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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Thanks again.

Homemade chicken noodles soup and chocolate mousse cake in the same day.

Orange, scarlet, and purple leaves.

Getting the very last parking spot with in a three block radius.

Holding hands with Jelly Beans.

Two working toilets.

Watching my six year old Rapunzel leap with wild graceful abandon in ballet.

Coming home to an empty kitchen trash can.

Hearing, "I love you to the moon and back, forever and ever and always." four times.

Front row seats to the retelling of "the best soccer game yet".

Being here to pick up the pieces when She needed me to.

Getting to bed 20 minutes earlier than yesterday.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Finding Joy, Day 1

It felt great to get out and have a run today.  I didn't realize how much I relied on and missed my morning therapy.  I just wish it just hadn't taken me three weeks to realize this. For exactly 30 minutes, I can think about one thing at a time.  Today it was not flying off the back of the treadmill  but that is another story. Let's just say adrenaline and endorphins...I get it. I definitely have a early morning date with the treadmill Wednesday morning minus any more snafus. 

Thankful thing number two...I had the gym to myself this morning unaccompanied by any witnesses to aforementioned treadmill shame.

School went more or less today.  Mondays are hard days.  I am not sure if it is the weekend business or the fact that it was the same darkness all day long that kept us all in hibernation mode and felt the need to take everything at the pace of a sloth but that is how today went.  Silver lining, I had the chance to talk with Bananas one on one about the "bear's" in her life that she might face and how she will react to them.  Thanks, Big Red.  I love when a book inspires my family to do better, grow better, and love better. 

My poor neighbors are making the sacrifice of a life time in their golden years to help out one of their family members and had to say goodbye to their doggy companions of over a decade.  It was distressing to see their tear stained cheeks coming in from their morning and last walk with their sweet dogs.  I have had to do some hard things, as we all do in life, but this one really resonated with me, the pure sacrifice and willingness to do good at ones own expense.  The best I could do to show that I understood them, loved them, and hoped the best for their comfort was to take a warm, fresh loaf of homemade bread, hot from the oven over to warm their souls.  I hope that it helped. 

Something to ponder.  My oldest daughter posed a good question today during family scripture study.  We are reading in 3 Nephi 9, Christ's visit to the Americas right after his resurrection.  We have been having long talks about what it would have been like, what we would have been doing, would we have listened, and so on.  So she has had some serious questions for us about how we are doing things now and I am proud of her for seeking and not just following.  But her question tonight, although something that a "seasoned" member might pass over, was, what does it mean to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit?  I love how the gospel is always new in the eyes of children.  I am always amazed how much they teach me, and how quickly I forget that they are here to teach me probably more than I could ever teach them about love and life and priorities.  So I will be thinking about this this week, do I have a broken heart and contrite spirit?