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About 6 years ago, Josef and I had an experience that has stayed with us and probably always will.
We took a course in CPR together at Boston’s Red Cross headquarters. Our instructor was a really neat guy called Alejandro, “But please call me Alex!”
Alex led us through the various exercises we needed to master in order to pass our exam. Without fail, every example seemed to involve choking, and Alex really seemed to enjoy the moment where he would explain the object on which the “victim” was “choking.”
“You have come upon the victim, who is on the floor in the restaurant. He is turning blue and is making this sign.”
Here, Alex gives the universal choking sign.
“He was eating,” Alex pauses somewhat dramatically to figure out what food item to name.
“A burrito.”
Then he’d lead us through the exercise.
Time and time again, he set up the exercise, eventually getting to the same part:
“She was eating,” (pause for thought) “a burrito.”
Josef and I, loopy from having been in class for upwards of three hours at this point – and this was day one! – could hardly contain ourselves. It became a new joke for us to say that one liner brought to us by Alex.
Fast forward 5 years. I am working at a school (where I still work today). My colleague comes into work and tells an amazing story about her son, a senior that year, saving someone’s life at a local Mexican restaurant. Turns out the guy whose life he saved had been choking. The victim, I kid you not, was eating…
A burrito.
Suffice to say choking is not funny and it’s wonderful that my colleague’s son was able to save his life, but a burrito? Those things are clearly dangerous!
Something amazing has been going on in my little world since I posted last. I wrote about seeking contentment and gratitude. It seems that I’m not the only one with the need to explore these topics.
At school, I’m an adviser for a few Bible studies that meet before school (they are student lead, but they require an adult figure in the room). At church, I’m in a young adult women’s Bible study and I’m a youth adviser, too. Guess what topic has come up at each of these meetings? Being content and being grateful for our many gifts and blessings.
At our women’s Bible study, we talked about the things we put trust in other than God (false strongholds), and how we know they are false when we figure out that they don’t bring contentment!
From listing the things for which we’re grateful to learning not to covet things that aren’t yours by actually being happy with what you have, the student leaders of the Bible studies I oversee have certainly been experiencing some similar feeling in relation to gratitude and being content.
Last night at youth group, under the topic of community building (my favorite!) we discussed the passage from I Corinthians chapter 12 in which Paul describes the body of Christ needing all of its parts to work together, and we celebrated our individual gifts and spent some time contemplating gratitude for the people who enabled us to act on our interests and grow them.
Wow. I feel like I’ve been hit over the head with this pairing of topics spiritually- and mentally-speaking.
Why talk about contentment and gratitude now? Why not at Thanksgiving?
I guess it has to do with the beginning of the school year as well as the ending of the summer. We all just find ourselves busy busy busy all of a sudden, and that sets us up for a lot of complaining. Where is the laid back person I was two months ago? Why is everyone so busy now? Why don’t I have time to do things I enjoy? I think we’re all asking these questions.
Fortunately, we can self-regulate and call a time-out. Other times, our loved ones call time-out for us. The proverbial Stopping to Smell the Roses is a necessary balancing step when we’re headlong into a certain crash. I aim to look at the world not only for what it could be, but also for the good that is already here.
Oh, that would be me. See, everytime I go to North Carolina, which happens a lot given our family and friend ties, I want to move there, post haste.
This past weekend has yet again elicited this response in my mind.
What is wrong with me? Don’t I see how great I have it here?
Lately, when I see my Atlanta friends, they all seem to gush about how long it’s been since they’ve seen me, which is odd because I feel like time is going so quickly these days that surely it was two days ago since I saw these same friends. It’s only until I consult the calendar that I understand it actually has been weeks since Josef’s party and months since we’ve been to church in a regular capacity. I missed Octave rehearsal last week, but that actually does feel like a long time ago. Weird.
Back to North Carolina and how wonderful it is. Part of my desire to live there is that we always go there to relax – vacation, in other words. Do I really think if I worked there I would feel like I was on vacation? Doubtful. Also, western NC is very close to my family, at least, most of them. One sister and her family is still 4+ hours from the Asheville area where we see ourselves living eventually, but that’s a bit closer than 5 or 6 hours. I just love the mountains and seeing gorgeous surroundings in every direction. I mean, Atlanta’s pretty, too, but I just feel so differently about it.
I guess what I really seek is contentment, which I know is the hardest thing to come by in this life. It’s so easy to say to myself that I am not going to worry about money, where we live, what we do with our time, but it’s not easy to be happy when my mind seems to have been left in another state 3 hours away. On the other end of the spectrum, I need to take my friends seriously when they say they haven’t seen me in a while and figure out what’s been keeping us apart – and pay attention to when it happens again! It’s counter intuitive that finding contentment is neither sitting on the couch so I can be at the ready nor keeping busy at trying to achieve happiness and fulfillment.
So, in an effort to set my mind on a more positive track, I am listing the things for which I am grateful this morning:
- My husband. I adore him already, but we had a great weekend together (and with friends from the playa.info board!!) AND he rocks big time because he helps me out by doing really sweet things. Last night, for instance, he went and got gas in both of our cars. I had tried unsuccessfully to get gas in my car yesterday – twice – and was beyond frustrated when I called him to say I was tired of people being mean to me and others over this gas shortage. He’s a total sweetie and I love him for taking good care of me. I enjoy taking care of him, too!
- I work in a really, really great place.
- I have really awesome friends. And a lot of them, too. I am blessed with lots of different kinds of friends in my life. “A friend is a gift you give yourself.”
- Our house. It’s ours, it’s cute, we enjoy it.
- Our dog. I missed him over the weekend! It was great to see him again yesterday!
- I’m generally healthy. I’m generally in shape, too.
- The girls I coach in cheerleading are really hard working and willing to start practice early and stay late. One of them told me last week that thinking about getting to go to cheerleading practice helps her get through the day. How awesome is that?
- I can sing, and sing with others! I really enjoyed making music with people I’d just met over the weekend, some of whom we also singers, and others were guitarist, impromptu percussionists, etc.! As much as people might compliment me for my voice, I consider it a gift to share with others, not something to be used to garner praise for myself. I love singing with others (whether they are singing or playing instruments) more than anything.
- My family. They should not be this far down on the list, but I do love them all immensely and am grateful for their roles in shaping my life. I wish I saw them more often. Maybe that will be my goal in the new year. I really love that my sisters and brothers-in-law and some of our cousins are on Facebook now.
- My faith. Though the path wanders a bit and I question a lot, I know it’s backbone of my being and I benefit greatly from viewing the world with my faithful eyes. There’s no room for judgment, hatred, anger, or any other negative when I really look through these lenses. Even though I sometimes wonder what the point of life is, why do we just keep going if there’s all this bad stuff in the world, if I stop and remember that I am a child of God and that everyone else is, too, then I know I can treat myself and others with the special kindness and consideration to which we all have a right. That really helps me center myself in positivity.
I’d like to give a shout out to my friends Jenn and Emily who both have awesome blogs you should read!
I auditioned for a show two Saturdays ago. It was the first time in many years that I had auditioned for anything. The last time I auditioned was for Octave, and I got in, so I’m all set with regard to being done auditioning for singing groups.
I still haven’t heard anything about the cast list. I scour the web site for the company every day at least three times in hopes that it will be posted. I have received no emails. I sent the adminstrative guy one of those emails, you know, where you try not to be annoying, but you actually are. I can imagine him giving me a high pitched nasally voice as he read my inquiry as to whether or not the show had been cast yet. I sent this email only after I stopped able to restrain myself from writing. It’s fine if they’ve made up their minds that they don’t want me, and it’s also fine if they do want me but want to wait a while to tell me. I just don’t deal well with unknown timeframes. I also keep finding out about other stuff I could be doing while this show goes into production (not that I have an inkling what the rehearsal schedule would even be like). I also have realized why I never pursued acting. It’s just too unpredictable. Plus, my confidence level is too easily influenced by things, such as not knowing when or if I’ll ever hear from these people. All this nonsense makes me turn inward, which I HATE.
Luckily, I have plenty of things on my plate to occupy my mind and my visual field: Coaching practices and games, three Bible studies, joining the Diversity Coordinators in the junior high, church youth group, church young women’s Bible study, Octave rehearsals and performances, send-off dinner for friends moving to Belgium, meeting a friend’s new baby boy, planning for upcoming weekend trips to NC and northern Georgia, potluck and the first Presidential debate, keeping the house clean, a huge bump on my ankle from an entire fire ant colony attacking me this past weekend, etc. Yeah, September is crazy enough – fortunately, mostly good! – but I still want to know if I got into the show so I can stop holding my breath about it. Or catch my breath. I am not sure which, at this point.
Cavity-free!
Cavity Free!
I do not advocate for such reckless behavior as not going to the dentist for 5 years, but I guess I have my grandmother Alice to thank for such good dental genes. When she passed away at 88 years old, she still had all of her teeth, with no fillings or crowns or whatnot.
I don’t have an excuse for not going to the dentist. I’ve never been afraid of the dentist, having grown up going to see Dr. Thorne for my first 18 years, every 6 months like clockwork. I’d also like to thank the public education system for making me swish with fluoride every month I was in elementary school.
I was convinced that I would have ten or so cavities when the x-rays were revealed. The fact that I didn’t have a single one is quite baffling, and those the dentist office did not once commend me for taking such good care of my own teeth for 5 years. There was a lot of “Yeah, but you still need to come in” thrown my way. Maybe they felt threatened. Secretly, I think they went home and told their families of the wonder they witnessed today. (Don’t worry, I am not letting it get to my head. I have already scheduled my 6 month cleaning, because, let me reiterate, I am not scared of the dentist office).
Confession: I’ve had one cavity, and that was in a baby tooth, and I don’t remember which tooth it was, if I was due to pull it out shortly thereafter, or what. So my record is a little blemished.
Even though my teeth are in great health, I am not going to start doing daredevil feats of strength to prove their strength, like bending coins with my teeth or towing cars. No, I’ll still be my paranoid self, wondering, upon waking in the middle of the night, if I brushed my teeth, and if I am not sure, I’ll go brush. I actually find tooth brushing therapeutic. I brush for waaaay past the 2 minute rule as a result.
Enough with the gloating. I am just amazed and relieved that nothing was required of the dentist other than reviewing the x-rays and then getting a thorough cleaning. I have some exposed dentin in some places, but they put varnish on those spots and told me to brush a little more lightly. I just plunked out money for new tires for my car, so I was worried that the dentist would be costing me even more money this week. Luck was on my side (or the benefits of keeping my mouth clean helped me out).
In other exciting news, I am auditioning for a play tomorrow for the first time in 5 years! Whooo! I have my resume 99% ready, my headshots ready to print, a well-rehearsed song and its sheet music, an outfit picked out, I know where the place is that I am going, etc. If I can sleep tonight and continue to stay hydrated and healthy, I should be good to go!
Here’s my headshot:
I had quite a few options, but this is the shot I secretly liked best. For further assistance, I asked for opinions on facebook and got the overwhelming majority of friends who voted for this one, too. I’ll post how it goes tomorrow! And let you know if I get cast!
We’d live wherever we’d feel like at the time.
Octave performed at the Grant Park Summer Shade festival over the weekend. It was fun, but of course it was so frickin’ hot outside. We sure were sweaty when we were through.
Afterward, my husband and I were invited to cookout in nearby Edgewood.
Okay, so we love our house and our neighborhood, and our lives as we know them, but there’s something so appealing about the Grant Park/Edgewood/Kirkwood/Inman Park/East Atlanta area. Yes, they are separate neighborhoods, but they’re in close proximity to one another. And they’re all adorable.
We also love Decatur.
I bet we like other neighborhoods and don’t even know it. We haven’t met them yet.
Oh, add Virginia Highlands to that list. It, too, is stinkin’ cute.
We also love Boston. And Asheville. And Playa del Carmen. I bet we’ll like Germany and Belgium next year. I secretly dream of living in Florida, close to the water, but I am far too practical (right now, anyway) to live near hurricane-prone places. Not that we’re all that safe from hurricanes in Atlanta, but we do have a bit of a buffer.
Our daydreamy selves are like a couple of tethered balloons, floating toward other spots to potentially call home, but not quite picking up our roots and moving somewhere else, because, as it turns out, home is awesome. We love our house, our neighborhood’s own charms, and our many wonderful neighbors.
