The Beauty of Simplicity

I flew into SC on Monday, following a skipping little girl carrying a floppy monkey that I normally would have deemed adorable with a bit more sleep under my belt. Waking in the 4AM hour instead created immense amounts of irritation as she skipped along threatening to trip over her flip-flops and fall in front of me. Her cadence was so chaotic that no matter where I stood along the 20' wide walkway, she kept skipping in front of me. I finally found relief in a nearby bathroom, but not the kind you are thinking. When I emerged, she was nowhere to be seen and I could walk a straight line down the corridor once more without fear of tripping over a suger-infused five year old.

I had the great honor of visiting with a former mission companion and close friend. The world was our oyster and we were this unstoppable team together. There are very few people on this planet who I will go to great lengths to reconnect with and spend more than an hour at a time with, and she is one of them. There is just this pure honesty and sincerity that makes you feel like you are home. 

One morning I woke and told her about a detailed dream I had about a man we would meet and what his house looked like. We looked for it for months, and finally, while driving home from a conference one night, she interrupted my reading. "Is that the house from your dream?" she asked. Indeed it was, and everything that happened from that moment on was just as it happened in the dream. 

As women, we need all kinds of friends, but this one is something extra special. Oddly, I like to say she prepared me to be married to my husband. It just helped me respect certain differences between us that compliment my own weaknesses or strengths. We were so different, and yet we worked so hard to appreciate our unique differences that it created this powerful bond of friendship that never seems to waver.

It was so good to reconnect with her, just like returning home after many years and when you leave you feel more grounded somehow. I came home after being gone for several days and C just wanted to spend time with me. He made me feel so special! He is out cold right now after going to a very early meeting, speaking to one ward, and then attending another ward for his new calling. The birds are in their cages chattering, singing, and earlier Penny started sharing her most recent noise: C's alarm clock. Bee-dee-dee-deep. Bee-dee-dee-deep. Bee-dee-dee-deep. Her impression was rather precise. 

Yesterday I tossed a blanket on the grass under my favorite apple tree and let the birds wander around, nibbling grass, chattering happily to the sunrays, and hulling bits of millet. My laptop played the Lord of the Rings book on CD, and the apple blossoms swayed hypnotically overhead until I surrendered to the tepid breeze and the soft pillow under my head. A few moments later, I was startled by a handful of large raindrops which quickly turned into a downpour. Laughing, I swept the laptop under the pillow and rushed it into my office, sending the birds flying and uncertain if this unanticipated shower was acceptable or not. I laughed again as I watched them wander through the wet grass, not sure if they wanted to stay, or climb up to safety on my shoulder. Alas, my little chickens decided against the cold rain, and we went inside to wait out the storm.

Reflecting back on Mother's Day

It's 6 AM on Saturday, and the time change with South Carolina has me wide awake instead of sleeping in like I should be. It's a beautiful day and it must be a carry-over from the awesome dream I just had about my very cute hubby. It was a dream brimming over with happy and then I wake to find that I am still in that happy little dream!

So I know you are dying to know about my Mother's Day, especially since I have no children. It was really much more like a Mother's Day weekend. Here is how it went:

Friday - C took me to one of my fave Japanese restaurants in his friend's cherry red corvette. He shows me an appointment on his Blackberry: Dance lessons at 7. I am pretty sure this is true love. When we arrive home, he gives me a present: A Pizzelle Maker!!!

Friday night - We arrive at the dance school, and C counts down the minutes to his self-inflicted torture, red-faced, glistening brow; C saying things like, "I'm having SO much FUN!, and both of us laughing to tears. Then I KNOW this is true love.

Saturday - We spend the day at our favorite staycation spot after I enjoy driving up the canyon in the corvette. We share a pear and nut salad and a thin margarita pizza. We then enjoy a game of chess in which I pulled a stunning checkmate, minus one little rule, but let's just say we were both winners that game. Coconut gelato!

Saturday night - Return the 'vette and go out to dinner for Indian.

Sunday - As if I haven't had enough, I come home to C making me lunch and he gives me one card, followed by a SECOND card, and we enjoy the rest of the day relaxing together. What a guy! I feel so lucky to have such a sweet man. Thank you, C for treating me like a queen for Mother's Day!

Following

It turns out I actually have a following. Not here, of course, because this is my incognito blog, and nobody even knows it exists, but yesterday the GM of my new company announced at the opening session of this big national conference that I would be coming to THEIR company. The reaction was gasps and awe, and not so much "who's she?" like one might suppose. It was crazy how many people came up to me and told me to keep them in the loop and they would market for me. Who knew? It's a crazy world.

Well, I am itching, ITCHING, I tell you, to write here, but alas, I have this presentation I have to finish and give in South Carolina tonight, and then I am free to write! My earlier class went very well, and I auto-tweeted during this class to involve the ADD students (or just provide a more interactive experience, really). One down, one to go!

For now, yours truly - and then I can tell you all about my awesome mother's day!!!

Why I Don't Do Android

Miss me? I know. See, there has just been so much going on, I can't even begin to tell you. Instead let me say that my studly man is out playing in the dirt. Truly. He has these achy, sore legs, and yet he's out there with a shovel digging up our 3rd car driveway spot so that our little ghetto truck doesn't have to sit on dirt and weeds anymore. So there's that...

The Royal Wedding... I didn't really watch it, I confess. No sleep lost there, although I did look at a few pics just to see the funny hats and the dress. I just hope that they get to have fun times like racing for the one-sink bathroom on commercial break to brush teeth and put in their night retainers, but something tells me that won't happen. Maybe because they have as many darn sinks as they want, and all in ONE bathroom, so...

And what is it with food commercials at night? It's like some evil ploy, I swear, since they make me hungry for food I shouldn't eat. Oddly I am really full right now and have been since 4ish. C came home early to finish some work and that was just rude because I had just consumed mass quantities of lean smokehouse beef brisket, thinking he would not be home until 6ish. I texted him to tell him to call when he was close to home so that I could chop up a salad, then settled down for a long winter's nap. "ETA 5 mins" was his reply. Wha????

Moving on, I am flying out to the East Coast next week for a conference. I will have a little rendezvous with a good friend from my mission and some family members want to connect and watch me present while I am there, along with a few others. It will be a blitz trip, which means that I won't have much down time, but that's all good and fine.

King's Speech wins my vote for the finest show I have seen this year. It's so great to see a star who can really act rather than just act like him/herself (ahem: Kevin, Kiera, Meg, Jennifer, Vince, and so on...). Bravo, Collin, Geoffrey and Helena. Collin has made my Liam Neeson list of "It will be good if he's in it" shows.

I have been Tolkienizing lately. Once upon a time this really cute husband surprised me for our anniversary. He created a treasure hunt that led me all over the place and finally landed me at a place we often rock climbed. There, hidden in a cave was a golden box containing the entire, unabridged Lord of the Rings books on CD. I have been listening to them lately, and as a result, we also started watching them at night, all three extended version movies. This was over the span of weeks, mind you; a few minutes here and there, but we finally finished them. I am still working on the books, but I am SOOO excited for the Hobbit to come out next year! More Cate, please!

Argh, and then there's work. Have you ever quit a job and given a month instead of two weeks? Yep. I am just TRUNKY!!! So, even though I have plenty to do before the end of May, I find that it's really hard to focus at work. I actually focus better at home. Speaking of which, I have got to finish the conference playbook tonight, and my conference presentations this week. Dig it.

Well, more news later. Oh, you mean you came here for the title?
Here's my logic:

1. Android is by Google
2. To use Android, you agree to give Google access to your info. All of your contacts, your e-mails, your texts, that you access on your phone; they see it all.
3. Google is a marketing company.
4. Marketing companies want to learn about you so that they will know what you will buy.
5. What better way to learn about someone than to get access to your e-mail, texts, and contacts?
6. Google is the all-seeing eye, because if you sign up with the same e-mail account you have with any of the Google products, they connect all of that data about you (Blogger, g-mail, Google docs, Android stuff...)
7. Now when you Google stuff online, they are super keyed into what you want! Brilliant, harmless, but kinda nosy. No thanks.

Changes

Kawi is moulting, a phenomenon which turns a reasonably sweet bird into a grumpy monster, only Kawi already IS a grumpy monster. He's dropped several feathers, although it isn't visibly noticeable, and now his delicate skin is covered in painful, sharp pinfeathers. It's just a part of the process of growth and development for a bird, a way to make sure that those broken and tattered feathers are replaced by healthy new ones. I guess you could say that we go through something similar.

When I came home today, I mixed a little kosher salt in a dish and filled it with warm water. I then held Kawi in the dish and covered his sore skin with the warm water. Kawi, who acts like he is on the verge of death if you touch a single tail feather, settled down and even nibbled affectionately at my face after his third dip. It soothed his sore little body, and now he is preening my kneecaps in appreciation (strange little fella).

Today I signed a contract. I told my manager at work, who already knew I would. I attempted to explain all of the reasons, when really, it's what I want. I would love to spend time focussed on International aspects of the business, placing me on journeys to China, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East. Even as I write this it sounds pretty enticing! Still, while I will not have the International emphasis, I feel I will be able to use certain competencies that would be limited in the other position. I will still be able to use analysis, strategy, and similar skill sets.

Sometimes pain is associated with change, and while I was immensely happy today, I also had a little piece of me that realized I am going to miss working here! I still have another month, and have been asked to develop a business plan before I leave. I will be speaking at a conference coming up as well. I will certainly be busy over the next month, but am looking forward to this new opportunity.

Dear God....

Dear God,

First, thanks for all of the rich blessings and opportunities directed our way lately. Who can find things to complain about when so much is worth celebrating? Thanks for spring flowers. Thanks for little children. Thanks for little birds. Thanks for kind people, even those who care too much when you wish they wouldn't. Thanks for trials and troubles that make us stronger. Thanks for a bounty of good, clean, and healthy food we have so readily available. Thanks for water with which to stay clean and hydrated. Thanks for a warm, dry, place to sleep.

Thanks for vehicles that run. Thanks for jobs that allow us to pay our bills. Thanks for health and physical bodies. Thanks for the opportunity to get dirt under my fingernails and to watch things grow. Thanks for giving me a best friend in my spouse, and for making him better every single day. Thanks for great parents and siblings. Thanks for the ability to connect with old and new friends.

Thanks for the beauty of words, and for the opportunity to find beauty where it's not easily found. Thanks for miracles that are as bounteous as the stars, and for heartache that carves into our hearts a place for greater vision. Thanks for opportunities to serve others, and for the way those acts of service always come back to serve us much greater than we gave.

Thanks for the gift of choice, the chance to stretch, the need to grow. Thanks for patience, and for giving me the opportunity to wait for thy timing, because it's always the right time. Thanks for giving me what I need, even when it isn't what I think I need at the time.

Thanks for the chance to live in a world where bitter things happen so that I don't forget the sweet, and so I can help make it better. Thanks for sending thy Son, for giving us all the gift of everlasting life. Thanks for loving us in spite of ourselves, for wanting us to always be better than we are today, and for giving us a perfect example that makes us yearn to be even better than we think we might ever become.

Childless to 91 Children

It was a great day, but exhausting. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we each serve in a variety of callings. We serve voluntarily, without pay. Today I was called as Primary President, which means I am responsible for all of the children in our ward. The day C was released from the bishopric, we had a lovely chat with the Stake Presidency member, and when we arrived home there was a message stating that they forgot to extend a call to him. C was called to the High Council. That release didn't last very long. Both are big jobs so we will be busy.

We spent the day yesterday at C's marathon. More on that plus photos tomorrow. I am ready for some sleep.