Day 341: Unexpected

Aha:
Working in a children's hospital I see a lot of families in sad situations.  As I was walking down the hallway today I saw a family approaching with a handicapped teenage girl in a wheelchair.  She seemed to either have cerebral palsy or some other form of physical handicap because her arms were pulled up at an unusual angle and her neck was craned to the side.  From a distance, my heart broke a little seeing her "stuck" in her position, but as she was wheeled closer I noticed her bright, blue eyes and the huge smile she wore on her happy face - and it made me smile.
I have no idea her mental capacity, but if anything she knows to be happy regardless of whatever limits, setbacks or hard times she may have in life.  What a sweet glimpse into "why we're here" - it was unexpected but will not be soon forgotten!

Ha ha:
Peter was laying on the couch as I was getting ready to walk out the door for work this morning.  Before I left, I walked over to give him some loves.  I bent down, stroked his fur and told him to have a good day.  I asked him to give me kisses (usually a fast lick on the tip of my nose).  He turned his head away.  I asked him again.  This time he looked me right in the face, leaned in and burped.  Not exactly what I was expecting, but I guess in a pinch it'd have to do. Ha!

Day 340: Oh, the Pylons of Life

Aha:
I had a lot swimming around in my noggin today and really wanted to just clear it out so I put Peter in his little harness and set out for a walk.  About halfway through I turned on the Mormon Channel and listened to a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland, titled "The Laborers in the Vineyard".
I don't know why this happens, because it happens almost every time I need it, but this talk was exactly what I needed to hear.  Here are a few of my favorite excerpts...

Brothers and sisters, there are going to be times in our lives when someone else gets an unexpected blessing or receives some special recognition. May I plead with us not to be hurt—and certainly not to feel envious—when good fortune comes to another person? We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed. The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those.

Furthermore, envy is a mistake that just keeps on giving. Obviously we suffer a little when some misfortune befalls us, but envy requires us to suffer all good fortune that befalls everyone we know!...

The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through, and let the distress of earlier hours—real or imagined—fall away in the abundance of the final reward. Don’t dwell on old issues or grievances—not toward yourself nor your neighbor nor even, I might add, toward this true and living Church. The majesty of your life, of your neighbor’s life, and of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be made manifest at the last day, even if such majesty is not always recognized by everyone in the early going. So don’t hyperventilate about something that happened at 9:00 in the morning when the grace of God is trying to reward you at 6:00 in the evening—whatever your labor arrangements have been through the day....

So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time.


Ha ha:
Here's a conversation Clinton and I just had...
He:  This morning I went to pull out of the driveway and there were pile-ons all over the place.  They were taking up the whole road.
Me:  Pile-on?  What's a pile-on?
He:  You know, those orange conical things they put around construction sites.
Me:  You mean, cones?
He:  Yah, they're called pile-ons.  Look it up P-Y-L-O-N-S.  It's a real word.
Turns out the word does exist, but who they heck calls them pylons?  Isn't 'cone' much easier?  Ha ha!

Day 339: Let Me Make This Very Clear

Aha:
I just saw on a friend's FB page that she lost her fiance--in the military--about a month before their wedding.  A couple months ago, my sister-in-law shared a link on her blog about a friend of her's who lost her husband and child in a boating accident on her birthday.  Both of these women spoke of the love they had for their loved ones and how much they look forward to the day they'll be reunited.  They are strong and filled with faith.  Neither of them said they had any regrets with their relationships, only that they could hold them again.
Well, especially after reading the above posts, I feel so very blessed to have my sweetheart still with me (though he is on call tonight and perhaps that's why I'm feeling a bit sappy).  I just wanted to take a quick second and dedicate a couple moments to my H.B.
Clinton, I love you!  You make me laugh every day, just like you promised you'd do when you proposed.  You are the happiest person I know.  Thank you for being patient with me and for helping me learn how to relax more and accept things as they come.  You are so smart!  I am so proud of you for all of your academic endeavors.  You amaze me with everything you know...and surprise me with some of the things you don't - ha!  You are kind, thoughtful and very giving.  Thank you for your wonderful acts of charity.  I love you more and more each day!  You are a wonderful man and I thank God you are mine.
Love you, love you, love you!

Ha ha:
The other day at work I was in the kitchen getting some hot water from the hot water tap on the coffee machine.  A lady came in and began to rinse her coffee mug out in the sink next to me.  As she was doing this she looked inside the cup, up at me and then back at the sink and said, "I don't think it'll kill me.", smiled and then walked out of the room as I was saying, "I'm sure it won't."
I thought to myself, she must be referring to the fact that she didn't wash her cup--only rinsed it.  And then I thought, If people are going to share a thought out loud they really should complete it, she could have been pleading for help and I just thought she was talking about her dish!

Day 338: Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Scaredy-Cats

Aha:

Clinton and I went out to dinner and stopped at the store on our way home.  I could see in the distance that a storm was coming.  We got home and walked up to the back door as a couple of huge drops fell from the sky.  The moment we stepped inside a major rainfall started.  It was absolutely pouring!  The winds started, the lightening began flashing and the thunder was rolling.

We missed getting totally soaked by about 3 seconds.  I like to call that "perfect timing"! :)

Ha ha:

Our dog, Peter, is a bit of a scaredy-cat.  If he sees a plastic bag on the floor, he growls at it and hides behind your legs.  If he sees someone wearing a hat, he doesn't like it and barks.  When a thunderstorm rolls through he starts panting, can't sit still and nervously climbs all over you until he "gets comfortable" (aka, finally exhausts himself from pacing and needs to rest). 

Well, with all of the 60 MPH winds we just had with this storm a branch fell off of our tree in the backyard and landed on the grass.  After the storm stopped, Clinton took Peter out to potty and came back in laughing.  When I asked what was so funny he said that as soon as Peter saw the branch, he stopped in his tracks, stared it down, slowly walked past it and then growled at it the whole time he was outside.  Ha ha!  Oh, Petey!

Day 337: Taking One for the Team

Aha:
I was asked to sub for a friend of mine in leading the hymns during Sacrament Meeting today and had totally forgotten about it.  Fortunately, someone sat in our pew at church "forcing" us to sit on the other side of the chapel, right next to the stand.  As the meeting started Clinton looked down at the program and said, "You're leading the music today?"
"No....oh, m'gosh!  Yes.  Thank you!"
Later, I was asked to sub for playing the piano in Relief Society.  I'm not the best pianist and I get really nervous playing in front of others, but found out the hymns were two of the easiest in the hymnbook--a miracle, relief and a blessing.  When it came time to play, everything went really well (so well in fact, I accidentally got lost in the music and cut one verse out of the opening hymn, catching the chorister off-guard and leading the class into a chorus of giggles before the prayer--embarrassing).  At any rate, my fingers moved fairly easily, my heartbeat was calm and I actually kinda enjoyed it.

Ha ha:
The Sunday School lesson was on the conversion story of Alma the Younger.  The teacher split the room into two groups for comparing scriptures and asked which group wanted to be "Team Repentance" and which wanted to be "Team Sin".  I spoke up and said, "Ooo, sin is pretty tempting.  We'll be Team Sin."  The class thought my pun "comic genius" and so did I.  Ha ha!

Day 336: Chica-Go Long

Aha:
Clinton and I went down to Chicago with some friends of ours yesterday.  The morning started out as an absolute DOWNPOUR but by the time we reached the city, it was perfect weather!
We started out the day at the Junior Women's Olympic Trials for gymnastics--way too cool!  These girls were competing to be included on Team USA and we got to watch!

After the competition we went to Roditys for some Greek food.  We were going to go to Greek Island, but found out the parking lot we'd pulled into was only for patrons of Roditys, so we ate there instead.  The food was pretty good, but our waiter was awful!  When he approached the table he'd ask an indecipherable question and then walk off before you had a chance for follow-up.  Oh well.  We were fairly entertained by it.

Last, but not least, we drove to Navy Pier and walked around.  After we walked around, we walked around some more.  And then we walked to Millennium Park, got lost trying to walk back to the Pier, walked in a big circle and then walked back to the Pier.  I'd venture to guess that we easily walked about 10 miles.

We got back home after 10pm and were totally pooped.  Clinton was asleep within a half hour.

Great day though!  Thanks Morrisons for the fun day!

P.S. Thanks Mel for coming over and letting Peter out to potty!!  You're a great friend! :)

These last three pics are what we wouldn't've seen had we NOT gotten lost.  Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all!

Ha ha:

Somehow I got designated as the "guide" while we were in Chicago (maybe cause I've been there about 5 times now), but this was a mistake.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not the most reliable when it comes to directions.  I'm a hit-or-miss type of guide.

When we left the Pier and began walking toward the park, I realized I had turned the wrong way and led us the long way.  Feeling pretty bad about this, I didn't want to make the same mistake on the return trip, so I said, "Ok.  I know a short cut, one that's more direct.  Let's go this way."  Well, turns out I led us right to the long way again.  Trying to avoid it, Clinton said, "Let's go this way (opposite to where I had led us).  Turns out, it was a giant circle and we ended up right where we'd left off.

At this point I'm feeling pretty dumb and embarrassed.  We begin on the long path back and I apologize about the short cut.  A few minutes later we approached a stop light and right before we got to it the light turned in our favor and we didn't have to wait to cross the street.  Our friend said, "Hey, perfect timing!  We don't have to wait!"

"There's the short cut!" I said. "I knew it was here somewhere!"

We all laughed and then stopped laughing when we realized we still had 2 miles to go...on foot.

Day 335: I Got to Gum Home Early!

Aha:
One of the docs came in about 45-minutes before the end of the work and said, "It's the Friday before a holiday.  No one's here.  Go ahead and go home.  Have a good weekend."  Happy 3-day + 45 minute weekend to me!!!

Ha ha:
At one point during dinner tonight, Clinton brought up the Juicy Fruit jingle.
He:  "Juicy Fruit, It's gonna move ya, salty juice, it get's right to ya."
Me:  What did you say?  Salty juice?!
He:  Yah.  Salty juice.
Me:  That's not how it goes.
He:  Oh, yah?  Does too!  How does it go then?
Me:  "Juicy Fruit, it's gonna move ya, soft and sweet, it get's right to ya."  It's not salty juice. (laughing)
He:  (recognition of his wrong and not wanting to admit it) No.  It's salty juice.
Boy, I don't know about you, but I suddenly have a real craving for some salty gum.  Mm-mmm! Ha ha!