I like cats AND dogs.
I like coffee AND tea.
I like chocolate AND vanilla.
I have never understood why anyone had to choose between these options.
So I pick both of them whenever possible.
In case you ever wondered.
vanilla
Things Everyone Should Have (or Do)
I’ve decided there are a few necessary things everyone should have in order to make their lives better. No, you won’t cease to exist without any of these, but they do make your existence (particularly on Mondays) more bearable:
- Everyone needs a place to escape. My place is Radnor Lake State Park. It’s as close as I’ll probably ever get to Middle Earth this side of Heaven. It’s hard to believe this panacea is probably about 10 miles from where I live.
- Everyone needs a geriatric pet who loves to cuddle. I’m partial to my 16-year old feline, but I love older dogs as well. It’s nice to have a furry friend to come home to.
- Everyone needs some good music for the road. You may let the radio do the picking for you, but I prefer the path less travelled. I have my vast CD collection and (on occasion) a considerable playlist on my iPhone.
- Everyone needs a good novel. Right now, what I’m reading doesn’t technically fall under the category of novel, but it’s worthwhile reading nonetheless. I’m working through Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
- Everyone needs a good shower. I prefer mine in the morning to help me wake up, but I’m all for those who like a steaming hot shower just before bed. Either way works for me.
- Everyone needs something bigger than themselves to believe in and hold on to. I choose Jesus because He’s the only one strong enough to keep all the pieces of my world in orbit and hold me together.
- Everyone needs chocolate. Or vanilla if you’re one of those weird people who don’t like chocolate. The end.
More About Me
Since I have run out of ideas of what to write about, I thought I’d share a few tidbits about yours truly, i.e. me.
Some of this may be new and some may be old. Or it may all be old. I don’t really know. I’ve lost track after 2,149 blogs over almost 6 years.
- If I had to choose just one album to listen to for the rest of my life, I think it’d be Miles Davis’ A Kind of Blue. That album still takes me to a tranquil and happy place.
- I’m still not 100% decided, but I think if I had to choose just one kind of food to eat from now on, it would probably be sushi (or if I’m allowed to cheat a little, sushi and Thai). I’ve become a serious fan.
- I still wish I could go back in time, if only for a day, and have conversations with people I love who have passed. Especially my two uncles. I know we’d talk about music the entire time.
- If I could pick any place to live, I think I’d like to live on Fair Street in Franklin. It’s like a fairy tale street and all the houses remind me of something out of a George MacDonald fantasy novel.
- The older I get, the older my music tends to get. Currently, I’m into country and acoustic blues from the 20’s and 30’s. In my opinion, it doesn’t get any more authentic than that.
- I still believe the healthiest place to be is to live in an others-centered way. The less you make life about you and your drama, the better. The more you focus on helping and serving others (and most of all serving God), the less time you have for drifting into a kind of narcissism where everything that happens in life ends up being about you. The absolute best way to deal with depression and grief is to find someone else with a need that you can meet and to go meet that need.
- Chocolate is still my favorite in the dessert world but there’s something about hot drinks with vanilla or vanilla-scented anything that takes me to a Calgon-like happy place.
I think that about covers it for now.
Thanksgiving for the Other 364 Days
It’s Thanksgiving. I think I ate my weight in turkey, dressing, and all of the other usual Thanksgiving food groups. As I write this, I am in a semi-food coma, complete with tryptophan-induced euphoria. Life is good.
I would be amiss if I didn’t take time to list what I’m thankful for on this day of all days, so here goes:
1) I’m thankful for the noble sacrifice so many turkeys made so that I could eat my weight in deliciousness and probably have to go up a size or two in pants.
2) I’m thankful for having the day off from work so I could revel in my tryptophan high and slip into my usual food coma. Plus, I seriously doubt I would have been able to accomplish anything productive after stuffing my face with with much good food.
3) I’m thankful for all the Thanksgiving-themed episodes of Friends they’ve been showing on TV Land, especially the one with Joey’s thanksgiving pants.
4) I’m thankful that my afore-mentioned vanilla pumpkin pie cheesecake (see the previous blog) turned out to be not only edible, but quite tasty. One might even say scrumptious.
5) I’m thankful that I got to see all my family gathered together for at least one more year. If I got nothing else for the rest of the year, that alone would have been worth it.
That’s my list for Thanksgiving Day 2014.
I Made This!
I made a vanilla pumpkin pie cheesecake today. With my own hands, no less!
It even has layers. Layers, people!
I only say all this to tell you that you can do more than you think you can sometimes.
I didn’t say that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. As hard as I try and as bad as I want it, I will never be able to dunk on a regulation basketball goal. Never. Even if I wear Michael Jordan’s Air Nikes.
I can however be all that God meant for me to be when He made me. I can fulfill the purposes He had in mind when He dreamed me up in His infinite mind.
That in my mind is way better.
Oh, and pictures to come on this spectacular (hopefully) cheesecake concoction.
Things I Love 34: To Infinity and Beyond
“Life is so urgent it necessitates living slow” (Ann Voskamp).
“Thanksgiving-giving thanks in everything-prepares the way that God might show us His fullest salvation in Christ” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).
“At the last, this is what will determine a fulfilling, meaningful life, a life that, behind all the facades, every one of us longs to live: gratitude for the blessings that expresses itself by becoming the blessing” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are).
I entertained thoughts about stretching this series to 2,000. But then again, I’m much too lazy for that. Besides, I probably mentioned some things I love more than once, so these extras should compensate for my oversights. And I’m still having too much fun with it to stop now. So we pick up at #1,001.
1,001) Getting radically out of my comfort zone to serve at VBS with inner-city kids.
1,002) Any kind of a front or back porch swing.
1,003) Seeing videos and pictures of my Romanian friend’s wedding.
1,004) That I now have prayer books from three different faith aspects: Episcopalian (The Book of Common Prayer), Roman Catholic (The Liturgy of the Hours), and Jewish (Siddur: The Traditional Prayer Book).
1,005) Packing school backpacks with school supplies and prayers to give to inner-city children.
1,006) That no one can make me feel anything. I choose my response and by the grace of God, I can respond to hate with love, anger with kindness, and mockery with respect.
1,007) Knowing that I’m not who I used to be or what I one day will be.
1,008) Walking through meadows filled with flowers.
1,009) That I finally grew out of eating ketchup sandwiches.
1,010) Being very nonlinear and random.
1,011) Hot showers in the morning to help me wake up.
1,012) Groupon deals.
1,013) Not having to worry about living anyone’s life but my own.
1,014) Those rare couples who stay pure in the midst of dating and don’t move in together until after they’re married.
1,015) Stopping my car at twilight to catch a family of deer running across the road.
1,016) Free books that the library gives away.
1,017) Free anything.
1,018) Finally figuring out how to do a screen capture on my iPhone.
1,019) Tiny flower pots. What do you plant in those?
1,020) Fans blowing on me while I sleep.
1,021) The way the sunlight reflects off of Radnor Lake in the summer time.
1,022) Fallen pine needles strewn across the ground on an autumn afternoon.
1,023) The crunching sound of walking through dead leaves in the fall.
1,024) That you can’t say the word “rural” and not sound like you’ve had one too many.
1,025) Adele Live at Royal Albert Hall on blu ray.
1,026) The Amplified Bible.
1,027) Getting lost in a good book.
1,028) Model trains.
1,029) All the amazing people I’m going to see in heaven one day.
1,030) Spring reminding me of the hope that the Resurrection brings.
1,031) The scent of vanilla.
1,032) The clean feeling after I’ve just brushed my teeth.
1,033) The music of Duke Ellington.
1,034)Mechanical pencils.
1,035) That if I were to list every single thing in my life that I’m thankful for and that is really a gift, I’d have to blog until I’m as old as Methuselah to get everything down (and then I’d still leave something out).
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