The Little Things......

I received this in an email on Monday. It is a perfect explanation of how I feel about life's little twists and turns. I'm reminded of it each morning when we are running a little behind or I have to run in the house for something or I can't find something or the hot water doesn't want to be hot or just about anything that happens I know it is for a reason.

This is the email and I couldn't say any better:

• As you might know, the head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten.
• Another fellow was alive because it was His turn to bring donuts.
• One woman was late because her Alarm clock didn't go off in time.
• One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike Because of an auto accident.
• One of them Missed his bus.
• One spilled food on her clothes and had to takeTime to change.
• One's Car wouldn't start.
• One couldn't Get a taxi.
• The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work, but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone ... All the little things that annoy me. I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.

Next time your morning seems to be going wrong; the children are slow getting dressed, you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated; it may be just that God is at work watching over you. May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things. And may you remember their possible purpose.

Something from the Past

So, I was looking for some pictures on my computer this afternoon and came across this email conversation I had with Kimberly. Unfortunately, this is only my response to a question or comment she surely must of had regarding food, sleep and children. It went like this:

To: 'Kimberly Easterling'
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 9:30 AM
Subject: RE: So........

it begins slowly a little hunger, a little tired then it gradually you are able to get by with very little sleep and very little food because there is no time to sleep and your children are eating all your food (except for your mushrooms of course). They are waking you at all times of the day and night but that doesn't matter anymore because your body has been deprived of sleep for so long you wouldn't know what a good nights rest means anyway until.........well I'm not sure when because by the time you can sleep through the night because your children are gone your body has leaped into the next phrase of life where it can't seem to make it through the night without getting up to use the bathroom..............so my dear the moral of the story is enjoy the food while you can get it and grab a nap anywhere you can take it...............la la

To this she responded:
that is a most excellent monologue, we should save this for future use....and I will absolutely take your advice........at least I saved you something (ie the mushrooms) and something as you know is better than nothing!
kae

No Cell Phone Use While Driving Please.......

July 1st it became a California law that you could not drive and use your cell phone unless it was hands free. Of course this is not a problem for me because for the past nine months I'm rarely the driver; in fact I don't even remember the last time I drove to work. Well, this has been hard for Val/Dad especially now that he has a Blackberry. He can't stand for it to go off and not look at it.......the email part. I'm always saying to him don't look at your email while you are driving; to me that is worse than talking on the phone. Plus he doesn't have a blue tooth for it just ear pieces so when he does get a call everything is usually all tangled up and it causes a situation. We are a pair that is for sure!! Anyway, on the way home tonight I tried to call Justin, no answer; I tried Ashley, no answer; I tried their home phone no answer. Then next thing I know Val/Dad is talking to Justin, I look over at him and I'm like what's up with that!! Well, their conversation is cut short (we must have driven through a bad spot) and next thing I know my phone is ringing, I say oh that must be Justin calling back. WRONG.......it's Val!! I'm like hello I'm sitting right next to you...........we have a funny little conversation as we head up the hill, our voices echoing back and forth.............I love that man!!

Traditions

I love traditions. In fact just saying the word out loud makes me want to start singing the song…….. “Tradition! Tradition!” don’t you just feel the power of the word when you say it out loud. Okay maybe not for you but for me it is definitely an energizer. I think this time of year is when we see and hear of a lot of traditions. One of my earliest memories growing up was our Christmas morning tradition. First, we couldn’t get up before 7:00 a.m. and secondly, no one was allowed to go out in the family room without first getting Mom and Dad up. Of course Dad always had to shower before we went out into the family room; I think he just liked to see us agonize just a bit longer as if not being able to sleep all night wasn’t enough!! But that was part of the tradition. Roast beef and mash potatoes and gravy was our every Sunday meal tradition. This of course was in the days before cholesterol was invented. Cholesterol took the tradition out of our Sunday meal!! Moving forward many years I started a Christmas tradition with the kids Christmas presents. I never put their names on their gifts, well not in the traditionally manner. One year each gift under the tree had a puzzle piece. They were given a clue as to their puzzle then they had to find all the gifts with the correct puzzle piece and put the puzzle together. Other years their gift tags were a certain color or a reindeer; they never know what was what until Christmas day. It made it harder to figure out which gift belonged to whom; although I was in no way delusional as I’m sure there was plenty peaking going on!! It is harder now to have some of those traditions as we are separated by many miles but the memories of those moments are still there and for that I’m grateful. Another tradition I love although I’m not a part of it per say I love it nonetheless. Each year on Jim’s birthday Kimberly calls him at midnight and on her birthday he calls her at midnight! This means that Kimberly has to get up at 2:00 a.m. to make the call, Jim is lucky in that he just has to stay up until 10:00 p.m. I’m not even sure how or when this tradition got started but their tradition of being the first person to wish the other Happy Birthday is the greatest!!

Birthday Card: $3.59
Birthday Dinner: $60.00
Birthday Calls at Midnight: Priceless!!

Words

So, there are certain words that I love, words like:
Hope - It Floats!
Can - It Does!
Faith - It Looks Up!
Work - I'm blessed with it and by it!
Obedience - Once I asked the kids for this for Christmas......they gave it to me in the form of wooden blocks!! I loved it and them for giving it to me.
Attitude - If you put a numeric value to each letter, i.e., a=1, t=60 and add them all up you get 100!

And there are certain words I don't have the love for, words like:
Can't - It never will!
Swears - Surely you are smarter than those four-letter words!
Diet - It makes me want to eat more!
Exercise - I can't avoid it if I want to live to 100 and I do!!

Excuse me now it is time to exercise a good attitude and get on the treadmill!!