it will be and already has been so far. Amen.

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Prayer

My mom told me the other night, ‘I just listened to Mark Wahlberg say the rosary.’

Uhm… What?????

It’s this prayer app called “Hallow”. I immediately downloaded it and did the daily rosary with narrator Mark, who happens to be the Mark Wahlberg. Super cool.

But it gets a bit better.

The app tracks your use in terms of streaks… ‘Congrats! You’re on a one-day streak!’ We all know that I’m a fan of streaks, what with an 808-day streak on Duolingo right now. So, where I’ve already been wanting to pray more, and I find this app with lots of really cool prayer options – the organization and usability could use some definite improvement, and having the paid options listed all mixed in with the free ones (with no filter) is a bit of a big hassle, though – that not only has Mark Wahlberg for the rosaries, but that also makes it like a game of sorts. I’m in!

Check it out, y’all, and have fun with prayer and meditations and learning all those prayers we hear so rarely but to which everyone else always seems to know the words! (Yes, those are all on there for free, too!)

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Hard Times

It can become extremely difficult to handle tough situations with grace, when our bodies and minds are suffering from a lack or excess of any kind, be it too little nourishing food and too much junk, or too little sleep or too much lazing, too much negative talk and too little kindness and generosity… Life just is harder when we don’t take true care of our bodies and our minds.

And it is a circle of positive feedback – the more we give ourselves the lacks and the excesses, the harder things become.

It is certainly time for me to take a stand and start caring for myself fully again. I cannot care for another or others to any degree truly, if I have not taken care of myself first. If I am not at my best, it will be immensely harder to help others be at theirs.

God, grant me the courage and the certainty that I am worth the efforts of caring for myself fully. Please, that I may do your will wholly. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Text messages

We were going to a vehicle meet-up tonight, right? On the way home from the gym, I pass this Italian-named mechanic shop and see a gathering of Porches, mostly 911s. My man is meeting his family to play golf at his brother’s somewhat snooty golf club, in celebration of my man’s birthday. So, I send my man a message and tell him there’s a Porsche meet-up at the mechanic place. He replies, ‘Might say the same thing out here at my brother’s club with just the members’ cars.’ 😛

Great start to the day, being silly and all. But it gets better.

As I’m arriving to his house this afternoon, after golf for him and work for me, I receive these messages:

Oh, the joys of Siri and Auto-correct… 😛

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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.

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Habits

It’s always funny to see what people’s habits are in life, what things they pursue for their own enrichment and enjoyment, for no reason other than that they want to pursue it. For me, right now, I have a quite ridiculous streak on Duolingo (streak meaning that I have done it every day for that many days). I had used it for years without consistency on the whole ‘every day’ thing. Yet, here I am, looking like a weirdo and dork with my streak. I’m not one of the ones who does loads of lessons and gets thousands of points in lessons every month. No, not I. I just have kept up the habit.O

Nerd… oh, well…

Today was actually 801, for anyone counting ;P

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