Final Friday

Leif sent a funny "Think you've seen it all?" email with images of unbelievable scenes. This was my favorite of the bunch.

I'll be out of town next week so this will be the final post for a while. While I'm away I'll be considering whether or not to continue operating this blog, and I'll post again when I get back regarding my decision.

Thanks to all of you who have contributed and visited. Enjoy your weekend and the next week as well.

Candor with a Teacher

Happy Thursday.

The Animal Diaries

This contribution is from Lenora.

Excerpts from a Dog's Daily Diary:
8:00am Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30am A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40am Walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00pm Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00pm Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00pm Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00pm Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00pm Wow! Watched TV with my master! My favorite thing!
11:00pm Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat's Daily Diary:
Day 683 of my captivity: My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and myself are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the floor.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. The audacity! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my
confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released --and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded! The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. The captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe...for now...

A Week of Humor

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately and so for my own benefit and perhaps yours too, I've decided to post only funny things this week.

Enjoy!

A Quick Note

Welcome to the start of another week. This will be short today, as I'm still tired from our weekend in Vail.

Special thanks to Nicole for her deep, insightful, and thought-provoking comment.

See you tomorrow.

Force of Character

Thanks to Gayle for submitting her window on the world (shown above). I'd really love to see more of these from you. Please, won't you take a quick photo and email it to me?

Here's a passage from the Integrity book I'm reading right now:

Someone of virtue is a force, and a force always leaves a result. When a hurricane comes through a town, you can see the results of its force. When the wind moves across the water, or through the trees, you can see the results of its force.

Likewise, when you move through life, through your company or organization, through your career, and through your relationships, your character is going to be a "force." The question is, "What kind of force is it going to be?" Will it be one of virtue, where you deliver the goods? When you bring energy and force of character to a goal or a project, will the force bring about fruit? In many ways...it is up to you.

The author, Henry Cloud, talks throughout the book about character determining what kind of wake we leave behind us in our lives. Think about the wake a boat leaves as it travels across the water. In similar ways we leave a wake behind us as we travel through life.

The question is: What kind of wake am I leaving? Is it straight and headed toward a worthy goal or does it waver and move chaotically from side to side? Are there lots of happy people skiing and tubing in my wake? Or are there a lot of wounded people bobbing in the water?

Whether we realize it or not, the force of our character is really strong. I want to stay aware of what that force is doing to others in my life.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.

My Window on the World

As many of you know, my job allows me to work primarily from home with a few days a month at the office. For the most part, I'm enjoying this professional lifestyle (I'll be honest...there are times when I think I'll climb the walls from isolation), and thought I'd share with you my window on the world.

I work mostly on my computer (I have widescreen flat-panel monitor now and LOVE it), so this is what I see frequently throughout the day. The view outside the windows doesn't really change, but that's ok because I relive in my mind scenes that floated by on various train rides Tim and I took in Europe.

I'd love to see your window on the world. How about snapping a quick photo out your office window, or hit the print screen button on your keyboard, paste it into a document, and show me your computer window on the world. That could become a really interesting photo collage project!

Well, regardless of what your window allows you to see, we're all looking at the same world. Let's get out there, make it better, and enjoy it.

Character

I've begun re-reading Dr. Henry Cloud's book Integrity: The courage to meet the demands of reality, and find that new things strike me that didn't when I read it last year.

Last night I came across this statement:

Strengths turn into weaknesses without the other parts of a person to balance them out.

The context of this statement is that when strengths/abilities and character/integrity work together in an integrated fashion, then a person experiences wholeness. Without the character/integrity side of the equation, the balance is thrown off (much like an unsolvable algebraic equation).

The author mentions some examples to help demonstrate his point:

You have known people who love, for example, without the benefit of judgment and reality testing. Or people who are creative, but without the benefit of being structrued or organized. Or those who can be proactive and take risks, but can't delay when they need to. They are impulsive.

And this is the statement that really hit me:

The person of "integrity" is a person of balanced integration of all that character affords.

That made me think about my own behaviors. I have a passion for newness. I like to start new projects (and sometimes would rather have someone else finish them). I like to play a piece of music for the first time...it's much more exciting than after I've played it for the fifth time. I'm impulsive.

Sometimes I lean too heavily on a certain set of strengths, to the exclusion of a more integrated approach, and get myself into trouble (whether relationally, emotionally, spiritually, or professionally).

So here's to non-compartmentalization, but rather integration of strengths, abilities, and integrity.

Cinco de Mayo

My husband Tim and I attended Denver's Cinco de Mayo festival and parade on Saturday. We were excited to see the various cultures on display with their traditional dances and costumes, and completely enjoyed ourselves. For those of you in areas where "A Taste of _______" is held, imagine that type of atmosphere with lots of booths offering food like roasted corn on the cob, tacos, waffle ears (falafel), and more. Add to that a lot of booths featuring various businesses giving imprinted promotional products away, and you can imagine the added fun Tim had (those of you who know him know his propensity for collecting free things). :) We enjoyed our time, sampled some food, ate some great cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory on the 16th Street Mall, and enjoyed a few brief hours outside in the sunshine before the clouds and thunderstorms rolled in. There are two parade participants that I remember in particular, though only one of them is shown here. One was a hoop-t police car. It seriously had hydraulics installed and made its way along the route while raising and lowering its chassis just like a stereotypical car in the 'hood. We laughed and laughed and laughed. The other really memorable participants were a group of three white horses with riders dressed in full caballero costume, and the horses danced and pranced their way down the route. They were beautiful, and you can tell by the lopped-off heads of their riders what I was really focused on capturing with my camera. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning, and I'm including a few more photos so you can enjoy the colorful costumes too.

Smiles for Monday

It's a new month, and I've begun re-reading a new book--Integrity: The character to meet the demands of reality. Already there are some great truths to be shared, and I'll most likely begin talking about it tomorrow.

I like to start the week with some humor, so...last week these funny "vegetable art" masterpieces showed up in my inbox from Joy, along with many more, and I'm hoping you get a smile from them as I did.

Heroes

My husband's twin brother Tony, who lives in the southern United States, was proclaimed a hero by his community this past week, and we join heartily in the praise.

Tony was part of a two-person team that used an AED machine to bring a man back from death after he suffered a heart attack while flying a kite on the beach.

Heroes are what keep us going through the tough times, aren't they? They come in every shape and size, and both genders, and we thrill to hear their stories and imagine what we would or wouldn't have done as we replay the circumstance in our minds.

I'm grateful that there are people like Tony out there who are willing to help when they see a need and aren't afraid to get involved.

Enjoy your weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Incredible

I occasionally pick up an O Magazine from the newstand at the store, and sometimes find inspiration in a story inside. In the May issue I was impressed by the incredible strength found in a woman named Christine McFadden.

This woman went out for a walk early one morning and when she returned, she found all four of her children shot to death by her ex-husband, who had also shot himself dead.

Now I don't have children, but I can imagine the horror that must have invaded her life that morning and probably still is there. This woman has fallen in love again and remarried, plus has just given birth to twin girls, and is 49 years old. What I find most incredible is that she continues to live in the house in which her children died, surrounded by photos of them throughout the entire place.

I think what her story impressed on me most is that regardless of what bad thing happens to us we are fully capable of surviving it and moving ahead. Usually faith will be tested in the process, and sometimes it will emerge stronger. Other times it will dissipate and never be fully recovered.

But the fact remains, as evidenced by Christine McFadden, that the world keeps spinning whether we want it to or not. We have to hurt for as long as it takes and then gradually emerge from the horror.

Moving Forward

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, my husband and I have been considering buying our first home. We found what we thought was a great option for us and went through the whole process, and one of the many things we learned was that we qualify for a lot bigger mortgage than we thought, which surprised us but is really good to know.

However, in the course of things we realized that while we could handle it, the payment amount was much higher than we wanted to take on for the next 30 years, so we have decided to rent for another year. This will give us time to pay down some existing debt and be in a better position to commit more money to a mortgage in the future.

Since that's been settled, things have calmed down a bit. No more scouring the internet for MLS listings in surrounding areas, no more disbelief at the price for a 40-year-old, run-down ranch house on a small lot, no more crunching the numbers.

It's a beautiful day--we're doing well, life is good, work is good--and my camera is calling. See you tomorrow.

Happiness is Trying to Catch You

I was thinking this morning about today's topic, and decided to expand on a fortune cookie saying from this week.

Look around; happiness is trying to catch you.

We've all known people who, to us, appeared to have some pretty wonderful people and things in their lives. Yet they weren't able to see those people or things and be happy. The reasons are numerous: too busy eking out a living or amassing wealth; too focused on their expectations and how they didn't turn out just the way they "should" have; too unhappy with themselves to be happy with what they have; the list could go on and on.

My own father was one of those people. A highly talented and capable man, he was never really happy (or if he was, he hid it) and couldn't look around to see what he had. Happiness tried to catch him all his life, but he just wouldn't be caught.

I've been that way, too, at times. I've been so focused on making a difference in my work, or trying to earn more money, get more things, go more places, and anything else you can use to finish this sentence, that I've not looked around to see the happiness that was available.

How about you? What are you so focused on that you're unable to see the happiness you need and want? What expectations aren't turning out the way you'd hoped?

What if we just let go of our need to have expectations be fulfilled exactly the way we plan them? What if we just let happiness catch us?