28.1.10

THE GOOD STUFF IN LIFE...


Whipped cream. That stuff just makes my day.

For some people it's chocolate. They hold the firm conviction that anything dipped in chocolate must be good.

But for me...it's whip...you can squirt it on top of anything and life just takes on a whole new look.

Even just hearing an empty bottle getting squished and blowing air in a garbage bag is happy.

What's even better is asking a customer if they want whip on their nonfat drink...and then getting an embarrassed  smile and a "sure." The ones that ones that look shocked and shake their head as if nonfat with whip would be a sin, just don't know anything about life.

Ever see a little kid's eyes when you hand um a hot chocolate with whip on top of the lid? ...and then their parents can't resist and lick half of it off.

After a while doing the whip becomes an art. You shake the bottle, twirl into the nozzle down position, make fast little circles with your wrist, and swing it upright again with a flourish. If you're really good you can even throw it over your shoulder and make it look like a cool trick you practiced.

22.1.10

You ever watch a movie and think…I wish life could be just like that? You see the little charming things in the character’s lives and wonder why you and your life aren’t that way.

Well it is. Just look around.

I could be in a movie right now.

I’m sitting at the counter on a high bar stool. I’m wearing jeans, gray converse, and a plaid red jacket that used to be my dad’s. My hair is down and wavy in some spots from the braid it was in. Typing on my computer. Eating an unpeeled carrot. Homework book opened in front of me. Daffodils stand in a bowl to the right. They’re not looking as hot as they were a couple days ago. Backpack, keys, apron, and cell are spread out on the counter. Music plays from my laptop. It’s like a soundtrack to my life. I can see out the dining room window. It’s dark except for the city lights. I’m supposed to be doing homework. But my mind wanders. 

See? I could be in a movie. I’d make an interesting character with my oversized coat and weird snack. Who knows what has been happening in the plot to make this moment interesting. There’s a bigger story.  I can’t help wonder what it is.



21.1.10

Because Having a Brain Isn't Fun


Really...what fun would having a brain really be? All that would result in is loneliness from being the only reasonable person around, which would make it tempting to forget your brain and do something stupid. But...your brain is there, and it tells you that it's just not a good idea to be stupid. So. Loneliness would still prevail, which would make stuck-upness a necessity to keep from becoming insane from boredom.

It's ok...I know none of you followed that...

There's no way anyone can go through life and not do something completely stupid and miserable just for the heck of it.

Two years in a row...i have done it. The first year was just jumping off the dock and climbing back out. Not so bad.

This year the tradition continued.

New Years Day. A friend's neighbor's pond. Covered in ice. We all watched for ten minutes while the ice was broken. A whole fat inch of it. Then...we swam across...one at a time.

Have you ever really thought you were going to die? I have.

About half way across (by the way, you can't touch the bottom) my body started slowing way down. My legs weren't really moving. My breathing almost stopped. And my brain started fuzzing.

Not good. I ran up against a big chunk of ice in my way and was completely lost on how to get around it. My brain was that out of it.

But it was fun. Now that it's all over, it was fun. And I'll probably do it again next year.

Why? No idea.

But why stand on the edge and watch everyone else?

13.1.10

Avery . 8/31/2008 . Congential Aedea Malformation






Avery...my new sponsor baby...

9.1.10


Do you ever just have a complete loss of understanding...something happens and you respond with tears or smiles or whatever the moment calls for. But even as you react, you realize that you simply don't get it. Your brain goes blank. Your emotions are suctioned out, and you're left trying to just...get a hold of something that will make it real. 


Middle of December. Don't even remember what day it was. Maybe Thursday. I was working and the phone rang. My mom. She's crying. At first I thought it had just been a bad day...normal life stuff that just gets to be too much right? But no. Not this time. 


"Kaish, MeiMei died." 


"What?" 


I want to say it felt like my heart was ripped out...but that would hurt. This didn't hurt. It's more like my heart dissolved...melted...was just gone. 


Most people don't understand how I can love a little girl that lived on the other side of the planet, spoke a different language, was sick beyond help, and didn't even know I exist. They can understand showing compassion and wanting to help...but truly loving her that much? Before I even met her? She wasn't even my own kid...or sibling, or anything.  


Honestly...I don't know how it works. 


I sponsored Ava Hope because I wanted to. I thought I was sacrificing something...some money once a month. It was something I wanted to do kind of for fun, but also kind of because I wanted to help someone else out. Neither of those are bad reasons either. 


God's funny...he takes our reasoning and logic and good intentions and turns them completely backwards on us. Even if I hadn't sponsored, that little bit of money would have come from somewhere else. Ava Hope still would have lived at Shepherd*s F*eld until she was adopted, and MeiMei's life wouldn't have been much different either. 


Compared to what I gave, what I've gotten is way way way bigger. I don't totally know what all of that is yet, and how it will influence the rest of my life, but what I've learned, what I've seen, where I've gone, how I think, what I hold most important, and who I am have changed because of Ava Hope, China, and mostly MeiMei. 


I know that contrary to what I thought before, I didn't choose to help MeiMei out in my own little way, God chose MeiMei to change my life. 


I still don't get it. I've had to change things to past tense that I first wrote in present tense in this post. I look at pictures and cry...all the time. How could she just be gone? If anyone deserved to live, it was her. She was fragile and always breathed heavily, but she was so strong. There was a look in her eyes that showed endurance and fight. She had a silly sense of humor, and fought for her place among the other kids. 


I asked Jesus to let her stay, to hold her heart and keep it working...but he took her home. Now she has a Daddy. Sometimes I ask him to hug her for me, and hold my heart...her's is perfect now. 


7.1.10

there's posts coming...really...promise...a whole lot of them...