Talent!!!

This morning my friend's status on Facebook read, "I feel like moping...and pouting...I'm not sure why...I just do...coffee time!!!" My response, "I AM moping today! My servant bank account is closed...I have nothing left to give! I'm sitting on my a$$ (yep, I wrote that) reading magazines until 3pm, when I'll have to reopen!" I tried the coffee, a whole pot, but it didn't change my attitude. In fact, it sent me to the bathroom over and over again, only to confront the toothpaste splatter all over the mirror...and the never-ending cleaning which is causing me to mope in the first place! After my pot of coffee, I took a nap (a bit worrisome being I had just consumed how many ml's of caffeine?), then I turned on the Travel Channel and learned Reno has an Italian Festival every year...really? I did not turn on the Travel Channel to hear about RENO! As I flipped through the channels "Say Yes to the Dress" was running it's Top Ten Moments. Oh my goodness! If only my biggest problem was whether my $10,000 DRESS fit me perfectly...I don't know if my whole WEDDING cost $10,000!!! Get a life girls! When you're running kids everywhere and that dress is boxed up in the attic you'll realize just how important it was! I decided I wasn't learning anything useful by watching TV.

A couple of weeks ago my mother-in-law came for a visit. I LOVE her, she wants nothing but the best for her children and grandchildren and she's wise!!! She also has an incredible knack for reading people and offering advice without sounding preachy! I'm not sure if it's because summer was coming to an end or if the dark circles and exhaustion gave me away, but she could obviously see that I'm in desperate need of a recharge. We sat talking and she pointed out the obvious fact that I am not using my creativity in any shape or form and that maybe I should find an outlet for it. In a nutshell, "you are very talented, but you're turning into the Wicked Witch of the West because you're not fulfilling your purpose." Now don't get me wrong, I am very grateful I have been able to stay home with my children, but really, who dreams of being a taxi cab driver or a maid? I used to paint and redecorate my house, draw up plans for the perfect kitchen, plant roses and boxwood, now I just plant myself on the couch and look around at all the things I want to change, but it's not my call in this rental. My husband always thought I was crazy for constantly changing things, now I really am going crazy because I can't. So mother's know best...I need to use my talent!

Doing this is much easier said than done. I don't even know where to start. I've signed up for the Art Docent program at my kid's school. This is a parent sponsored program to teach kids about art history and art mediums and then help them make their own masterpieces using the same techniques as Van Gogh, Seurat, Warhol, etc. While I'm very excited to share my knowledge, I'm also certain teaching is not my purpose, how am I supposed to teach 30 kids something when my own 3 don't even listen to me?? So ironically, after being told last week by a few friends and family members, the very same thing my mother-in-law told me two weeks ago...do I really look THAT defeated...I've realized I need to pray specifically for God to lead me to the door I need to go through. My overworked brain can't process my own thoughts!

Sunday I went to Chapel with my cousin's family and all of the other families with a Freshman at William Jessup University. The keynote speaker lectured the new students about finding your purpose, using the talent on loan you've been given by God. Um, I'm certainly way past being a Freshman in college but I'm sure if I'd had a mirror present, a spotlight would have been shining down on me!!! "In order for this technology driven world to change, it needs people with creativity and critical thinking skills, people with communication skills, not texting skills!" She showed us a video about a man who is contributing to the world...and it all started with a simple idea and creativity. This "sole man" is Blake Mycoskie, the creator of TOMS shoes. I'd seen him before and admired his passion and purpose but this time something stirred within me....I wanted to drive to the Galleria and plop down $200 to buy my family some "not so cute shoes" to support his mission. I haven't made it there, YET!

Tuesday it was HOT, Africa hot, as I was walking to my mailbox. My poor dog was lifting his paws trying to avoid touching the pavement...I thought of the children in Africa and other countries that have never had shoes...until TOMS came along. I swear on my life, I opened the mailbox, and there on the cover of my "Costco Connection"...Blake Mycoskie. Weird. It's gets weirder. Thursday night I plunked myself down at swim practice and opened up my new Coastal Living magazine...whose "can't live withouts" are they profiling...none other than Blake's! So I've had three encounters with Blake Mycoskie this week...he's HOT, loves to travel, loves the ocean and drinks Pacifico beer...but I'm thinking it's more than our common interests drawing me in! So what is it? I'm not sure, but I must be receiving "Godwinks." Do I have a simple idea hidden within me that could change someones world? Something creative which is just below the surface and my murky mind is clouding the water? I'm like Sandy in "Grease", while she's singing Hopelessly Devoted. I can see my reflection in the water, but Danny is not causing the ripples, it's soccer, swimming, and this house. I need to be still so the water can clear.

So while I deemed this day totally unproductive, it really hasn't been. This is the first time I have written in two months. My kids are all home from school and I haven't raised my voice once. I even remembered to take meat out of the freezer...this morning! Maybe I'll hit the Galleria and pick up those TOMS...and then maybe I'll fancy them up and sell them for $200 a pair... to those crazy girls to wear with their $10,000 wedding dresses!!!

Summer Lovin'

As an adult, I've always liked Summer, until this year...now I'm lovin' it! I feel like a kid again! Oh, how I've missed those carefree days of wrapping a beach towel around my neck, hopping on my bike and spending the entire day at the Swim Club eating Charleston Chews, Laffy Taffy, making "retainers" out of Jolly Ranchers Fire Stix and drinking grape Shasta!!! Life was so simple then!

My friends and I spent our entire days at the pool, from 9am swim practice on. Our skin was bronzed, our hair was green, our fingers and toes shriveled white!!! The only thing we were annoyed by during those days was the "adult swim" called each hour. My girlfriends and I would spread out our towels in anticipation of Adonis, a.k.a Dennis B., walking through the gate so we could terrorize him for the rest of the day...I think we all had our first crush on him! It makes me giggle thinking back ...silly, silly girls! The day would end and we'd go home to bed ready to do it all again the next day. Sadly, our swim club has now been replaced with a BART station and I would be in a coma if I consumed the amount of sugar I did then, but the memories live on!

Since Matt and I have had children, we've always had a pool in our backyard and it's been filled with kids of all ages laughing and having a great time...memories I hold dear to my heart. This summer we have a pool for our whole community and along with it, new memories and reminiscing about years gone by! We walk to the pool almost daily with bags of snacks and drinks to share with friends. I actually enjoy sitting and socializing or reading instead of looking around at all the plants I need to prune! Sharks and Minnows, Marco Polo, kids running from table to table inhaling snacks. I watch my twelve year old daughter and all of her friends, hoping they are not waiting for Adonis to walk through the gate! Life is simple again.

I have deemed this summer unproductive. I tell the kids we'll stay at the pool for a couple of hours and it never happens...it turns into an all day affair...and that's okay, I've learned that no agenda means no stress! In the evening they climb out of the pool with shriveled toes and fingers, bronzed skin, wrap their towels around their necks and walk home. They're usually passed out from exhaustion by 9pm and I've realized my mom was smarter than I thought!!!

I hope you all enjoy your summer and the freedom and memories it brings! Take the time to dip your toes in the water, read a good book or just do NOTHING...oh ya, don't forget your sunblock!

"LAUGH"

~Laughter is an instant vacation. ~Milton Berle

~What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~Yiddish Proverb


Hands down, or in the air, or holding my sides...laughing is my favorite thing to do! Laughter is a universal language; no one needs Rosetta Stone to understand it. I'll take it anyway I can get it, watching giggling girls chicken fight in the pool, listening to my son crack up in the darkness of a movie theater, the perfect delivery of sarcasm...I'm not picky. Sometimes just hearing a person laugh makes me chuckle! One of my BFF's owns a laugh that can be heard from a distance, a long distance. Once, while on vacation, I was off on one side of the resort when all of a sudden I heard a burst of familiar laughter...from the pool. I could not stop cracking up! She did not believe me at first but it's now become our own little joke...I'm like a dolphin with echolocation, I can find that girl anywhere! This past week I was supposed to get together with "the girls" for a Sex and the City birthday celebration. I'd spent the whole day preparing for it and then had to cancel because the weather was so bad...I was so mad! I wasn't mad about missing the movie, I've never even seen SATC...I was mad because I was going to miss all of the laughing and these girls never disappoint!!! Whenever we get together waterproof mascara is a must. I was looking forward to having well-defined abdominals the next day...at least until my first meal. I am a lucky girl to be blessed with so many friends whom have a gift of "the giggles." Laughter can make an awkward moment bearable, it can turn tears of sorrow into tears of joy, it can lighten a heavy load. It truly is the best medicine. Really, it gives you an endorphin rush! So if you're feeling down, call a friend for a good laugh, pop in a funny, senseless movie like Dumb & Dumber or look in the mirror and laugh with yourself...it's probably what gave you all those little lines to begin with!

~Seven days without laughter makes one weak. ~Mort Walker

~“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” Mark Twain

"LOVE"

I love many things...the sun, which I miss dearly, "Oh, Mr. Sun I am anxiously awaiting your warmth & splendor and you have seriously let me down this year."

I love my friends...their passions inspire me and their ability to make me laugh is my sanity!

I love my family...I could write a book and people would think it was fiction, but it wouldn't be!

I love my husband...for having a dream and never giving up on it and now watching it become reality.

I love that God has a plan for me...and the fact that all of the ups & downs are, in the end, blessings to make me stronger.

But my greatest love lies within the hearts of three...my children. I love so many things about them, and they each have their own little quirkiness I adore. I have seen them grow so much in the past six months and the thing I love the most is their confidence! My kids have always been confident, but the security I see within them now is different. It is a confidence that comes from facing challenges and conquering them on your own, by making your own choices, applying learned knowledge and witnessing answered prayer.

Amazing love is...watching your 6th grader be true to herself and not falling to the pressures of a world pushing her to grow up so fast. Seeing my 10 year old embrace a sport and feeling the power her body possesses. And my baby...too tall to cradle in my lap, but a hand that fits within my hands as he sleeps...no longer crying when daddy travels but becoming the "man of the house" in charge of taking care of mommy and his sisters. I am a proud momma.

"LIVE"

When you think about "living" what comes to mind? Health? Your lifestyle? Worship? I immediately think of all three. When we are connected in mind, body & soul we truly feel what it means to LIVE!!! Sometimes we tend to become so comfortable with our lives that we forget what it is to live. If our hearts are not feeling joy it's probably because we're blocking one of its three lifelines.

A year ago I was on life support...in need of a triple bypass! I stopped going to the gym...but continued my quest to find pizza just like I had experienced in Italy! My lifestyle came to a screeching halt and I felt overwhelmed having to make so many changes so quickly. I was also not being fed spiritually in some areas...I wanted the Rock-n-Roll worship with the deeper message, but could never seem to get them simultaneously. It was time for a change. Thankfully I am not afraid of change; I believe in the Nike theory...Just Do It!!! Change is liberating, freeing...an adventure! When one door closes another one opens, we just have to muster the courage to walk through it, not only glance in as we pass it by.

In the year since I began that uphill climb I have finally reached the top...I am LIVING again!!! I'm back in the gym 5 days a week...a harsh reality that after 40 you don't just whip right back into shape anymore...but I plug away with the mindset that my heart and sanity are more important than a bikini (well, I'm still convincing myself of this)! I now see my lifestyle change as a blessing and the things that are truly important have come back into focus. Most importantly, I'm experiencing the rockin' worship and thought provoking message together again...and I am on fire!!!

I am certainly nowhere near perfect, I still have my good and bad days. Maybe the most important lesson I've learned is there is no such thing as perfect...you'll just kill yourself trying to achieve it! Balance is the ultimate goal. Live with an open mind, Love with all your heart & Laugh daily, deep down in your soul!