Yet another reason I love my hubbie

This morning over breakfast we were chatting, and the talk turned to the large gathering we are hosting this evening for my mom’s birthday. The conversation went something like this:

Hubbie-Who are you texting? (Did I mention that I stopped mid-breakfast and mid-discussion to send a message to our oldest daughter? I have reached the point where I must take some kind of action on ideas and thoughts as they occur, at the risk of not recollecting them until it is too late, or not at all. And no, generally I don't indulge in such bad manners. I was guilty of that here, and for that, I apologize.)

Me: Alexis. I asked her to bring her external camera flash tonight. I want to hang our two flashes from the living room beams to see if I can get better light for our photos, since we are having jam night, and will have lots of family and friends here.

Hubbie: Oh. (A short pause here, then he turns on his very sweet smile) Honey, you know that all you have to do is walk into a room, and you light it up.

Awwwww.

Just yet another reason he’s a keeper.

Willing to Change

I attended a seminar years ago, and the instructor said something that has stayed with me. It was so simple, yet so profound. He said, “Change your point of view and you will change your life.” I have been blessed to apply this straightforward axiom to my life, and to ultimately enjoy and embrace change.

Very often, when we are disappointed in or dissatisfied with our lives, we tend to strike out at and blame those we love. If our spouse would only be more thoughtful, we wouldn’t nag as much. If our kids would do their chores, we wouldn’t be hollering at them. If our boss treated us better, we would be more productive at work. It just is never our fault.

Take a few steps off that well-worn path to see things from a different perspective. Take some time, and replay some of those conflicts in your head, and watch yourself in action. Ouch. It really isn’t very pretty, and you’ll be tempted to turn that movie off. Hopefully, instead, you will make some observations and take action towards making positive change.

Take note that I am not suggesting here that the solution is to send your entire family to obedience school. (Be honest-Don't you secretly wish that you could do that?) Do not fall back on that tired excuse again that if everyone else changed, then you would be happier. If everyone else did exactly what you wanted, wouldn’t that make this world the most peachy-keen place ever? Of course it would, but that is just not going to happen. So, come back from fantasy land, and start thinking about how you can make a change for the better. Yes, you.

Take a look, do some thinking, spend some time in prayer. Take steps-they don’t have to be giant ones-towards being the kind of person you would like to be, more of the time. Every day is a fresh start, and speaking for myself, an opportunity to be a better, wiser, and more humble person.

I encourage you to move your feet today to see what you have been missing.

Living in America

I am an unabashed, unapologetic patriot. I love my country, with all of its flaws and wonders, the good and the bad, and the ordinary and the miraculous. I get choked up when I hear our national anthem and am humbled when I think of the sacrifice of our veterans. I feel so blessed to live here and I am especially touched by our generosity as a nation. Look at the response to the horrific aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, and how we have come together with money and supplies, and volunteers who are willing to go help the survivors of that disaster.

We have seen this scenario play out again and again, in small and large ways, across our great nation, When there is a crisis, our fellow citizens rise to the challenge. I feel so blessed to be living in America.

Have you looked at your life this week to find your blessings?

I leave you with a video of Faith Hill performing a stirring rendition of The Star Spangled Banner at the Superbowl. Enjoy!

Looking for the Good

For the most part, I am blessed with the ability to always look for the good in everything. I am the one ready to find even a small slice of blue sky to brighten my day. Of course, it is never enough for me to just enjoy this myself. I am compelled to share this gift with others. (I call it sharing. They call it, well, let’s just say that the response is often underwhelming in its enthusiasm, and I often get very strange looks and get called things like “too darn happy”.)

When our daughters were young, I wanted to demonstrate this principle to them. On our way to elementary school one day, I gave each girl an assignment. I told one to look for anything of beauty along the way, and I tasked the other with spotting all the ugliness.

As you can guess, when I asked the girls later to share what they saw, their responses were very different, despite the fact that they were each reporting on the exact same familiar stretch of road. One just bubbled over with joy, recounting all of the bright and colorful impressions she had collected along the way. The other was more subdued, almost indignant, at the amount of garbage and general unattractiveness that she had noticed in her neighborhood and beyond.

Please understand that this purposeful act of searching out the good is not the approach of a Pollyanna. For you dear readers who may be too young to have ever heard that term, it applies to someone who is invariably and unrealistically optimistic, and no, that it is not me. I have plenty that goes wrong in my life, and yes, I sometimes succumb to sulking, sadness or other emotions that are just not really productive. So, rather than sputtering and just being angry, I change my perspective and seek that small nugget of goodness so I can stay balanced, and to remember that I am deeply blessed in my life. There are just some days I have to look really hard, but the blessings are there.

Take the time to look for you blessings today, and I believe you will be pleasantly surprised at what you discover.

52 Blessings-Week 1

This first entry is actually a very difficult choice, because when I sit and start to list my blessings, I am absolutely overwhelmed by all that is good in my life. That is not to say that I am not challenged. Oh, no. Far from it. I guess, thinking in that vein, especially about my recent brush with less than stellar health brings me to my first blessing.

What started about a couple of months ago with an atypical result from a yearly exam, culminated this week with day surgery, mostly/hopefully just a) to be sure there is really nothing to be concerned about, or b), as a preventative measure against cancer. I am truly blessed to have access to excellent health care, which includes every person who has read my tests, scheduled my visits, worked with me and on me, and all those folks who are involved in my care in a more indirect way. I say “thank you” to all of you from the bottom of my heart!

OK. I know I am supposed to just list one blessing. But this week, especially in light of my brief stay at the hospital, I must add a little more. Anesthesia and the “relax and be happy” stuff they inject into your IV before heading to the operating room. Wow. Really good stuff. The support of family, friends and my workplace, the prayers on my behalf, the calls and the emails, and the off-beat humor that is never off limits with my siblings. Thank you, thank you for all of it.

A New Year and an Idea

Goodness gracious! It has been too long since I posted here. My deepest apologies for my absence. I could blame it on the fact that I stopped posting after I became employed again and had far less free time in my life, but I just have to say it was really the alien abduction that took me away…OK. It wasn't. I'm just making excuses.

So, it is 2010. A new year. A fresh start. Exciting beginnings. It is time to roll out the New Year Resolutions. Or maybe not.

Generally speaking, I am more of a year round “embrace change as I am inspired/required” type as opposed to a “fill up the resolution mobile to overflowing and run it on high until I run out of gas and desert the vehicle for another year” type.

I can say that would like to make the change to be a better, more consistent blogger, and to that end I am introducing to you an idea that has simmered on my mental backburner for the past year: The 52 Blessings Project.

I am not sure of the origin of this concept, so I am unable to credit the proper person or site. The idea is simple: once a week, focus on something in your life for which you are grateful, and write about it. You don’t have to pen a novel, and you don’t have to have a photo that illustrates the point. The idea is to just look for the good in your life and recognize it.

Sometimes you may feel you have to search very hard for just a tiny nugget, other days you may find your proverbial cup overflows. It all comes down to your perspective (I know, I keep pressing that point, here, here, and here ) and how you choose to live your life. If you’ve read me at all, you know that I am all about joy and love and laughter and families and faith and all that is good in this world, and making the best of what we have and where we are.

If you would like to share your blessings, I invite you to do so in the comments. The more the merrier, I say. Thank you for joining me!