Tag: friends

Terrible blessings

I wasn’t ready to go back to school today. I felt it with my whole being. But I couldn’t afford not to go, financially. I’m only paid by the day, and I had already taken off yesterday.

So, I went to school today.

I had my first class. We did our work, and it went well. Then I went to see the one teacher who knew. We chatted briefly, but well.

And then she asked/told me that how about she go ahead and take my other class, and I go ahead and go home now, so I could rest. So, I cried some more in gratitude, told the department head what the other teacher was going to do and that I needed to leave – and he accepted without question – and I left.

It was a terrible thing that made any of this relevant, of course, but it made the blessing all the more powerful.

My mom and I had planned to meet at Costco after school today, so we could get groceries for Sunday. So, instead of going this afternoon, we went this morning, basically right as the store opened. After we finished, I had a slice of pizza that I had been longing to have for some time, as well as a soft serve and a frozen coffee thing, both of which I had also been wanting for some time, and enjoyed my lunch thoroughly.

Then I went home and rested.

I talked with my dad, and it was a really good conversation.

I got the body wash I had been wanting.

I visited my grandma for what was likely the last happy hour at her place, and my mom and husband joined, too.

And I rested some more before going to adoration… which wasn’t actually happening as the church had advertised. So, I jumped into the end of the Spanish Mass that was happening instead and adored Jesus through receiving Communion with immense gratitude.

And then I went back home to rest some more before bed.

Now, I’m ready and going to bed.

Oh, and my best friend surprised us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to the house today with a kind note.

So, goodnight.

God, thank you for the many blessings of today, including my ability to spend time with those I love and who love me. Help me to heal fully, especially with and through your grace and love. Keep my family safe and well, please. Stay with us, powerfully, please. Help me to feel your arms helping me, healing me, guiding me. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2024

Reading

I’ve gotten a good amount done today, given that I went for a miniature movie marathon with a girlfriend for several hours – which was awesome, by the way – yet I had only expected to be about two total. I did some tidying at home and some reorganization that seems to be a step very much so in the right direction. I stayed up way later than intended, but even got a lot of folding and putting away of laundry done, too. And, of course, I had an audiobook running that whole time, which was great use of my time.

Thank you, God, for the accomplishments and the love and friendship of today. Help me to make tomorrow another great day, sharing and living your love and helping to be my best self. Thank you for this life and this man and these opportunities. Please, heal those in need of healing and call to you newly all those who most need you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Birthday party

Nothing quite like going to a small child’s birthday party and being the only ones who aren’t actual family. And the only ones besides the mom who aren’t Mexican. And we don’t even have any kids of our own yet. But this baby and her big sister feel like they’re part of our family from back when I lived with them for a couple months, so we went to the party across town for a one-year-old. Fortunately, all the family remember us from the last birthday party for the older sister, so it was no biggie today, not even for my man, who didn’t live with any of them, but is just now my future husband, and has thereby absorbed these guys as extended family. 😛

Ridiculous, I know.

Thank you, God, for the love and friendships we have. Keep us all safe, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

B-E-D

Today, my best friend came over and is spending the night tonight. She lives in the UK right now (and mostly has since 2009, with a 1.5-year stint in Africa recently), and so is in town visiting family for Christmas, and I get to have her for a day and a half.

After attempting to go to bed a bagillion times, we finally fussed at each other, telling the other to ‘go to bed and stop talking to me’, and rushed away and slammed doors shut, so we couldn’t keep talking to each other. We were getting ready for bed almost four hours ago, and still hadn’t managed it – we could talk forever, if only we had the physical energy for it. But we need sleep, so we had to cut it off and run away quickly before we started yet another conversation.

Thank you, God, for the blessing of C in my life. Can she move to Texas for a while yet, please? In your name, I pray in gratitude and praise. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

A dinner party

Tonight we had a dinnertime gathering at a neighbor’s house. I was telling my mom about it yesterday, and said that we had “a dinner party thing with some neighbors” and that I was going “to pick up Costco pizza” for it. She laughed, and explained that the ideas ‘dinner party’ and ‘Costco pizza’ don’t exactly go together.

I agreed entirely, and clarified what I’d meant and how my use of “thing” was intentional, as a dinner party is a very different event than having Costco pizza together…

And yet, I still wish we could have Costco pizza for our wedding reception food, despite the conflicting styles and expectations of the two things… 😛

Post-a-day 2023

A good time

Tonight was a dinner for faculty and staff and their plus ones. I expected to have an okay time. I ended up having a really nice time. We had a pleasant and loving time at our table with a few folks. We had a nice time chatting with my boss and his wife. We had a delightful time chatting with some guys who have taken religious orders to become priests. My man got to meet a good handful of the important people for me at work. And then we stopped by the karaoke after-party just to check it out on the way home, but ended up staying until it closed down. (Just need to say that it was 100% like a slightly toned down version of a frat party. It was hilarious and kind of wonderful [minus the handful of people who had gotten truly drunk and were not so fun].)

Suffice it to say that I am going to bed tonight very late, but socially and emotionally satisfied.

Thank you for this wonderful evening and night. Keep us safe, please. Heal my man’s defensiveness with me, please, and mine with him. And heal my burned finger, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Musical Evenings

We celebrated my grandma’s 93rd birthday this evening at her building’s happy hour. After a bit, my cousin jumped on the (baby?) grand piano – lid up, of course – and started playing some old favorites for her (and the other folks there), as well as a few for us. I rather especially enjoyed singing “All for the Best” from Godspell with my mom and aunt and cousins… almost like we were mad, but we were truly just having such a great time with the song, we were actually jumping up and down and all as we did it.

It all was just really great. Even the regular Alzheimer’s granny was singing along with enthusiasm and energy I had never seen in her before tonight. That made it all even sweeter.

And then, by happenstance and poor planning, the piano cousin and his friend ended up staying at the house with us tonight. They arrived while I was showering, and it was no surprise to me to hear both the piano and a guitar already being used within minutes of their arrival. Naturally, we had a next few hours filled with music and merriment.

The nerdy bit was when I mentioned the NPR Piano Puzzler, a really cool bit where this pianist composes and performs a popular song in the style of a famous composer (who did not write the song). A listener has to guess the song and the composer, but it is just as fun to play at home or in the car just listening. My cousin hasn’t heard of it. Fortunately, they are all available to hear online, so we pulled up a few and had a grand old time listening to them and guessing together. If you like music and haven’t tried them already, check them out!

Anyway, thank you, God, for such a blessing tonight. Grant us all renewing sleep each night and energy and will to pursue and fulfill your will each day. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

A good night

Tonight, we got to spend time with two separate couples, separately, who are friends of ours. And it was awesome. I went shopping with my friend and her daughter first – that got me out of the house in this cold weather after I read a while. That was running my errands but with the two of them. Then we went back to their house, and my man eventually joined. Both there and at the other friends’ house, I believe that my man and I both had a great time. We played with little kids and chatted and joked with our friends. We pet happy and loving dogs. We sat around a fire pit. We just hung out.

Tonight, I am going to bed (socially) satiated. And I haven’t really done that in a long while. It is a very good feeling, both physically and emotionally.

The irony is that I didn’t exactly do a lot today, but I got to spend a lot of time with people I love and who, in their various ways, love me. And that made a simple day feel full in the best of ways.

Thank you, God, for such a lovely day. Please, keep us safe and help us to sleep well at night. Help us always to pursue and fulfill your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

The King’s Speech

The film is a marvelous one, and it has been on my mind lately. Finally, tonight, I was able to watch it (again, of course), and it was as lovely as ever. In some ways, it was better than ever, really, as it had a new context applied to it.

You see, I got curious, and looked up the recording of the actual broadcast by King George VI that is portrayed in the film. I listened to it. By George, Colin Firth does a spectacular job of portraying the real man and his historic speech. I also crossed a 60 minutes shortened clip, and that shed wonderful light on the film and the story and the characters within it. I also followed it with glimpsing one of the letters the King had written to Lionel Logue, thanking him for the support with the coronation and commenting that, though he’d said his part well enough, several other bits went slightly awry, including that he’d gotten ink all over his hand from the pen. 😛 It was adorable and silly and absolutely wonderful. I’d love to read the whole collection, if it were an option. They seem to have had a truly wonderful and powerful friendship, and I am grateful to know as much as I do about such a blessing.

Thank you, God, for such friendships and dedication and love. Help us to have more of it in the world today. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Halloween

Tonight, we got to join my friend and her husband and two little girls to go trick-or-treating. It was the first time for real for the three-year-old.

When we pulled up, they were all out front, and another friend of my friend was with them. As we set out, we realized that we were three different families present for the two children of only one of those families. It cracked us up, at least. The one family was dressed to theme together as characters from the movie “Encanto”. The mom was Luisa and the baby was a donkey, dad was Bruno, and the three-year-old, of course, was Mirabel. And yes, she wore the glasses. We actually had to stop at one point, because her glasses were falling down, and she had to fix them. (Of course, my man actually fixed them for her, because they’d popped out of socket on one side, but she was the one who was adamant that they had to be fixed before we could continue walking.)

Nonetheless, she would hold one of our hands while we walked, then would climb onto the front walkway of a house, run up to the door or table with her (meaning our) pumpkin, usually say, and adorably, “Trick or treat!”, receive or grab candy, often say even more adorably, “Thank you!”, run back down to us waiting adults (with the baby), grab ahold of a hand again, and then jump off the curb. For the first several times, she also then would add, “I got candy! I got candy!” Then, as we continued onward, she would declare, “I wanna go to Mimi and Pawpaw’s house! I wanna go to Mimi and Pawpaw’s house!” (Keep in mind, she is excited and adorable, not whiney and annoying. Just to be clear here, because that matters.)

Once we finally got to Mimi and Pawpaw’s house, they came along with us for a bit before going back home. At that point, the declaration from the street, after getting candy, had become, “I wanna do another one… I wanna go to someBODY’s house! I wanna go to someBODY’s house!” Why was she emphasizing the “body” part of the word? I genuinely have no idea. But it was stupidly cute, and she was just so excited to be trick-or-treating, which she also occasionally declared that she was doing, none of us minded about correcting her emphasis.

When we got back to the house, she immediately took off her shoes and then told us she wanted to eat a piece of chocolate. So, I had her pick one, and then I opened it for her. When she was ready for another piece, I showed her how to bring the bucket to the floor, and to sit down and dump it out with us, making that glorious candy waterfall and then pile. She clearly enjoyed both the dumping and the shoving her hands through it all to see what all was there. Right move!

And she actually had a surprising spread. I made her parents both feel how heavy her bucket was before we dumped it out, because no one understood how strong this kid had been. She was adamant about carrying it herself the whole time. But that thing was genuinely heavy, and she’s only three years old. Her commitment and success were impressive, to be sure. We were all both surprised and proud of her.

And we were proud of her for all of it, really. She had gone up to most houses all on her own. She’d remembered her lines almost every time. When she forgot the “Trick or treat” part, and my man asked her, “What do you say?”, she quickly then said to the ladies, “Thank you!” Not the direction he was aiming, but also not a bad line to pick(!). She did a really good job and clearly had a blast, and we were proud of her.

And we had a good time, too. It was fun being all together just hanging out, while also providing for this both adorable for us and fun for her time for the three-year-old. It was great.

Oh, and she also occasionally would declare, “I’m Mirabeeel!” Everyone enjoyed that one, too.

It was just a lovely night, and I am grateful for it. I’m sorry my man and I both felt kind of unwell afterward, and that we didn’t hand out any of the candy we’d purchased specifically to hand out this year, but I think we both are glad we went with my friend and them all, nonetheless. It was a surprisingly lovely time.

Thank you, God, for these friends, big and small. Thank you for tonight. Please, help us to sleep well tonight and to pursue and fulfill your will in all we do. Help my friend A-J to experience the love we have for her and the gratitude so many have toward her. Help her to feel your love and the love and gratitude she so well creates and inspires. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023