Great Reunion in Heaven

Last night I was having trouble falling asleep and somehow got thinking about my grandparents who are gone now and other ancestors that I know only through family history research. I got thinking about whether or not we actually see these people again when we die and if we would all know each other. I finally fell asleep and kept dreaming about this. In my dream I met some of my ancestors. It was such a wonderful dream! I remember feeling so good. Then today, I found out that the mother of friends Becca and Bethanne passed away late last night. "Granny" was such a great person. She had lost her husband about a year ago. Again, it got me thinking about this great reunion in Heaven. I hope that Granny and her husband are together again. Based on my dream last night, I know they are. And, I know that someday, I'll see my grandparents again and tell them all about my kids and everything else that's happened since they left. I'll get to meet all those ancestors I've researched and tried to keep alive through documenting them and their stories. I don't necessarily want that day to come anytime soon but what a magical thought to look forward to someday - many, many, many years from now!

Thanks, Einstein

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." --A. Einstein

The Greatest Gifts

One thing I really dislike about Christmas is giving gifts for the sake of giving gifts. To me, the greatest gifts are when you find something you know someone is going to really love or you know it's something they really need. To me the best gifts are:

* Homemade gifts - Giving them and receiving them. When I was a kid, I used to make everyone a gift. I got so much joy out of that. I could hardly wait for them to open my homemade gifts. I wouldn't even care about opening my own presents. I have to admit, some of the gifts were gifts only a mother (or grandmother) could love! Today I gave my ski friends the scrapbooks I made. I was so excited to give them!

* Gifts from someone who really "gets you" - A few years ago, I had a friend, Allison, that I exchanged gifts with. We always got each other the fun, quirky, hobby-related gift that no one else would think of to get us but that we always loved.

* A gift that someone really needs - These days, when people need something, they just go out and buy it. That makes gift-giving even harder.

* A gift from someone you don't expect to get a gift from - To me, that means they really appreciate you for something or found something they just knew you'd love. For example, today I unexpectedly got an edible arrangement of flowers made of fruit from some facilitators on my team that I worked with a lot this year. They thanked me for all my hard work with them this year. Very special to me!

* A letter - A letter sharing a story, family history, a happy memory, feelings, etc. are wonderful gifts that mean so much. One year, a distant cousin shared a bunch of family history with me for Christmas. This year, Alex wrote his girlfriend a poem for Christmas. I didn't get to read it (too embarassing for him he said) but what a sweet thing for a 15 year old boy to do! I hope she loves it!

* A gift that makes a dream come true - See horse story below.

A Gift Horse

As usual, I'm not feeling the magic of Christmas this year. It all seems so rushed and contrived. More and more people aren't doing things like sending Christmas cards or decorating their houses. It seems to just be all about the shopping and feeling guilty cause we really can't afford to buy all that we are buying. But . . . one thing happened this past week that I hope results in magic for one little girl and if it does, I'll know that I had a part in making that magic happen. That will make me feel good!

Here's the story: I have a friend who has a horse she needs to find a new home for. I have another friend who is looking for a horse for his daughter. So, I let him know about it. It turns out he has already gotten a horse for his daughter but has another friend, Al (that I also know from college,)who is looking for a horse for his daughter. When I asked my friend with the horse what she wanted for it, she said her husband was willing to give it away if it went to a good, loving home. You can't beat that! So, I just heard that Al is very interested and is going to look at the horse. He's hoping it will be the right horse for his daughter and he can bring it to his place and surprise her on Christmas morning! I remember horse crazy friends I had as a child and know how excited they would've been for that kind of gift. I wish I could be there to see her face!

Word Magic

I think words can be fascinating - where they come from, what they mean, how they sound, "double-meanings" . . . The other day I experienced an interesting play on words. The Weight Watcher leader at work sent an email explaining that a new session starts in January and at that meeting you can join Weight Watchers or resign. I did a double take. I have to resign from Weight Watchers? Can I really?!! Then, I realized she meant - "re-sign" as in enroll again. It got me thinking about how it's sort of ironic that one word spelled the same can mean very different, almost opposite, things. I can "re-sign" or rejoin (a weight loss group) or I can "resign" as in "quit" (the weight loss group)or, I can resign myself or "give in to the inevitable" as another definition the dictionary gives. In other words, I can resign myself to a life of weight watching! Just a little word magic to liven up a dull dreary winter day.

Words I like because of how they sound: Serendipity, circuitous, juxtaposition, malaria, ironic, charisma, myriad, cello, clairvoyant, panorama, conundrum, phenomenal

The Magic of Gratitude

Yesterday, the nation took time out to officially give thanks. While Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, gratitude is magic we can find everyday. It's very easy to get
really caught up in everything that's wrong in our lives. However, I guarantee your outlook will change if you take time every day to list or think about three things you are greatful for. Even finding one thing can turn the day around. At this official "time out" for gratitude I am greatful, of course, for family, a home, a job, and health. But here are some other "off beat" things I am greatful for that have a tremendout impact on my well-being. I am greatful for:

1. My craft room and the opportunity to spend time being creative.
2. Having the opportunity in my life to have learned to do many different things that I can still enjoy - skiing, scrapbooking, playing the violin, writing
3. An understanding boss who is also a soccer mom
4. My Book Club
5. My yearly ski trip to look forward to
6. The fact that the worst thing we've had to deal with so far in having teenagers is a trip to court for a speeding ticket!
7. Kids with good grades and that care about their grades
8. The Internet -- that makes anything you need to know available within seconds, allows you to find and reconnect with old friends, hosts webcams that let you glimpse into another part of the world, provides ways to instantly communicate and share information, and so much more!
9. The fact that Dwight and I are in our mid/late 40s and still have all of our parents with us in relatively good health
10. Being able to leave my kids home alone and be able to trust them
11. Having a husband that cooks dinner since I hate to do that and helps out around the house

Lost and Found

I don't know if this is true for anyone else but when it comes to losing things I tend to lose things in "chunks." What I mean is, I can go for weeks and not have lost or be missing anything important and then all of a sudden I can't find a bunch of things. In the past week or so I've been stressing over losing Dwight's spare car key, a key to a desk drawer at work, an external comptuer drive at work (I think someone borrowed it and didn't replace it), and Mackenzie lost a video card from one of her teacher's cameras that she borrowed. It had important pictures on it. When I can't find important things I get all stressed out and tear apart things looking for them. Usually that is not effective, but I feel that I should be doing something. What I've learned, though, is that usually I find lost things when I'm not looking for them. They just seem to appear. This has been true this time as well. Yesterday, Alex found Dwight's keys in the backseat and I also realized what I had done with the desk key. Tonight I was looking for the video card for Mackenzie. I didn't really find it -- all of a sudden I looked and it was just lying there in front of me on the desk as I searched. I really don't know where it came from. I haven't found the external drive yet. So, I'll wait and bide my time. I feel confident it will turn up. I tend to find when I'm not looking. A good lesson for life in general!