I feel old and slow.

Today we bought two new pieces of electronic equipment. They are supposed to work together. The outcome will be shock and awe. I told Pat, just go to bed hon, I will read the manuals while I am sitting in the orthodontist's office tomorrow and figure it out.

Aging sucks!

Resolutions, Already? Part 2

Yesterday, I posted an introspective regarding Veronica.

Today, here’s the humorous part.

Standing in front of her casket, I was talking with a friend, telling how I had seen Veronica raking leaves in her front yard the day before she died. I was inquiring as to the details of her passing. (Reminder: sudden death, me in front of casket) I was told that in the evening she and her husband had gone to a Halloween party of which her costume was the most hilarious in attendance. When they got home, since the children were being cared for at a grandparent’s home, she decided to shampoo the carpets. *note my disgust for cleaning.* Shortly thereafter, her heart stops and she dies.

I blurt, “Well, that just shows that cleaning will kill you!” Immediately, my hand smacks over my mouth in horror. The friend tells me not to worry, Veronica would have thought it was hilarious. I sure hope so!

Resolutions, Already?

These past few days I have been thinking about people. Specifically, how the people I meet affect me and how I can learn from them. Before you click over to another, more interesting blog…

I want to tell you about a woman I knew that died unexpectedly at an early age. Her name was Veronica. Tonight I was talking about Veronica and that one of the things that was said at her funeral was that when she was talking to you, it was as if no one else existed. I experienced that with her. I wasn't a close friend by any means, but during the few conversations I had with her I was the center of her world while we were talking.

I was moved to immense levels of grief when she died. I barely knew her. However, on occasion, I had been the center of her universe. I knew I never would be again.

It is important that we treat each other with that same consideration. During the Christmas season, focusing on others should be the norm.

The most profound concept of this entire situation with Veronica is that her giving of herself always uplifted the recipient. It never uplifted or glorified her.

A goal. Something to attain to. Focusing on others.

Is it "New Year's Resolution" time yet? Why wait?

My confession

In an earlier blog, I had indicated that I was going to be coordinating the worship music for a women's retreat in January. After hiding the fact that I was diligently practicing and depending on a miracle, I decided to lead the music myself. This is a stretch for me, but over the past few weeks I have been practicing my guitar daily, building confidence, working at learning new songs, building confidence, conferring with a fellow worship leader, building confidence, and lo and behold, I am really thinking I can do this!

My dad is visiting with us for a few days. It was practice time for today. "Oh, Dad, did I tell you what I'm doing? -yes playing and singing in front of about 40 women. I am going to do my practicing in the room right here with you, ok? "

Then it started. The uncontrollable giggling. Not the funny ha-ha type giggling mind you, but the …Oh crap…What have I done!?...nervous…what's a guitar?...I'm dying here…giggling…

Uh, oh. I found out the hard way that public playing is going to take some actual practice. Perhaps if I invite my neighbors over under the auspices of signing up to join a pyramid scheme they won't be too offended to find out that they are actually being subjected to an impromptu concert! It will work! Yes, YES! I am sure it will!

Giveaway opportunity

Ryan over at "This Is Reverb" put up a post the other day about giving. The first part of his post featured a woman that is participating in the Giving is Awesome challenge for photographers to reach out and bless someone during this season of giving. I contacted the photographer that I worked for over the summer and he chose to participate too! Check it out. It is a great program.

To find out more about the program click here:Giving is Awesome

To go directly to my photographer friend's website click here: Aspen Photography…and for those of you that are following along, this is the website that I worked on putting up over the summer.

Christmas gift

Today my dad called and asked what I would like as a Christmas gift. Since I had just looked out my back window, it wasn't too hard to figure out what my answer would be.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind feeding the squirrels, but these four knuckleheads will have my feeder empty by this afternoon.

A squirrel proof feeder is high on my list this year.

Christmas memories (sans photos)

First, I am so impressed by any blogger that is able to put a post up on a daily basis. When my life turns to chaos, the first thing to go is my blog, well, first it's my sanity, and then it's my blog.

Last weekend, we put up the Christmas decorations and it was a rather sentimental time. I enjoyed getting out the decorations and remembering where they came from. It was also nice because the kids decorated the tree this year and that made me happy. While I was rummaging through all of the special items, I was thinking, “Ooh! I should blog about this!” I wanted to include fabulous pictures of all of the items, but I just can’t figure out how to get good depth of field going with my point and shoot camera.

Do you know what depth of field is? That’s where your subject is in focus and everything in the background is all blurry. Do you know why I so desperately want to take a picture with MAJOR depth of field? It’s so I can take a picture of the thing I want in focus, but then all of the crap that is sitting around it is out of focus so maybe you won’t notice all of the crap that is lying around.

So since just telling you about the items and not including pictures would be extremely lame, I decided to tell you a story that I remembered while digging through the Christmas boxes.

My friend decided she wasn’t going to get a Christmas tree one year. I can’t recall why she and her husband made this decision, but I was stunned! How could they not have a Christmas tree in their home! I bought the stuff to make and decorate a small artificial tree for her with lights and decorations. Then I took it to her house to put it together and set to work, all the while, just telling her it was a project I was working on for a friend. I got the whole thing finished and realized I had neglected to buy a topper for the tree. Excitedly, she told me she had just the thing, and ran downstairs to get a bow for the top of the tree. As we finished the tree and admired our work together, she asked, “Who is this tree for, anyway?”

“YOU!” I said.

Tears flowed.

The giving memories are just as fulfilling as the getting memories. I hope I will have an opportunity this season to surprise someone with a gift like I did that day.