Another year of a rich life...

Another year of blessed life is on the verge of having passed and I am reflective.

I have joy in my life and I can see it and savor it. I am grateful for that. The joy is sometimes very small, but it is enough for me to recognize and glean happiness from. Thank you Lord for helping me appreciate the small joys.

E fights with me almost daily (because he wants me to be happy) that I am unwilling to do enough to make my life the way I want it. However, I find that he often wants me to do things the way he would do them, which in some situations is great and in others is totally impractical. We threaten to kill one another at least once a day. Of course we never would, but that doesn’t stop us from getting fired up.

The problem is that it is true that I often am a person who sits and waits for things to happen instead of taking any risks to make them happen. I would be interested in knowing how many of you see me that way because I don’t think that I actually give that off in my daily interactions with people, ie, people see me “doing” a lot and making things happen, but I guess I am able to hide it less from a person who spends the better part of 5 days a week with me, like E.

I think about what I will do when the time comes in the future when E will leave this job. I wonder if we will ever be able to be as close as we are now. It makes me sad to know that the answer to that is most likely no. I know we will be friends for the rest of our lives, but the dynamic will very different. It’s just weird to think about because we have only known each other in these circumstances.

Mom and I are having a very special girls’ day when I take the day off on Friday—our main stop is going to be to go to QVC for the studio tour and to shop in their studio store. I am looking forward to the day off. I have off again next Friday for Good Friday. I am looking forward to a meaningful Holy Week beginning this Sunday.

I am blessed to be on the verge of turning a year older with two healthy parents who I love more with each passing week, my own health, a stable job that I still enjoy going to after all these years, friends who enrich my life and make it (and me) better, and a God who knows me better than anyone else and loves me more than I could ever begin to fathom.

That is a blessed life if I have ever seen one. Thank you Jesus for another year to serve you and continue to give you all the glory. Praised be your name.

Greater care for one another...

Something else that I am doing this year is working to take greater care of others. We all need to do this. I know that while some may consider me a generous person on the surface, I am also very regimented to the point of being selfish. I’m constantly going from point A to point B, needing to get this and do that and when someone throws a monkey wrench into my plans, everything falls apart.

Tragedy does not make an appointment. Happily, neither does joy. I need to be better prepared for dealing with both.

I started small. This year (I actually started in February) I have called all of my friends on their birthdays. It’s not just enough to get the card or gift in the mail on time. In the past, if the person’s birthday was during the week and I was running around and if we didn’t speak on the phone very often (excuses, excuses) I would shoot the person a quick e-mail and be glad that the card reached them in good time. I thought about this and I realized that for the couple minutes it takes to write an e-mail I can just as easily pick up the phone and TELL said friend that I wish them a happy birthday and let them know they mean something to me.

Then, when Jim’s mom died suddenly a little over a week ago, I was given the opportunity to try do better in a sad circumstance. The wake was on Wednesday night and I happen to also have my weekly hour of adoration every Wednesday night. At first I just figured that I couldn’t go to the wake and I would just mail a mass card and pray for Jim and his mom at adoration. Then it dawned on me that this was a prime opportunity to show greater care for my friend. I arranged for a substitute at adoration and drove an hour in each direction for the wake and hand-delivered my mass card and hugged my friend. I know that Jim appreciated my attendance and it made me feel good to show my support in a real and meaningful way.

I have decided that I cannot allow my life to become so “busy” that I am not doing the real things that matter. Things like physically being there for people I care about and making extra effort to share in people’s happiness and/or sadness. I cannot allow the fact that I daily manage 10 people and that they count on me for guidance on what to do and how to work stop me from taking time away from the office with almost no notice and literally be with people who need me in their time of sorrow or time of joy. I am a care taker—I minister to people in many ways as a daughter, friend, boss, youth minister, child of God, and so on. Sometimes plans and schedules have to be tossed aside at a moment’s notice in order for the Lord to use me and for me to do my greatest works for Him.

Let’s all begin to think about small ways we can take greater care of one another—not just our parents, spouses, kids, and dogs, but beyond that intimate circle of the people we live with or talk to every day. At the end of the day, it’s one of the main reasons why we are here.

Random odds and ends, part 8

Work has been very busy, but not too busy—the perfect amount really.

Last week, Kathy, my dad, and I all went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the day. None of us had been there in the better part of a decade, at least. Kathy works a 4-day week (10 hours a day), so she has off on every Wednesday. I am still trying to use the last of the carry-over 2006 vacation days (I will use the last ones next Friday and then again on Good Friday) so I took the day off, and my retired Dad is free all the time. We had a good time, it was great for all of us because we hadn’t been there in so long, and Kathy wanted to do something cultural.

Kathy is coming to my birthday dinner when Darryl and LC are in town next week, and so is Matty T. Even E is considering coming over to NJ, which is almost literally unheard of. We should have a nice time—anyone else interested should feel free to join us.

I heard from Mr. Mike Day for the first time in the better part of almost 3 full months last night. We had a nice long conversation and he seems to be on an upswing recently in terms of mood and life, which is always great to hear.

On a very sad note, Jim’s mother passed away on Sunday. Please keep both Jim and his mother in your prayers. As I had also reported recently, Jim lost his brother about a month ago, so it has been an especially difficult time for Jim and his family recently. Jim and I discussed it on Monday night and he wondered how anyone who doesn’t have any concept of God could get through something like this. I agree 100%. Without faith in the Lord and what He offers us, I think it would be impossible to cope with such devastating loss.

Hope you all are well. Have a great weekend.

Old friends...

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm not exactly the sentimental sort. I am not very proud of that fact, but it's who I am. I don’t put too much stock in old “things.” I cherish memories, I reflect upon past conversations (good thing I have a very good memory!)…I don’t keep very many physical mementos of times gone by—I’m a real minimalist in that regard, some old photos, a handful of letters in a box, and that's just about it. The rest goes by the way side.

I’m also not the type of person who stays friends with people only because there is a history of knowing the person for a long time.

But I do have some people in my life who I have known for a really significant number of years. One of those people is my friend Trish in Ohio. I met her right before the start of my freshman year of high school (she was a big-time junior!) and we were both on the tennis team. She was so nice to me immediately and she introduced me to all of her other junior girlfriends and she really made me feel comfortable starting high school and learning the ropes. She took me under her wings and set a great example for me as someone who used high school to her advantage and made the most of her time there in all aspects.

We then wound up going to the same college—she was one reason why I felt so comfortable there too—because she had opened her college life up to me and let me come visit her while I was still in high school and she showed me around and told me all of the “inside info.” Again, she made my transition to a new school (and a new life!) easier.

After college, a good number of years ago now, we lost touch for a while, she relocated to Ohio because her soon-to-be husband had gotten a great job out there.

Then, sometimes things happen in our lives and people who have drifted away drift back and so on. I’m not even sure when we reconnected, but I think it was basically because we had never totally disconnected, if you know what I mean.

Now Trish is a mom and a wife and an activist for women and children and a great adult human being. Her birthday was this weekend, and you know what the amazing thing is? SHE called ME the day before her birthday to leave me a message to thank me for her birthday card and to tell me how much she thinks about me and all of the funny things we did in high school and to tell me that she prays for me. I want to cry whenever someone tells me that they pray for me and I think it’s because I pray a lot and I pray hard and I cover a lot of bases when I pray. I know the power prayer has and to know that someone else takes time out of their life to pray for me is the greatest thing another person can do for me. I mean that.

Last May I went out to Ohio for the first time and stayed with Trish and her husband and son and got to watch her live her life out there. I had so much fun. It’s funny, because she is so much like her mom in her personality and her very friendly way. I’ve talked about us all turning into our parents before and I am convinced that nine times out of ten, we do. In her case, that’s a great thing. I still see her mom around town and at church sometimes and I love it because it's the next best thing to getting to see Trish.

Sometimes old friends are great friends and we have to work to keep them as much as we do the “newer” people we surround ourselves with on the day to day. God sends us all kinds of people at all different times in all different ways. If you take the time to really listen, He will let you know who He wants to to keep close to your heart for all of your days on His earth, and you'll find as time goes by that it's not just your mom, husband, or daughter...We have all different kinds of family and all different kinds of soulmates in this life, both men and women. Stay open to all of yours.

The timing of things...

I just love the way things occur sometimes. I chalk it up to God revealing himself to us in small ways to let us know He hears us at all times, but others may just call it no more than crazy coincidence. We can debate that issue too, but that’s not the heart of my story. This is:

Yesterday, E and I were talking in my office and we were talking about rings. I wear a small crucifix ring almost every day. I wear it on the third finger of my left hand (hey, until God sends my husband, if there is one for me, I’m all God’s!). E was asking me why I don’t wear it on my pinkie finger and I said that men do that more often than women. He asked if it was an Italian thing and I said no, because Rob wears a crucifix ring on his pinkie and he is not Italian.

Now, Rob is a guy who works in sales for a print vendor my company used years ago, but no longer does. His company also provided service for the company E worked for became he came to work at my company two years ago, so we both know him, but from different times in our lives. Because Rob’s company no longer works for our company, we have no regular contact with him at all anymore and we haven’t seen him in months.

Imagine our surprise then when no more than 5 minutes after E and I talked about him, Rob walked around the corner and appeared in the doorway of my office. I was so shocked that my whole face lit up and I couldn’t stop smiling. Rob stopped by to see me—he was in the office because he was taking someone from another department that he’s still friendly with out for her birthday. I just love when things like that happen out of nowhere!

Another really lovely thing happened today when E and I were talking. He reminded me of who I want to be when I grow up. We were getting back to work and he said:

E: “Go back to what you do best.”
Me: “My job is the thing in this world I do best?”
E: “Not really. You’re great at your job but the two things you do best are take care of the people you care about and serve God.”
Me: “That’s the nicest thing someone has said to me in a while.”
E: “Well, it’s the truth.”
Me: “Thank you.”

I fully know that I still stink at least half the time, so I pray that may live up to that moment. I may be fair at those two things some of the time at different times. I pray that someday I can be good at those two things ALL the time and that it may be by those two things that I known. I’ve worked at my job for many years, but I would much rather be known as a beloved daughter of God than a skilled manager.