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Published: August 15th 2006
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Room to Spare?
Joshua's new Home away from Home Now that we have the dropping off done, we are under control and ready for the next step. Joshua is settling in his new home for the next 4 - 6 - 8 years …. (Yikes!). As you can see there isn't much space. Anthony, being the handy man that he is, has built some shelving that we are taking down this weekend for the guys to have at least some way of organizing their mess. I was stunned they wouldn't let me color coordinate their clothes or alphabetize their CD's, but maybe this will at least get it off the floor! IMAGINE that! I just hope the guys appreciate it.
Our house however, is quiet … quiet and messy … not just messy .. I'd say it was a wreck! But that is fine with me as it leaves me little space to clean …. Not that I would really do much cleaning anyway .. but at least now I have more reason NOT to do it. Betty Crocker I am not!
This whole separation thing has given me pause to think about how I have used my time with Joshua and I can honestly say I have
Sister Weekend 2006
Sonia, Shasta, Tammy, Tonya very few regrets. Which brings me to the thought I wanted to share with ya'll today and a challenge to all of you.
It is human nature to think of all the "wish I coulds" when we no longer have the opportunity to do them. We have GOT to learn to only spend our energy on things we CAN control. If you can't control it … let it go and spend that energy on something you do have control over. For example: you do not have control over the weather … so if you are in an airport, or in traffic and there is a delay due to weather … working yourself into a tizzy because the weather is causing delays does you no good except to raise your blood pressure and cause you to kick the dog (or the kids, or the wife, or the hubby) when you finally get home. Nor do we have the magical ability to blink our eyes like Jeanie and squeeze ourselves into size 4 jeans (except those few of you who have 100% metabolism running through your veins - you know who you are!), have Christie Brinkley teeth, Farrah Fawcett hair, and legs 10 feet long. So we just have to get use to the fact that our hair frizzes when it rains, wrinkles are NOT going to go away if you constantly stair at the ceiling to allow gravity to pull your skin backwards, and I will ALWAYS have to cut at least 4 inches off of every garment I buy to keep from tripping over it dragging the floor. What you do have control over is YOU. SOOOO … now that we have that in check … you can choose to do something for or with someone here and now so you don't say when they are gone "I wish I could …. ".
My sisters and I for years kept saying we were going to get together and go somewhere, ONE DAY. When the kids were bigger; when work wasn't so hectic; when the weather was warmer. Well, 7 years ago we decided we weren't going to wait for all those things to happen at once because in our wise 'young' age we knew if we waited for the perfect time we wouldn't go.
We take one weekend a year … now think about that … there are 365 days in a year … a weekend for this purpose is 3 days … there are 8,760 hours in a year . 5,840 are spent working and sleeping, leaving 2,920 for other activities. One weekend a year would be a little over 2 percent of that time left after work and sleep. 2%!!!! And if you look at it in the context of the entire year it is only .008% of your time. I don't think that is too much of us to allow ourselves to keep those relationships close. After all we sleep 33% of the time!!!
We each take turns deciding where we will go during the year. The other three sit back and relax for that year as far as planning. It doesn't really matter where we go … it's just the fact that we are together. And each year we try to do one activity that we might not otherwise do. OK.. every year we shop .. but that's a given when you get 4 women together right? But we have been horseback riding, canoeing, fishing, and even to a private island. We have a charm bracelet that has something to represent each year, and inevitably before each trip is over we are already planning and thinking about the next year. And we always have to have a group picture .. obviously the picture shown here is from this year.
My point? Don't wait to do something with someone you know you will miss when you can't see them, or talk to them. You can't go back .. but you can do something now. So - as Nike says .. Just do it … I know, because we wished we had done it earlier .. the kids get cared for .. the jobs are still there … you just have a little more peace of mind if you take advantage of the opportunities God has given us.
The challenge is yours .. what are you going to do about it? And if you do decide to do something, I'd like to hear about it! It might give me some ideas.
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Elizabeth Donaldson
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Well, Shasta, I just spent the last couple of hours making curtains! That is after we went to 3 stores with a washcloth that matched the comforter and looked for material. To ease the suspense, we settled on white with colored rafia tie backs!! Couldn't resist! What a difference between guys and gals! Thanks for your comments about time. How true! I will cherish the memories we made as a family in TZ and in meeting your family there too! See you soon! Hello Anthony!