A Getaway Day

Sullivan's Island was hot and crowded today, just like summer.

Storming

The air was still as the sky grayed early this evening. Now the wet asphalt of our circle shines under the streetlight, and rumbles of thunder bounce around in the heavens.

When my children were little, I became hyper-alert as storms approached. Where are all the boys? Any bikes left outside? Is it raining in the windows? But now with less to concern me, storms are welcome and peaceful. I think most people enjoy storms, at least the brief ones we get with warmer weather. Maybe it is the majestic power of something greater than ourselves, a touch of suspense, or that distant potential for danger. Maybe it is knowing that the world will be a little cleaner and fresher when it ends. Or is it the regular tapping of soft rain on the roof that makes us want to curl up under the covers. Mother Nature is usually very good to us.

A Good Old Adage

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.

I enjoy reading biographies and hearing about individual lives. Each story is different though the same themes run through each of them. Many people have succeeded in spite of early adversity, or is it because of early adversity they have succeeded? I have noticed that when we humans have it too easy growing up, we often unwittingly create our own adversity. From there we can avoid living or else eventually take on the challenge of living. We can give up or grow up. We can sink or swim. Learning how to cope is invaluable, and we cannot do it without successfully making our way through our tough times. One way or another, it is important to develop the strength and skill needed to navigate through life’s rough waters.

A Must Do for Spring

Spring, Spring, beautiful spring. Aside from the pollen, what is not to love about? Each spring gives a chance for renewal. It is refreshing and invigorating.
Today I put four tomato plants in my garden, and I hope it is not too soon since spring came early this year. We Southerners think there is nothing better than a home grown summertime tomato and often go to great lengths to get them. When I consider the bags of soil amendments, the stakes, my cool new garden gloves, and the overpriced plants, I realize I have a pretty expensive garden spot. But it will be worth it in entertainment value alone. For many weeks I will be watching in awe as each little plant grows, and I will have fun nurturing them along until they are big enough to reward me with their goodness.

The Day of Resurrection

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him. Behold, I have told you."

Matthew 28: 5 - 7

I love Easter eggs.

A Spring in My Step

For the past few weeks I have had some problems with my upper left leg. My massage therapist has said I have iliotibial something or other, and from the chiropractor I have heard piriformis and glute max. Anyway, it's a muscular problem and I am slowly feeling better. These shoes have been helping, too. Maybe it was about ten years ago when I had my second bout of plantar fasciitis, and the pain was altering my life in a bad way. I learned about these strange looking shoes that reduce the impact on your body when you walk, drove to Columbia to the nearest Z Coil store, and paid $200 for a pair. They helped greatly! I dug them out this week, and I can say they are worth all the funny looks and questions I got.

Pretty Purple Plants

Out in the yard, a few pretty things are growing. The ajuga that a co-worker gave me last year is spreading and flowering. And apparently I have not lost my irises after all, thank goodness. I think they are all so elegant.

Keepin' on keepin' on

This week I am working in the Day Program - as opposed to inpatient treatment - at my hospital. When I am there, I always learn. Today I recognized that the types of little expressions I use to pump myself up when needed are far too simplistic and cheerful for people who have had horrid lives. Next, the fact that I believe a hospital is reduced to its lowest common denominator was validated when we were run out our office by the guy who had to clean and wax the floor right then and there during the busiest time of the day, disrupting everything. And I talked to the friendly chaplain about how he conducts some of his groups. Since I had never attended, I had wondered... Today, after sizing up the group, he got them to identify and talk about what enriches their souls. He also educated me on “spiritual disciplines,” old practices that are new info for me. Hopefully someone learned something from me as well.

Conceding

You may have seen the obit last month on the Encyclopedia Britannica, the printed edition. How sad the passing. Over the past two and a half centuries, it has satisfied many curious minds and finished the quest for diligent students on fact finding missions. Now it has gone the way of the dinosaur, the dodo, and Collier's Encyclopedia, which happened to be the set in my childhood home. How I loved to read and read about the world in the slick pages of those books. But in the twenty-first century I haven't looked up so much as a biography in an encyclopedic missive, and I suppose most of us haven't. In spite of the often aggravating "side effects" of the electronic word, we seem to rely on it almost exclusively, rejecting the need for the big, knowledge filled books. May the grand old Encyclopedia Britannica rest in peace knowing it served humanity well.

Singing

This evening our choir will be singing the wonderful oratorio that includes "Kings of the Earth," which I know by heart because I have been blasting it in my car for the past few months, singing along to the whole thing. I don't believe I am hurting the choir as I can stay on tune and follow instructions, and I love being a part of the powerful message delivered to the audience, but I am mostly singing, or trying to, because it is so much fun. Singing also must be good for a person's health and fitness. I sang in the chorus in high school and thought the discipline of breathing properly was really good for tightening my abdominal muscles, making me look better in the straight skirts we wore back then. Now I can see it is a good way to increase my breathing capacity, exercising the lungs. I think singing is also happiness producing, like laughter. Who can be sad or cranky when she is singing?