#finding perspective

“We Are Our Choices”

Lately, I’ve been daydreaming about trading the noise and chaos of everyday life for the calm embrace of the countryside. There’s something about the simplicity of a rural setting that feels like medicine for the soul. A retreat like that wouldn’t just be about silence; it would be about reconnecting—with myself, with nature, and with the rhythm of life that often gets drowned out by deadlines…

“Self Referential”

Some of us here are fraying at the edges,

and I have been trapped

in my own head discussing things

I’ll start off with a man I met Sunday when videotaping people for a new “welcome to the church” video where I work.  His name is Ken and isn’t he cute in his cowboy shirt!  He always wears them and I thought it was awesome and told him “how very Johnny Cash he looked.”  Ken is close to his 90’s and do you want to know what the first thing he said to ME was? He scolded me for taking a bagel with white bread instead of whole grain.  ME, of all people that he’s never met before today was getting health advice from this seemingly old kooky man.  I laughed and told him he was absolutely right and that I have a big weakness when it comes to Asiago bagels but if it made him feel better I picked the humus to spread on it.  He laughed and I sat and talked with him for a while.  He told me he exercises 3 hours everyday.  He’s on a bowling league and he lives and he misses his wife everyday, who died 15 years ago.  He showed me her picture and I kid you not, the little mexican lady looked in her 40’s.  She was pushing 70 in that picture he had laminated in his wallet.  He told me his family gets tired of hearing him talk about her so I suggested he find others to talk about her with because really, it’s a love story for the ages.  I don’t know the whole story but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt he loved her. They worked together and spent everyday of their lives together and never fought.  They never had any children and in that same picture he pulled out they were both wearing “cowboy” type shirts… and he said he was Roy Rogers and she Dale Evans. Today he wears those shirts and remembers her and misses her and lives. Quite a perspective to gain I think.

Tuesday of this week I finally fed Pastor and Andre my famous french onion soup.  The only thing that went wrong is because the stoves are older they didn’t have a broiler and we didn’t heat the oven long enough.  So the cheese melted slowly and didn’t have that crust I wanted them to try so bad.  The only reason the soup lunch ever came up is when we were having a discussion about something or another Pastor mentioned he’d never had french onion better than when he was on his honeymoon.  I said “Oh ho ho I will give you that soup” and though I tried it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it.  But as you can see they both scarfed it down there in my office at the work table I turned into a picnic table.  While they ate and we talked, (because it was election day) the subject I abhor came up, politics.  These two men are both political science majors and involved in the political aspect to a much bigger degree than me.  Yet not one argument or sway or judgement was cast my way.  We had the nicest most honest conversation about politics I’ve ever had, my feelings were respected and I even learned more and found myself actually interested a little in politics. Quite a perspective to gain I think, too.

In between all these other perspectives my friend Sharon begged me to come over to play football with her son.  I was kind of putting it off and half- hearted about it but by the time I’d left her home I was once again changed uplifted and enlightened.  We not only had a great time (and I actually like playing football I found out and cannot wait to play more with him) but she fed me this awesome dinner and sent me home with another bag of goodies. To look back and think I might have blown it off because I was tired, well, it’s quite a perspective, huh?

I hadn’t had a burger in forever

My friend, my sister

The world is again opening up and change is happening to me and its all so overwhelming sometimes, but yet I rise to meet the new challenges before me while still gaining, absorbing and growing from every experience and person I meet and take time to get to know better.  So don’t be afraid to open yourself up to some new perspectives either because the world has so much to give you if you let it.

Happy Thursday! Love, encouragement and blessings,

Laura