Welcome

Glad you've stopped by to read my thoughts. Hope you'll post a comment or tell me where to find your blog spot!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Conversation in the Breakroom

Since I am new at blogging, a novice in looking at pics on shutterfly let alone posting any there yet,still trying to get going with facebook and haven't even considered tweeting on twitter, I find conversations about these things of interest. Seems like everyone has an opinion on why they do or don't partake and what they think is useful or stupid about our modern communication tools.

A recent conversation in the break room at work struck a particular note of interest with me. A group of us got to talking about how we came to be on facebook or myspace and what we thought about the whole craze. It was lively girl chat that included thoughts about blogging and tweets too. The consensus seemed to be that sharing pictures and catching up with long-lost high school or college chums was pretty cool.

However, there was a definite round of scoffing when the conversation turned to "those people" who talk about what they had for lunch or where they were seated while they blogged. Equally disdained by most at the table were the posts and mentions about how the day was spent or the mundane happenings of the week. Vacation news, marriage plans, job changes or new baby updates--in other words those things non-routine were understandably good blog, facebook and tweeter topics.

One co-worker in particular mentioned that she thought it was kind of crazy what people posted and said, "I just don't care for heavens sake, what you got at Starbucks before you came to work or what you are cooking for dinner tonight. I mean really, who cares!" I laughed along with nearly everyone else at the table. Then suddenly, I felt like a guilty fake!

I sat there remembering letters--real letters written on paper, folded around a snapshot or two and tucked in an envelope that had a stamp perhaps picked just special for the intended recipient. Those letters, some of which I still have, were seldom just about the high or low times but rather held all the little, mundane makings of life all the inbetween moments.

After my grandmother died, I was helping to sort through her things. I found letters mixed in with her recipes because she'd used the back to write a tasty little something to try as she listened to the Kitchen Klatter program on the radio. Or she kept the letter because it contained a recipe someone had sent to her thus preserving the letter along with the recipe.

One such letter for my grandmother was from her daughter, Anna Ruth who wrote about the weather in Kansas along with what she fixed for supper the night before. She wrote about my cousin, Linda. It was a letter filled with the every day goings on of my Aunt's life. And without a doubt, her mother, who was miles and miles away cherished every line of that letter when she opened it. Perhaps she waited to read it until she had finished a chore--like working in the garden. Maybe she got a glass of iced tea, her lawn chair and sat under one of those big shade trees on the farm and simply savored every word of that letter about the most basic of basics in life--dinner, weather, errands, children.

Maybe that is what we need to remember as we look at what other people send out into cyber-space. People are sending out little bits of their own life moments. Hopefully, at least some of what they are sending is going to people who do care. To people who know that person and love them. To people who are interested in the mundane little things in their life like the fact that they love Starbucks and get a real kick out of a Mocha Frappacino once in a while! Or that it was just wonderful to have a Red Bull and Snickers for breakfast on the way to work rather than the oatmeal bar and water!

So, to those who love me may I say that I've had a great day. I got my hair done. I had Taco Bell for lunch and on my way home I got a Sheridan's Custard (Peanut Butter and Brownie). I eat half and have saved the other half for later tonight. Yummy! I came home and rented a movie off the TV, TWILIGHT, which is a book my daughter just finished and has given me to read. The windows are all open because it is so amazingly cool and nice outside. I'm getting ready to take my evening walk and I WISH YOU WERE HERE WITH ME!

Among my friends and family we have lately been talking about how life is really about the moments. If we live the moments, we've lived our life. May we care about the little things that go on with each other. May we listen with a heart that is open to those moments and not just the big stuff.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Windows Defender

Since I am new to blogging and just starting out in facebook world too, I have a lot to learn. My son-in-law, Billy, told me yesterday to get with it because he had emailed me (friended me) and I still had not been online to reply. He told me that facebooking manners included checking in with your friends more than once in a blue moon! I think he was only sort of kidding.

So here I am this morning sitting in my pretty, little living room with coffee in hand, sun shinning in the picture window, Hallmark CD called Amazing Grace playing in the background, ready to get serious about online community responsibility. I have taken my laptop from it's drawer, plugged it in and powered up. I am ready to upload, download, email, blog or whatever else is required to get up to speed, mind my online manners and connect.

Ready, set and ARRGGHH! Windows Defender is running its full scan on my computer to keep me safe and protected from online evil! When I go several days between power-ups, the Windows Defender doesn't get to do its daily thing. So, when I do power up, the software does what it is supposed to and goes into full scan mode to protect the system.

The problem is that when I decide to power up, I want full power and full use of my computer. I don't want to sit around waiting on Windows Defender to scan, correct, clean-up or update. I want to get going with MY stuff minus delays or slow downs. However, I still want to be protected, thank you very much.

Sometimes I stop Windows Defender while it's in progress. I go around the very safeguards built into the system, ignoring the program so I can do what I want to do. Warn me later. Update me later. I've got things to do right now! Sometimes I forget to go back and allow the scan to run. I finish my desired tasks, put the computer back in the drawer and go on with my plans never giving the ignored Defender another thought until next time. That's what happened today.

One of the things I love about being a Christian is when those little "hello my child" tap-on-the-shoulder moments come from the Lord to sweetly teach me something. It happened this morning when I went ARRGGHH over Windows Defender. Without any effort on my part the entire incident dropped clearly into view as an analogy for my sometimes less than perfect spiritual life. Here is this little one minute tap-on-the-shoulder lesson.

The Lord is my Defender. He is the "program" that provides warning, protection and correction so I am safe from the evils of the world, the flesh and the devil. If I hurriedly power-up, but don't take time to listen to His wisdom, I'm putting my whole system in danger. If I insist on putting my Bible "in the drawer" or have my prayer time on the fly several days in a row, pulling these things out only briefly for the fastest possible update, then bad things can happen that just don't have to happen.

When I do then finally settle down and share with the Lord the time He so wants to spend with me, it takes longer to have the "scans" run! I know it sounds silly, but it is true. It takes longer for the corrections to be made because there are more of them. It takes longer for the warnings to be issued and understood. It takes longer to download the updates to my spiritual file so that everything is cleaned up and running in the best and safest mode for my life.

If I would power up every day and take time for my Defender to work with me before I dash into my life then everything about my system (my life) would run more smoothly.

Isn't this a great little lesson. I am always touched and amazed by how God will use whatever is important to us to draw us toward him rather than allowing it to draw us away from Him. He is so awesome.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Marking Time

How do you mark the times in your life? I think this would be a good party question. Do you know what I mean by party question? These are the questions you think up in front of the mirror while you are getting ready to go someplace where there will be people you don't know well but maybe would like to get to know. A party question can get people talking without having to regurgitate the usual tidbits like where they work (risky these days since so many people are out of work) or if they have kids (not always a comfy spot during a party). I love a good party question because you can put it out there and see what happens. "So, Mary, how do you mark the different times of your life?" With my luck, Mary would take one look at me and say, "Um, I need more dip for my chips. Please excuse me." But in spite of the Mary-types out there, I still think it is a thought-provoking question.

How do I mark the times of my life? Over the past three years as I have continued to update the memorial website for my deceased hubby, Brad, I have realized how much music marks the times of my life. I have always been a music-loving gal. My parents played all types of music in our home. I was allowed to have music in my room and to play away on the piano (not well but with joy) just about anytime I wanted. Then I married a young man who sang like a song bird, and music was the way he took up residence in my heart. He did in fact name our first child Melody!

How do I mark the times of my life? When I became a mom, music filled the days and provided an almost clock-like service. You would have usually been able to know the time of day in our home by the type of music playing. Quiet music to start the morning. Nursery music to sing to the babies during play time. Hymns and Bible songs on the piano after lunch while everyone settled down for a nap. Spirited Rocky/Eye of the Tiger style music blaring loudly for house-cleaning chores and Barry Manilow, Captain & Tenille or John Denver for "daddy's home" and dinnertime. After the kids were in bed, we might listen to some great harmony from the Beach Boys or the Sons of the Pioneers unless we were watching a movie.

How do I mark the times of my life? Movies and music are strongly linked since our other shared passion was movies especially old ones. And movies have some of the most beautiful music ever written. The love scenes and the drama all take on so much depth for me when scored by a beautiful or exciting melody. When I was updating Brad's memorial website this week I was struck by how much music I have lived and loved to that was composed by John Barry. In fact, the title of this blog is from one of his most romantic movie scores.

How do I mark the times of my life? I love it that the Creator of all things including time has seen fit to provide such a variety of beauty in this world. I know some who mark the times of their life by where they've lived, what jobs they've had, what world event was taking place, what vacation or trip they took or by what some other person was doing as part of their life whether their child, parent or spouse. For me, it is music. Every place I've lived, every job I've had, every significant event whether good or bad, is marked by the music of my life. Sometimes the music is linked to a movie, but always, there is music.

How do I mark the times of my life? One of the most poignant things about Brad's death and marking the times of my life with music is the knowledge that every new song that I hear now is not a shared song, not a shared memory being built with someone who also marked his life by music and by sharing that music with me. This has been a difficult adjustment, but yet, the music is still there and God uses it to comfort, bless, uplift and fill me with wonder and joy and even energy!

How do I mark the times of my life? Music, music, music! And someday I'll hear the heavenly hosts singing and then nothing else will matter! Thank you, God, for music!

So --How do you mark the times of your life?

Thursday, July 2, 2009

I would never...

This is the preamble for my blog site. If you know me, you already understand why I must have a preamble! There will not be anything here that smacks of precociousness related to blogging. I am a novice, and it will show.

There are some things you think you will never do. I have a little list mentally tucked away that starts with "I would never _________," and the blank gets filled in when some encounter, feeling or observation triggers my "I would never" thought process. One of the "I would never" list items has been, "I would never BLOG." Emphasis on the I and said, I suppose, with a mix of trepidation and superiority. I find I do this with things I'm unsure or uneasy about.

Here are some of my former "fill in the blank" thoughts about blogging:
I would never blog because____...
1) blogging forms a false sense of relationship
2) blogging is a self-centered activity
3) blogging is for people with important things to say and that's not me
3) blogging is a diversion from living life in the real world and that is dangerous
4) blogging is passe; everyone is doing it!

I have friends and family that blog. Over time I've learned from them what having a blog can mean. They have made friends, reached out with personal insights and wisdom, been lifted up in prayer by people they've never seen face-to-face and shared laughter and sorrow in this amazing online world. They've learned to be careful in how and what they share and how to pray for people that are obviously lonesome for some company. The bottom line is that perhaps because so many people are blogging, and I have seen the unusal potential in it, I have decided to join this online world too.

Not for one minute do I fool myself into thinking I have something monumental to say. I don't. If I'm being honest with myself, the reason I am here is because I want a spot, a little corner somewhere in time, that holds a portion of me. My friends and family will be able to step into this spot and connect to me even after I'm gone. I know it isn't the total me, the wholly real me, but that's alright. It's a part of me. Sometimes it is easier to put parts of ourselves in print than it is to be that open face to face. This is no doubt why people love to blog.

I am happy to be here.