Talk about a blast…

This evening and tonight were awesome. Sure, the cooking started and ended much later than they were scheduled to happen. However, the enjoyment of one another’s company initially was awesome, and the merriment had after dessert was spectacular. We ended up calling my man’s grandmother for her birthday after my mom and stepdad left. Today was her 91st birthday, you see. My man has been learning to play the piano, and we had gone through “Happy Birthday”, with him playing the top melody and my playing the bottom’s chords.

But get this: All of my instruments are at his house now. So…, we pulled out the xylophone and recorder for my brother and my sister-in-law to play, and my step-sister, who actually is a singer, sang with all of our playing.

I tell you truthfully, it was absurd. It sounded and felt like a little kids’ beginner band performance. But how else could it have been when the person leading the main melody on piano not only counted off wrong but played all weird timing throughout the entire piece(!)???!!! So, on his, “One, two, three,” my brother came in on the three for the pick-up notes on the xylophone – correctly so. But my man didn’t start his pick-up notes until the next beat(!!). So, it was a rocky start. But he then kept holding notes longer than usual all over the place, messing with all of us. So, that was terrible, right? Well, we also had my sister-in-law playing on the recorder, which was actually not an easy instrument for her – though she is not very musically inclined in the first place. She topped it off, sounding just like the little kid on clarinet whose reed squeaks on all the main held notes at the beginning and end of each phrase.

It

was

spectacular.

Truly.

And then we played “Heart and Soul” on the xylophone, my brother and I, even though there weren’t quite enough notes on the small xylophone for us to play the whole thing, even with us inverted, melody down low and chords up top.

And then we had an awesome time in general, just goofing around and hanging out, enjoying being ourselves together.

Thank you, God, for this amazing night. Please, grant us all beautiful and effective sleep and rest tonight, that we awaken ready and able to pursue your will fully tomorrow morning. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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She has arrived!

She is here and we have her and it has been awesome! I actually cried when I picked her up at the airport, and very unexpectedly so. It both surprised me and didn’t. I really love and have missed getting to spend time with my step-sister these past several years. And I am so grateful that my man gave me such an amazing opportunity – I think he has only a glimpse of how significant and valuable this is to me and to my family – and that my step-sister said, ‘Yes’!

Thank you, God, for such amazing blessings. Please, help us to pursue your will and to be our best selves through it all – keep us safe, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Reunion

Well, the family reunion was a success. Woohoo!

It was great being with everyone again, though plenty of people weren’t there this year, and having the wonderful family recipe pot roast again. It was also lovely having everyone get to meet and start to get to know my man. The consensus is that he is wonderful and gorgeous and sweet and that he satisfies the command for me ‘not to settle’. And that, while not a surprise, was all great to hear and have affirmed from and by people I love.

Thank you, God, for all of that. Please, help us to drive and arrive home safely tonight. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Dance, dance, dance

We went dancing tonight. He attended a little lesson, then, as I had sent a photo of where I was to a friend of mine, we stuck around actually to dance for a while, because my friend wanted to join us. She brought me some shoes of hers that I could use to dance, as I only had really grippy tennis shoes or unsafe sandals with me (I had just intended to watch the lesson, then go home shortly thereafter.), and we all danced.

So, my friend and her dad and my man and I all had a jolly ole good time dancing tonight.

Thank you, God, for such a lovely and love-filled blessing. And thank you, especially, for this spectacular man. Help me always to express my love and gratitude to him, that he, at least, begin to grasp the immense blessing that he is in my life. Thank you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Let it go

Today, we started off with the Saturday morning workout. It was a partner workout. People didn’t follow the instructions given. It caused problems for those following the instructions. Obviously, we were the ones following the instructions. We finished on time, but we had a lot of frustration. It was so much so that we had to sit together for almost ten minutes to talk through everything after the workout and follow-up stretching had ended. It was a very positive outcome, but a very stress-filled class for he both of us. But we were intentional with the whole thing, and so we are growing well from it, I do believe.

Afterward – and after our max effort pull-up’s post-workout – we headed to confession and reconciliation. There is nothing quite so freeing as reconciliation, and fulfilling…

Then we did several things we’d been wanting to do, but hadn’t had time or space or memory to do so on previous weekends, simply because we passed by them on our way home from Church… farmers’ market and test driving a Jeep Gladiator and a truck. And the test drives were awesome. We had a blast, the both of us. And yes, he and I each got inside the closed truck bed of the Jeep, just to see how spacious it was. You could fit multiple people back there lying down, if needed… just in case that is ever a relevant fact in your life…

We didn’t accomplish a lot of what we’d intended for today, but we got some done, for sure, and we accomplished other things we had wanted for a while. So, I think this was a really great Saturday for us both, even if it felt a bit odd for not accomplishing the original list of tasks and goals for today.

The bonus is that tomorrow only has Church on the list, so we can finish today’s stuff then! Woohoo!

Thank you, God, for such a bizarre yet love-filled day. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Tired of late night hurries

I used to start getting ready for bed around 6pm. I would awaken around four or four-thirty in the morning, decently rested and awake, and I would gather my clothes and head downstairs to get ready for and to go to the gym for the 5:15am workout. And I’d do the same thing most weekdays, and only stay up a bit later on Friday and Saturday nights, maybe going to sleep around midnight or 11pm instead of around 8 or 8:30pm.

But I met a man, and I feel like I haven’t been “normal” ever since. I rush to get ready for bed late at night now, lucky if I can get to sleep before midnight. I don’t get to take time reading before bed. One-sentence minimum, then move on – got to hurry, so I can sleep as much as possible…

And I don’t like it. And I believe he doesn’t like it either. How do we figure this out?

Oh, God, please, grant us the clarity as to how to manage our schedules such that we both sleep well each night and awaken refreshed each morning, and we are fully able and prepared to be our best selves – who you made us to be – every day. In your name, I pray with gratitude. Amen.

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Back in Business

The bed’s box spring was delivered this evening by one very smart, strong, handy, and gorgeous delivery boy. Did I say boy? I meant man, man of my dreams. Anywho, the bed feels fabulously better tonight compared to last night. No injuries or discomforts with it tonight. I won’t have to struggle leaning so far over to fold laundry ever again – that sucked today, for sure. And I can breathe more easily being higher off the ground. Yippee! Thank you, Man, for being my special delivery boy. And thank you, God, for such a blessing as he and this super comfy bed!! Amen!

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Oh, joy! I sing to thee!

And the piano progress continues! Tonight, he asked me to show him something new or else something to do differently with that four-chord progression (CGAmG). So, we talked about sheet music! He had played clarinet back in school, so he still somewhat remembered how to read treble clef, though he didn’t even know how I knew it was treble clef… 😛 Nonetheless, he may or may not have ever used bass clef, but he learned the notes in it on the piano tonight!

Note: He is not a fan of having to hit middle C with the left hand. Too far up, he says. Wait until he gets into music that actually has a load of ledger lines up in the middle! 😛

I pulled up easy “Ode to Joy” sheet music for him and showed him how to go through one clef at a time, and then how to start to put it all together slowly, but surely. And he played for an hour+ tonight, working on that piece and taking a mental test a bit to play around with the four chords for about five minute somewhere near the end. He’s doing an awesome job, and it really seems like he really likes it. I am so excited both for the now and for the future with this!

Thank you, God, for this wonderful blessing of a man and of music. In your name, I pray. Amen.

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Music

And so it happens that he plays piano now. I heard him playing around with some keys as I exited the shower tonight. I asked him why he stopped once he had, and he smiled in slight embarrassment, and said because he hadn’t known what he was doing. I got him back over to the piano, and I explained some basics, and then showed him the basic C-G-Am-G chord progression and how to play with key strokes and rhythms within it – all white keys!! – and set him loose. He was practically fighting me at first, suggesting that he would be terrible and his hands are too clumsy and blah, blah, blah… Now, he has been going for almost half an hour, and it could be music he’s reading for all I can hear. He’s doing an amazing job already, and I’m thoroughly enjoying listening to him play, not simply because he’s the one doing it, but because it is actually enjoyable music and playing. Thank you, God.

We certainly shall have a house filled with love and music. Thank you, God, for such a wonderful blessing. Amen.

Update: He played for over 45 minutes, and I think he only stopped, because he was just so darn sleepy from a very long week this week and day today.

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The bright side

Well, the house only slightly smells like smoke now, and I almost don’t notice it, even when I’ve been outside for a while and walk back inside. Coolio. And I get to go to bed at a somewhat decent time tonight. Thank you, God. And thank you, God, for helping that get sorted out. And thank you, God, for giving us the tools and will and ability to work through all of this together, such that we leave a super sucky situation like last night actually in the past, complete, and step forward empowered together and individually in our relationships to ourselves and with one another. In gratitude, I pray. Amen.

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