Rainy day
just in time to break away
Away from the pain that makes you old
away from the tears that make you cold
A chill that crudely rules your ways
and also quickly numbers your days
So before your life has run you down
just turn around so love can stay
My mother in law made a comment about my wife in that she has a great sense of occasion. What she meant by this is she has the ability to make the most of any occasion (no matter how small) and make it special.
I am often reminded of this whenever we celebrate spontaneously. So often there may be an awards show on TV that evening. When we are out at the store we wind up getting food or items that relate to the awards show. Then when we watch the show later on that day— we feel special (like we are part of the audience).
Or the time when the Chicago Bears made it to the playoffs, and she gathered up all of the bears we had and sat them down on the couch to cheer on their long lost cousins…
Do you have a sense of occasion too? If you do, let me know.
Now that the holidays are pretty much in full swing, I never know if I have enough time to do much of anything, let alone a blog-post. All the same… I thought I would post to see if anybody is paying attention.
I tend to wonder how much of the universe listens, especially when it is controlled by algorithms that favor those who post often. And even if I posted often, I wonder how large my Sphere of Influence is.
So, if you happen to stumble upon this post, be sure to let me know so I can thank you.
I sometimes wonder if I just have poor luck of the draw. All throughout my life I have encountered friends who openly admit that they are not letter writers. One would think that after doubling my age since that time that I would at least have beaten the odds… but I have not. And since I have been writing letters, Email has emerged. The nice thing about Email is that you can easily send correspondence without having to worry about finding a piece of paper, pen, envelope, stamp, etc.. However, even with this added convenience— I am still cursed with non-letter writers. Of course, as of lately I have not been the best of pen pals either— so I guess I need to get the log out of my eye before I complain about the speck in my friends eyes.
I think if you ever speak to anybody I wrote letters to, they would tell you that I wrote quite long letters. I had stationery that was wide enough to fit in a letter-sized envelope and wasn't much taller than the width of a regular page. I would typically fill at least one side of the page, and many times both sides as well. Since I type faster than I write, I typed all of my letters. Of course, this was long before personal computers and ink-jet printers— so I typed my letters on a typewriter… single spaced. Being the creative person I was, I couldn't just type a letter (how boring). One time I typed the entire letter on a 45° angle, and another time I typed it rotating it every line. It makes me wonder if any of the people I wrote those letters to actually saved those letters. I know I keep my letters and like to re-read them them from time to time.
One semester in college I scheduled my classes in such a way that my week was finished on Thursday at noon. I did have a class on Friday, but that wasn't until 4:00 PM, and never required homework. The great thing about this was that I could get my homework finished before the weekend. The sad thing about this was that everybody else didn't do their homework until Sunday night, so I had my Sundays free with nobody to do things with. This gave me a regularly scheduled time that I could write letters.
I have been trying to write again on Sundays— but much like my blog writing… I have not been as diligent as I would like. That, and the curse of non-letter writers is still in full force— so I'm not as inspired to write if there's no one that will write back.
What about you… did you ever write letters to anybody? Do you think that written correspondence is a dying breed, or just sleeping? Do you still keep in touch with anybody through letters, or has the communication faded?
I can't believe I forgot to make a blogiversary post. Not that I have anything to say, but I've been blogging for 5 years now. I realized how difficult it is to go through other people's posts, so I don't expect you to go browsing through my entire site.
I am curious as to who is still reading after all these years, or crazy enough to still follow me. So if you are… I do expect you to leave a comment so I can thank you for your readership.
If you are unable to add up the number of posts listed in parentheses under Blog Archive, I have now reached 400 posts. II also have 100 followers!
I was planning on waiting until my 5 year moversary, but that is more than a month away and I felt that I should at least celebrate these two milestones before the luster wears off (or I forget). But then the question remains… how does one celebrate?
I think that after the first two hundred posts, there really isn't any need to celebrate— the occasion just comes and goes without any fanfare. But since I haven't been posting as often I noticed the 400 milestone approaching and felt I should at least acknowledge it. If you wonder how anybody could say 400 things, I encourage you to browse through my posts.
There was a contribution post back in 2009 called "Tuesday's Tribute"— it was soon passed to someone else who changed to be "Tribute Tuesday". The theme of this was that you were to tribute someone or something (It's not all about you). In keeping with the theme— I had an idea to do a spotlight on my followers. I thought… "what a great way of promoting their blogs and give them credit for bearing with my narrative/technical-writer style of writing". I decided to write to those followers that I could and ask two questions so that their words could be a part of the post:
I realized that posting on all of my followers would be a very long post— so I broke it up into smaller manageable pieces.
I started sending out the survey after I reached 60 followers, but never quite got the next 60 written (I am currently 3 shy of getting 60). I also found that many of my followers suddenly did not have a blog of their own (yet another reason for calling me one of the "Old Guard"). Both of these reasons stopped me from continuing the series, but that doesn't stop me from asking my remaining 50 to at least ask the first question:
Please let me know by leaving a comment, or contacting me directly.
People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
— Unknown
I have seen this poem around for some time now. I think that it is used to explain why friends come and go. I am one of those people who never want to lose friends… especially those that I consider close to. True, it is unfair that someone you knew is taken from you— but to say that once they are gone, it is over and it's "time to move on" just doesn't make sense to me.
I believe that a person's sphere of influence does not go away once they are gone. It persists as long as we have memories of that person. There may be an experience that you had with the person that you were with. This experience may not have been all that memorable at the time, but later on in life you find that the former experience now has a profound effect upon you. It us much like a form of spiritual communication where the spirit of the person is communicated to you without them even being present.
I tend to ponder what the mechanisms for friendship are. What makes a friend a friend? What types of friends are there? Or even, how do we pick a friend?
Some of you are my virtual friends— those of whom I only know on line. I know that I have not written in this blog as frequently as I would have liked and feel that this may be driving potential friends away. Hopefully you can let me know that you are still around so I can be more diligent at keeping in touch.
