my13daychallenge

A poem about a busted water pipe

my13daychallenge

Pipe pictureThis is the girl who was peacefully sleeping

Unaware that disaster was silently brewing.

This is the pipe that leaked in a wall

Where water was collecting  for who knows how long.

This is moment the girl walked in the room

And felt a river of water and saw a gushing typhoon.

This is the valve in the front of the yard

That the girl pulled and then sat by to cry really hard.

This is the husband who was out of state at the time

Who got the phone call that the house was now slime.

These are the fans and the bills and  demolition holes

This  whole experience is vexing to one’s soul.

(A Note for my family and friends:  Nate and I were able to file an insurance claim. We  will be able to fix the damage. I am always happy to accept homemade dinners though.  Just kidding about dinner. You are not obligated to cook me dinner. I know how to order pizza.  Life is never boring around here. I hope I never see water again. It’s a mess to clean up.)

 

 

 

When it’s not the most wonderful time of the year

my13daychallenge

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year”, belted the singer on the radio.

I think I’ve heard that song hundreds of times before and I never batted an eye. It’s just a Christmas song but today it was different. I heard the words and then I started crying. It isn’t always the most wonderful time of the year. In fact, sometimes it is the worst time of the year. I cried for those whose loved ones were lost in 2017. The shootings at the Las Vegas music concert. The church shooting in Texas. I cried for my family and friends who got a cancer diagnosis this year and the pain they’ve experienced during treatments. I cried for job losses, home foreclosures, unfulfilled dreams, divorces, hungry children, war and the pains of getting older. I cried for my friend who has watched her mother’s dementia progress into a changed personality this year.  I cried for Puerto Rico and how there are still so many of our fellow citizens without reliable power. For Houston. For the people who lost homes in the California fires. I cried for a country that is more interested in political parties than helping people and enacting real progress. There’s been a lot to cry about this year and it all came out when I heard that song on the radio.

Sad Amee

And then I cried for myself. I cried, because like you, I’ve had my own grief battles and unfulfilled dreams. The whole time I cried the radio kept telling me it was the most wonderful time of the year. It was a little annoying.

So, I turned that silly radio off. It’s  not always the most wonderful time of the year and that needs to be said.

I’m a Christian and I believe that someday Jesus will come again and make everything right. I also believe that we don’t have to wait until that glorious day. Be a little kinder to people today. It may not be the most wonderful time of the year for them.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holiday Rant

my13daychallenge

It’s July. This should not be happening at the grocery store.

Candy corn

Way too early!  We are skipping over all the other important holidays like Back to School Popsicle Day on July 25th and National Hot Day on August 26th. What! You have never heard of Back to School Popsicle Day? You poor thing. How did you survive your entire life without eating frozen sugar water on a stick every July 25th?

Popcicyle picture

The candy display really made me think. How often have I missed the present moment, because I was too busy waiting for some future event?  It’s really easy to say that you will be happy when a specific thing happens. I remember doing something like that in college. I told my roommate that my life would be complete when I had a cute boyfriend, a great job and $250 in my checking account. Guess What? Those happy events came and went and somehow my happiness bar had been raised. I didn’t appreciate the moment when I got that cute boyfriend, great job and $250 dollars. It’s okay to have goals and work on them just remember to keep those eyes open. You don’t want to miss the beauty in the every-day moments all around you.

Mother Teresa has an awesome quote that really sums it all up. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today. Let us begin.”King Solomon in the Old Testament said it this way.  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8)

Be present. Be here. Live in your season. You can plan for tomorrow but remember to live in today.

(In case you were wondering, National Back-to-School Popsicle Day is my own creation. I made it up as excuse to eat a treat. If any of my dear readers work at the popcycle company, you can send me a royalty check for the free advertising. After all, tomorrow is Send Amee a check day.)

In the Moment

my13daychallenge

When I was a young teen, my mother decided her kids needed to have more culture in their  lives. She read us a book about the 50 most influential people in the world of art.  After listening to Mom read about each artist,  my siblings and I would suddenly take an interest in becoming whatever we had just studied. We wrote plays after reading about Shakespeare and made little sculptures after learning about Michelangelo. We didn’t have any clay lying around the house so we improvised by taking the bag of sandwich bread from the top of the refrigerator and squashing it until it turned into what we thought was a giant glob of clay. We then made our sculptures.

My dear mother was such a good sport about it. Money was very tight and we had just used the entire loaf of bread.  She didn’t scold us though. She just laughed and then told us that we would have to eat our sculptures the next day with peanut butter for lunch.  My Mom was living in the moment on that day.

It’s easy to forget to live in the moment. Life is busy. I have a to-do list a mile long and it’s easy to worry about tomorrow instead of living today.  For my next challenge, I will pick one activity each day and really stop and enjoy the moment. I will  force myself to be fully present  with the moment and treasure the experience.

 

Will you join me on this challenge?

 

 

 

Wonder Woman: Meet Sarah

my13daychallenge

Have you ever met a guardian?  I have. Meet Sarah.

Sarah is a guardian of nature. She loves the woods. Her passion for the great pines has inspired her to share that love with her family and friends.  She takes her kids on nature walks, introduces them to snow and loves to spend time outside in the wild. Sarah is a guardian in other ways. She is a person who guards, protects and preserves what she feels is true and beautiful.

sarah-s-picture

Like many of the Wonder Woman I’ve spotlighted, Sarah’s first response to an invitation to be recognized was a statement of not having done anything really spectacular in her life.

Sarah, you ARE doing something spectacular. You are taking what you love and sharing it with others.  That’s something beautiful, noble and long lasting.

sarah-s-picture-2

Sarah is a Wonder Woman.

 

 

 

What I learned from not reaching the goal

my13daychallenge

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The motivational speakers are lying to you. We don’t always reach the goals we set. It is hard to keep going with some goals. And guess what? That is okay. Falling flat on your face is part of the journey. Sometimes reaching a goal half-way is still a reason to celebrate. Sometimes you even realize that you had the wrong goal.

What do you do when you try to accomplish a goal and fail? Here is what I do. I lay on my bed and I feel bad for a little bit. Yes, I know the motivational books say to get right back up, but sometimes the first step in getting up is laying in the mud for a bit. It hurts to set a goal and not reach it.

I didn’t reach the goal.

Flopped. Missed the mark.

Really messed up.

I guess I’ll have to try again

Tomorrow.