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The End.

Happy Super Bowl New Year

What on earth has happened to my blog? I was all set to share my deepest thoughts for the New Year and I have discovered that they are still in 'draft'. What does that imply? Have I stopped living, running a muck (whatever a muck is) or gone on some secret international mission? Well, the last one may hold the most intrigue but no. And I assure you my muck is running full throttle. I have been as busy as ever without attention to things like, a clock or calendar. I just move, constantly. And I enjoy it nearly always. I even had a dear friend and colleague comment that I am almost always happy. True.

Since Christmas we have celebrated all kinds of occasions though most are not traditional. Our favoritist event is New Year Silly String Silliness. As always, there is someone gonna get it. This year it was me, and then Cody. As I returned from the store I was treated by a giggly teen with a loaded can of string and great aim. But once his can was spent his father used his to make this a twofer. Hmmmm,  I am thinking we have got to work on a plan for next year perhaps focusing on the head of household.

In January One Step Dance Crew performed during the halftime at the men's basketball game at ASU.  They did a great job and will get to do it again  in February for a women's game. Big treat was that his BFF cousin Hannah and Best Buddy Prom date Alexandra were there to cheer him on, and take him to dinner and share ice cream. You could say it was the perfect night. Cody loves his dance and it is a great time had by all. As a matter of fact they performed in their first ever Dance Recital - Dance Free. Such a great time. Comedy between the dances, a variety of entertainment, great time with family. Really nice.

Cody and I have started going to a hot yoga class each week. We love it though my body is not always as enthusiastic. Good news is that my mind is all in and even if I can't strike every pose my mind does not seem to notice. It has been very helpful for my joints and mental  clarity as it is pretty much impossible to ponder the trials of life when you are focused on not falling over or breaking 'anything'!

Cody has been dancing with Caroline and will take his next RAD exam in March. We are excited and nervous for him as each exam will become more difficult, but we will see how he does. He loves to dance with Caroline and will do hours and hours of it for her, a remarkable feat still for a man-child who is pressed to run a 100m race. Oh well it speaks well to the benefit of motivation and chemistry. Listening to dear Caroline's South African accent I might dance for hours without a break as well.

I am reminded often of the value of friends and family while appreciating the distance and or time between us. It is very difficult at times to have to work much more than full time and still try to meet the demands of uber busy boy whose life on any given day is the one I enjoy the most. Seriously he has so much fun every day and I so want to spend as much time as possible in his 'hood'. Fortunately he still likes me to be around, though I am frequently reminded that clingy is not longer cool since he is a man. Really I am not sure why that matters, but apparently it does.

And so here it is February. Super Bowl Sunday. Some folks have other reasons to celebrate but what a great day. The game was awesome, though the Cardinals were not there, at least the Broncos did us proud. The Waste Management golf went into a 5 hole play off. Hannah got her stats homework started and some real grill food while she was here. Rich got to golf and watch all of the sports he could possibly remote to and I got to enjoy watching it all. What a great day. Life is pretty amazing when we are allowed/able/willing to stop and smell the roses or hot dogs, whatever suits.

Happy New Year

Well, it should be a happy new year, right? I have had the great fortune to live a goodly amount of years and I can tell you that 'happy' is perspective. You can be suffering from happy memories, happy moments or happy dreams. I tend to experience a healthy variety of these. I like to try to focus on the happy thoughts, much like whistling a happy tune. I grew up on Disney can you tell? LOL

Reality is that sometimes to get to the 'happy' you must endure the sad, painful or disappointing places in life. You find it necessary to look, search or cling to the hope in a situation to help get to the 'happy' ending. It is perspective,  it is choice, it is hard. I feel compelled to mention this on today's post as I know so many people that are in the struggle to return to those happy thoughts.

My year personally has been one of recovery and adjustment, acceptance and excitement. Kind of a roller coaster of physical, emotional and spiritual turns. I find in this journey that it is important to know that there are no surprises for God. He has gone ahead of me, knows my heart and has my best interest in the end. He knows me better than I know myself and even more important, He loves me more than I love myself. I might fuss, fret, fidget or fail but none of that matters to Him. He doesn't expect me to be perfect, but to walk.

For those in life's hardest battles, losing a dear spouse with young children, or losing a home to foreclosure with no income for rent. Those are very different and grave challenges. There is a lot of questioning, asking why or if. How do they get from the prostrate position of utter despair to a glimpse of the compassionate face of God who captures their every tear? What must they do to be restored, renewed or revived? What is amazing is that it is the same for us all, in any situation. We must simply walk.

He knows our condition, our frailty and  the depth of our suffering. He will hold us, take our hand and lead us to the next step, the next action. There really is nothing we do but trust. Walk and trust. It is in these things that we find the ability to once again be able to focus on the 'happy' in life. We move from happy moments to happy memories or dreams depending on the circumstance.