Reflections on Life and the Movie Argo

Quote of the Day: If I'm going to make a fake movie, it's going to be a fake hit. from the movie Argo. Really, an excellent film. The moviemakers kept it suspenseful throughout, with some levity during the Hollywood scenes. I recommend it. I brought my three young, teenage boys, and didn't cringe at all about the R rating. Lots of f-bombs, including the most memorable line, which is "Argo [blank] yourself." And, of course, some intense scenes due to the content. This is a life and death situation. I felt an emotional connection to what was happening on the screen and happened in real life. I reflected on the value of human life. How some people don't seem to value it at all, while others risk everything to save another person. Really powerful film. The boys all agreed that it was a great film and they're glad that I brought them.

The movie was a sweet reward for all the work we've done the past two weeks to prepare for a couple big events. Middle son, Zach, had his Confirmation last Sunday, and my "little" sister Joy is coming to stay with us for a couple months. We had some work to do to tidy up the house, move Zach out of his room, so the boys could still have access to their "Boy Cave" in the basement.

He's 14 and already way taller. Somehow, I'm becoming the shortest one in the family!

 

I can already feel my creative energy picking up as I anticipate my sister arriving. We have plans to do some music and/or a show together while she's here. We're available for concerts. Also, if you've ever thought of having a few voice lessons, Joy is a gifted voice teacher and is especially skilled at helping a wounded vocal musician overcome their "choir" trauma. She knows how to help you find your unique voice and what songs are the best for you. Contact us at mary.aalgaard@yahoo.com.

 

My heart has been heavy lately with thoughts of people my age who have terminal illnesses. It makes you realize that life is precious and fragile and that waiting around for the "perfect" timing for anything might cause you to lose the opportunity to "Jump on the Bike." To read more on those thoughts, click on over to Ride off the Page.

 

Speaking of "perfect" and it's non-existence, I'll tell you a little story. As I was getting ready for church this morning, Charlie discovered that our toaster oven has gone kaputt. He decided to warm up his bagel in the microwave. Hoping to make it extra toasty, he set the time for 5 minutes! I walked downstairs to a room filled with smoke and two charred black halves of bagel. We left the windows open and went to church. All the way there, we still smelled the smoke. I got to church, set up my music, looked down, and noticed that I had two stains on my sweater that I had worn the night before to a baby shower, where I'd enjoyed a glass of red wine. So, there I was on "All Saints Sunday" smelling like a burnt bagel with wine stains on my sweater, and the Pastor's message was that we can come to the table in our tarnished clothes and tattered hearts and be in communion with one another. We are the fellowship of saints on earth, all our imperfections making us part of a community.

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  Ever had any major catastrophes in the kitchen? How do you get the smell of burnt bagel out of your house? Do you have any music or church trauma?

Favorite Photos Friday - Band Concert Week!

Quote of the Day:  Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. ~Charlie Parker

Music is what life sounds like. ~ Eric Olson

8th grade Band

During The Temple of Ka Uka, the band used their hands and voices to add rhythm and sound.

It's a song inspired by the sights and sounds of Hawai'i.

I didn't get any good close-ups of the 6th grade band,

so my guys gave me a home concert.

Being in the band is a metaphor for life. The individual members need to work on their own instrument, carefully honing their craft. They can mark improvement in themselves while being part of a larger group. When they are all working in harmony, they are a powerful force. Each member contributes in his own way. Everyone working toward a common goal. You might be a leader, filled with melody, like the trumpets. You might be the strong bass, offering a foundation for the chords. You might be a specialized instrument like the piccolo or the French Horn, or you might be one of the varied pieces in the percussion section, offering a unique way to keep the rhythm.

Go. Create. Inpsire!

Journaling Prompt:  What instrument are you most like? How do you and your craft fit into the big band of life?

It's all G(r)eek to me.

Quote of the Day:  Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.  ~Einstein

Someone had this on their facebook status yesterday. It illustrates beautifully my college visit with my son. We don't necessarily speak the same language in academics. As we toured the electrical engineering department, I listened to only about a third of what the professor said, the third I understood. The rest was "all G(r)eek to me." (I had fun with that phrase in my head most of the day.)

We were on the tour with one other boy and his dad, "a recovering electronic engineer" as he put it. Professor Green laughed and said, "You never fully recover." And, he hadn't. (I had fun with that name, too. "It was Professor Green in the hall with the soddering gun.") Those two talked RFs (radio frequency) and connectors and gizmos and gadgets (see they lost me early) the whole tour. I was admiring the old-fashioned power board they had displayed in the hallway, made of wood, with the dial knobs. It was cool. Made me think of the old-time telephone switchboards. Professor Green was excited about his department. He showed us the labs, introduced us to his students who were in the study space just for engineers. He pointed out that the cooperation between students and personal interest from instructors (that impressed me.) When he brought us into one lab, a grad student was soddering some wires and boxes. The other dad asked about the equipment. I said that I noticed someone had wired up an old etcha-sketch. I wondered what they had it do. It's red frame really stood out in a room full of black and grey.

The grad student in the next room was working on a way to read corrosion on military vehicles, ships, etc., so that they won't have to repaint them so often. Thus, saving money. I complimented him on having such healthy plants at his desk, especially since there aren't any windows in that room. In fact, the electrical engineering department is rather dark, shades drawn, notes to turn off the lights when you leave the room. They're filled with wires and connectors and boxes and lots and lots of computers. I felt like a fish out of water.

I had to keep reminding myself that we were all made differently. We all have our own unique sets of gifts and talents. We don't all speak the same language around the world or in what we do. We are all creative, seeking ways to make the world a better place in our own way.

Thank God.

What a grand plan that was, to make us all so different, yet able to work together. We come with our varied gifts, offering what we do best to build up our community, honoring each other, thanking each other, and living the life we were intended to live.

Go. Create. Inspire! (In your own unique way)

Journaling Prompt:  List all your gifts and talents. Then, list those of someone who seems quite different from you.

True Friend

Quote of the Day:  A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities. - William Arthur Ward

These little guys will be 10 years old next week.  When they were born, my oldest son was six, and my second son was two.  We get more sleep, now, but those were exhausting times back then.  I needed family support and friend support and good, old-fashioned advice and sympathy from all the Grandmas in the neighborhood.

In church last Sunday, the pastor's message (at least the part that stuck in my head) was on the tests and trials of family and friends.  It's easy to be there for someone when the times are good, come to the celebrations, help them plan a party.  Then, there are the times when it's a little harder.  The chaos of walking into a home filled with four small children takes a great deal of courage and energy.  What about the times when friends and family are in crisis and they need a loving voice to say something needs to change.  Or, they're hurting physcially and emotionally.  Can you be that rock for them when the waves of life are crashing over their heads?

Last week, we learned that President Obama wants to pass laws that allow a more open visitation policy in hospitals.  What has been restricted to blood relatives and spouses, needs to be open to close friends and life partners.  I was thinking, why does that need to be a law?  Why would you tell someone to go away and not show love and support to their friend?  What about the people who don't have blood relatives to come take care of them and visit them?  What about the people who aren't married in the traditional sense?  Why do we need laws to allow compassion and love in the time of greatest need?

People who love you need and want to be at your side whether you're on your birthbed or your deathbed, as you experience the first breath of life, or hear the last.  Theirs is the hand that reaches into the pit and pulls you up.  Thank you, God, for the gift of friendship.

Journaling Prompt:  Remember a time when you were in need and a friend was at your side.  Write a thank you.  Or, describe a time when you were there for someone. 

Water Molecule

Quote of the Day: The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit - this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

- We're like a molecule of water, ever moving in the cycle of life -

As a need for a starting point, let's say you are dropping from the sky in the form of a snowflake. You land on a frozen field in Minnesota. There you sit, in your frozen state, waiting for something to happen so that you can move on. In this case, the spring thaw. With the warm air and sunshine, you melt and flow together with all the other melted molecules of snow, now water, and become run-off into the big ditch. You're pulled by the slope of the earth into the Red River of the North, which runs the unique course of flowing north. If you think about maps and how North is at the top, it seems like this river defies gravity and flows up, not down. But, North it does indeed flow, into Canada, where it can get stuck for a while again, because it's colder the further north you go. The river feeds into Lake Winnipeg which is part of the Hudson Bay watershed. The Hudson Bay covers most of Northern Canada and meshes with the Arctic Ocean. Your destiny as this particular molecule seems to be cold. However, you could potentially become attached to a ship and sail with it to the Atlantic Ocean, work your way down the coast and settle somewhere off the Florida Keys. One can always remain hopeful. Still, you could get stuck again in an iceberg. You could spend years and years freezing and melting. You could evaporate and become cloud, blow with the wind and end up in some far-off country where you have to learn all over the shape of the land. And, find, that in the end, it was you, a single droplet of water, that gave life to an exotic flower that brightened a dark day for a girl with a heavy heart.

Did you know that no matter where the stream pulls you, no matter which direction the wind blows, no matter how many times you are frozen, you will thaw, you live on, and YOU create beauty in a world filled with darkness.

I often think of this hymn, My life flows on in endless song; above earth's lamentations, I catch the sweet, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation. No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I'm clinging. Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?

May the waters of life flow in and through you, filling you up to overflowing so that when you're needed most, you will provide the nourishment to bring out the beauty in others.

Amen.

Journaling Prompt: Describe a time that you brought out the beauty and talents in another person and watched him or her shine.

Changing of the seasons

After enduring very cold temperatures ENTIRELY too early last week, we received a blessing of 80's yesterday and 70's today. I STILL haven't finished planting my bulbs, but am now blaming it on this cold that won't quite make up it's mind if it's going to be a full blown cold, or just make me tired and cough a lot. I'm running on empty.

I should be napping, because that's what you do when you're sick, but instead I'm sitting in the shade, listening to the light breeze move my Aspen trees. They are almost completely gold right now. The weather has been just perfect for the trees to change this year.

For some reason, I've been reflecting a lot on the past year. My mother's cancer, my best friend being in Iraq for a year, friends, Brian's job loss, other family members...a LOT has happened since this time last year. I hold my head up high with no regrets on either my actions nor my feelings. I look back and know that I have gained more appreciation for the little things, and smiles come easier to my face. I have unconsiously (or maybe consiously) removed little things out of my life that caused me greater stress than I was able to take, and have vowed to be sweeter with my words and my thoughts.

I miss my boys since they've started school. I see how separation between mother and sons is bound to happen, and nod knowingly. I think it's natural, even necessary, for the man to fall in love with a woman and leave his mother behind, but they are a part of me and never can be fully severed. I rejoice in them finding their new love, however, and will continuously praise God for whenever that should happen. I know this is early to think about, but as my young son becomes a teenager, I can feel the separation starting already. Wanting to share things with his friends rather than his parents. Again, I know this is completely normal (I wanted nothing to do with my mother and father as a teenager) but it's forshadowing what soon will come.

My husband is working a lot lately. I appreciate his job, appreciate it so much more before the Holidays. It allows us to breathe easier with health insurance and maybe a little bit of a bonus sometime next year. I appreciate how this company has made a change in my husband. He walks taller, with a broader step. He continuously is reminded how much he is needed at work and has more self confidence...something that I never was able to give him...but am so happy he is attaining it. I miss him, too.

With fall coming to an end too soon, I reflect. I administer. I love. I hope to find more of myself this upcoming year.

Transition

It's been a very busy summer (read...AUGUST)! I haven't had much time to do anything except work, prepare for my boys going back to school and preparing and attending two baby showers for my sis-in-law. I've enjoyed every minute of it, but am welcoming some time to catch up on things around the house.

The boys start school on Thursday, and it hits me that I will have all days to myself. Someone asked me to tell her how that works out...what that FEELS like. Right now, it feels like a huge piece of what I do has been taken out of the picture. I've been a stay-at-home mom for 9 years. How do you prepare yourself for all of that extra TIME? I know I have tons of projects to do at the house. It's 30 years old and constantly needs new things, new paint, just plain updating. With the boys asthma, I've always had to put off the painting for fear it will cause their asthma to act up. With them gone, I can do some painting in the morning and then air out the house so it's clear by the time they get home. I always have my landscaping to work on. I have work to go to. It just STOPS in October...and then there's nothing...

Corrin starts at the high school this year. I'm sure he's so tired of us telling him that "this is it. It now MEANS something" but he does want to attend CU and that is all we have left to inspire him to stay active and school and get good grades. We can't hold his hand forever, and I refuse to push him when it comes to something like doing homework. The stress if huge, and he needs to learn to do it on his own.

With two nieces coming sometime in September or early October, and one other niece or nephew due the end of January, I'm sure a lot of my time with be spent with my sis-in-law's because I HAVE the time and they won't. It's so weird that my timing has always been way ahead of everyone else, and people are finally catching up. It's weird because I'm not that much older than everyone else, but I feel as if I am sometimes. I have such a feeling of disconnect when I'm talking of plans.

I'm at a different stage, and I don't know what to do with myself.

Getting old and the crap that comes with it.

Oh, God, it's happened. I've gotten old. I look in the mirror and see the same person...but as I crawl into bed (more like fall) I feel every ache and pain vividly. My leg kept cramping up today like a full fledged charlie horse. Wham! I'd be with a customer and then just yell out, "Ow!" I think they might have thought I was nuts. Then I'd start hobbling around trying to massage my calve while walking. Can we say hunchback of Picadilly? My back hurts. Feet hurt. Arms hurt. I've got a bazillion mosquito bites because we haven't been able to spray yet. My fellow worker actually told me when she was scheduling that she didn't want to wear me out by scheduling me too much. She's like 12 years older than me. That felt AWESOME, let me tell you. It's like this every year when I start back up. Walking 6-10 miles per day is a killer. If I saw my legs get leaner and my ass get smaller, it might make it all worthwhile. However, when I get home, I eat like a horse to make up for the calories I just burned off and it doesn't seem to help. I truly am blessed to have my job, but I suffer for it nightly. LOL.










Thank goodness for days off so I can start feeling better and then it starts all over again!

I can move again...

I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week. It's taken me awhile to be able to move again. I laugh about it, but am pretty annoyed that I am so out of shape. I've got to remember to do things during the winter time so my entire body doesn't hurt the first few months back at Picadilly.

I still love working there. I go around the perennials and make sure each and everyone of them is coming back from dormancy. Some of them don't, and I feel so sad when I have to dump them out into the compost pile. Davey's been ordering some more things, and we've been having deliveries the past several days. There's an excitement...we're almost ready!!

I wasn't scheduled to come in on Saturday, but we decided it was probably a good idea for me to come in, and it WAS. We were slammed. I didn't even look at my watch until a quarter til 3:00!!

On Saturday night, we went out with my boss, his wife, a coworker and some of her friends to the Impulse Theater. It's a fun place to go. Improv comedy at it's finest. Well...not quite FINEST, but very entertaining. On Sunday, the entire fam went over to our friend Stacey's house for dinner. She cooked Thai food and it was yummy!

We've had incredible weather outside so I've been pruning and cleaning and digging and dividing. Maybe this is why I'm still sore?? Today I spent most of the day inside working on my other job. My eyes kept looking outside...staring wistfully. I can't help it, I have extreme Spring Fever.

Mom had her chemo today and it sounded like it went well. I called her around 11:00 and found out that dad dropped her off because he thinks he's getting a cold. I really wish they would have called me, I would have stayed with her, but she ended up sleeping for a lot of the day anyway, so I guess it worked out okay. Mom goes back to the center for the shot for her white cell count boost tomorrow. Then I'll go over there on Sunday to be with her while dad is gone. Only TWO more to go!!!

Interview

Brian has an interview today and I think I'm more nervous than he is!! It's been a wild ride the past few months and with this interview, it could be the start of change. He's still enjoying working for Janus, but we never know how long that will go...and we're particular about how much salary he makes to cover our expenses. I am more than willing to work more hours (especially since Riordan will be going to school full time starting in the fall) but Brian is trying to carry all of the burden on himself.

In these times, we do what we have to do. Brian has been very good with interviews in the past, and I hope he shines in this one.

Prayers would be GREAT!!

Unappreciated?

Sometimes, a mom just wants to hear a thank you once in awhile.