Take a look at this video...

This is absolutely delightful and inspiring: The Beckoning of Lovely.

A Lovely Day

Last Friday was a lovely day for many reasons, but for three in particular...

1. In the morning I saw a beautiful rainbow reaching up and across the horizon. I haven't seen a rainbow in a long time and it was appreciated.
2. While driving back to work following my lunch break I passed by a local middle school. There's a brick retaining wall there and twenty or so kids sitting on it, swaying from side to side and as my vehicle got closer they started pumping their fists indicating I should honk. I appeased them and honked and laughed when they victoriously threw their hands up in the air, all while rhythmically swaying from left to right, left to right, left to right.
3. Later in the afternoon I smiled when I noticed Jesus Clouds. A picture perfect scene of the Heavens' light shining down and being filtered by the clouds, so that one can literally see the rays of sun beaming towards the Earth.
   

Annnd I'm back!

I guess I had a hiatus of sorts from blogging... I suppose not a whole lot has changed, but then again a lot has. It's weird. Anywho... You should be hearing more from me shortly. Whoever you are...

Have a lovely fall day!

True Living Project

You must visit Sabrina Ward Harrison's website and watch the True Living Project "slideshow." It's completely moving.

Looking Up

Little Gestures

Last Thursday a couple of "little gestures" impacted me for different reasons...

1. While driving home from work I saw an older gentleman bundled up--coat, stocking hat, scarf, gloves, and all--making his way through the cold with a big ol' smile on his face. I haven't the faintest idea why he was smiling, but it was contagious.
2. During the Maundy Thursday service at my church a mom who was sitting two pew rows ahead of me shrugged her elementary aged son's head off of her shoulder after he had rested it there for a mere two seconds. I swear, he plopped his head into her shoulder gently and before he could even get comfortable she moved away from him. It made my heart a bit sad.

Little gestures--moments, sightings, contacts, greetings--can be sooo very big.

The Bad Lighting Epidemic in America Continues

This hideous and ginormous light fixture was joined by several others in a conference room at the Holiday Inn in Fargo, ND. Not only does it look like an excessively legged, gold spider hanging upside down from the ceiling, it also sheds a poor amount of light. Thom Filicia, Queer Eye interior design guru, would be horrified and disappointed.

Different strokes, for different folks and so on and so on...

At work the other day I was completing a lease with an incoming group of tenants. While they were starting various utility services in their name, I left my office to write out a receipt for their pro-rated rent. I forgot that I had left my cell phone on my desk with my ringer volume on...

"This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot! This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot! I'm hot 'cuz I'm fly..."

Yup, those profound words rang loud and clear and sent me scurrying back into my office to grab my phone and silence Mims. What came out of my mouth next, I don't know why...

"It's a stupid ringtone."

One clever young man stated, "You can't spell 'crap' without it."

I left my office annoyed by his line and perplexed as to why I said what I said. Now that song is by no means legendary, but I do enjoy it when I'm "shaking a leg"--as my mom would say. So why, why did I say that? More than likely it's because the threesome (get your mind out of the gutter) were more so a "rocker" crowd. Punk, alternative, what have you. (I can't keep up with labels and I don't really care to, actually. They just distance us from one another.) Perhaps I wanted to be viewed as cool, or something of the likes... What is that?! Who cares what I rock out to?

I don't understand this obligation to edit myself to fit into some category. I don't know why I feel this need to explain myself to strangers. Deep down I don't care, but yet on the surface it escapes me... I try to find the common ground between myself and others in order to relate, but finding those threads that unite us doesn't mean I need to cut the loose strands where we differentiate. The differences don't divide us by any means. The differences tie us to more and more people and create a big, beautiful, diverse web. It's important for me to honor that web of people, to honor my true self...Mims lover and all.

Random Connections

While driving to an appointment one afternoon a couple of weeks ago I saw a familiar elderly lady walking her chubby ol' wiener dog down the avenue. I've seen the "couple" make their way along the same street a handful of times before and they always catch my attention for a number of reasons...

First of all, I grew up with dachshunds and therefore I take note of every wiener dog I see. Secondly, the dog is just sooo fat. He's round and hysterically cute. Seeing him instantly makes me laugh regardless of the mood of the day. And finally they look so happy trotting along together in the sunshine. (Well, the dog waddles. Truly he does. His belly nearly grazes the ground.) There's a visible love between the two that's rather compelling. You just know that they have been together for many, many years.

Normally when I drive by I'm just an outsider looking in on their walk, but that day... That day I drove by and seeing the two made me genuinely smile yet again. And that day the little, old woman happened to look up and caught me staring and smiling at them. She stood up just a bit straighter, smiled brightly, and warmly waved to me--welcoming me in to that moment of their walk, of their lives. That simple gesture, the smile and wave, made me smile wider and more deeply. There was a brief, sincere, and friendly connection between us that I took with me. A gift from one stranger to another.

I keep that gift in my heart. To some, it would mean nothing. But to me...

We all need more random connections--no matter how short or small. The world would be in a better state of being and we would all be happier. So smile and wave, people, you could very easily make a stranger's day.

Focus

I am trying to focus on love and peace and hope and progress. This day to day life I lead can be so uneventful, so frustrating, so nothing, so repetitive. It's easy to succumb to the 8:00 to 5:00 work schedule--to work, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. It's easy to become consumed by anger regarding the stupidest things and to fall into a person I don't necessarily want to be. I mean, it's not that I become this horrible person. That's not the case. But there are moments where anger swells within me. Times where I don't care. Days where I'm not productive in pursuing a greater life.

I need to shift to the good. Need to keep my head up, my heart open. I don't want all of this "noise" to get the best of me, to fill my head and take me over. It's important to shed all that weighs me down. To shake off the negative. To wash off daily the dirt of yesterday.

Each day is clean. A new beginning, an opportunity for rebirth, a chance to make some small difference in my life and in the lives of those around me. So I ask God to help me focus, to help me be present in place and time, and to work steadily with peace in my heart.

Love and peace. Peace and love.

Reach

"Reach In to Reach Out"

All Kinds of Insane

It's been an insanely long time since I've written anything here, or really anywhere for that matter. I suppose that has much to do with the time of year and where I am in my life at the moment. It turns out that work takes out a big chunk of one's life. Who would've thunk? And I've been settling into my home, which is a slow process. Slow, but enjoyable--especially now because it's actually looking like a home. So really, I've just summed up my life from my last blog to now. Pretty damn exciting, isn't it? Ha.

I have to say, more insane than my absence is the absurdly cold weather here in North Dakota. It's been thirty to forty degrees below this week. Yes, I said below. See, that is crazy. But it gets crazier... People bundle up and head out in the whipping wind and swirling snow. I think this should be criminal. Work should be canceled. School should be canceled. Every store should be shut down. Everyone should stay home clothed in the coziest of sweat pants and hoodies, wrapped in big ol' blankets, and stationed in front of a fireplace.

And speaking of this cold front and crazy... I've decided that love is waking up at 6:00 a.m., sporting two pairs of sweats, and taking your ten pound dog outside to pee in thirty below weather. That's love and I am in love, with my dog that is. I just adopted him last Friday. He was advertised in the classifieds as a give away. His name is Whiskey and he is a long haired, chocolate wiener dog, who is approximately a year old and full of it. Whiskey is quite good and extremely sweet and I feel very blessed to have the little shit. He keeps me on my toes and we're figuring everything out as we go. I am his third owner in his short life, after all, so there is definitely some adjustments he is experiencing. Me as well. I have to be responsible now. Ha. I really do enjoy having someone to come home to...even if I do have to clean up a mess.

Now that really does sum up my life at the moment. Work. Settling. Whiskey. (If someone only read the previous line he or she would probably think I've got problems...) And with that, I bid you ado. Stay warm. Cheers.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Butkus is off the charts!

On a scale of 1 to 10, Butkus is off the charts!