Absent minded

Well, I just now realized I forgot to do my word for the day. I've been online shopping and playing too many online games :) I did think of it around 5 today and thought I should do it early. I was going to get ahead of the game. Then I started reading a book instead. Dang it. So we'll chalk this one up to getting old and senile. I'll do better tomorrow (famous last words).

Lazy

Today I haven't gotten out of my robe. Having slept until nearly 12, I didn't see the use of getting dressed. I took the day to do nothing much at all. There was once a time when I'd have been ashamed to admit these things. But with the crazy whirlwind we've been in of late, I needed some down time. And in days of old, Sunday was a day of rest. I decided to honor it as such.

Norah

For nearly all the 8 years I have been doing massage, I have listened to Norah Jones in the background. I recently switched things up and started listening to some spa music on Pandora. Today I was craving Norah and turned her on again.

I was fortunate enough to see Norah in concert this past August. She was amazing to say the least. But in addition to her performance, the venue was phenomenal. We got to see her in Red Rocks Colorado.

Tony has two aunts that live in Denver. We've gone to see them numerous times. One of the first few times we went, they took us to the amphitheater in Red Rocks. I told Tony then that one day we'd be back to see a concert there. Little did I know that it would be so see my heroine, Norah.

I don't know that I'll ever see a concert that will equal or surpass Norah in Red Rocks. Sometimes I think I'd rather never attend another concert and let that moment stay emblazoned on my spirit. 

But I love music too much to do that, and besides I'm still a spring chicken. I have a lot of years left in me, and so does Norah. I'll gladly sit in that beautiful red Colorado landscape and watch her tickle that piano and croon her lullabies in 20 years. Count me in!

Yoga

I got a new computer today. It's called a yoga. It's to start my new writing venture. The irony of it being called a yoga didn't escape me.

I was in yoga teacher training when my mom died 7 years ago. If I had not been, I don't think I would have survived her loss as well as I have. While massage was the first part of the path toward my A minus lifestyle, yoga was the real source of my new found way of life.

Before I started my training, I attended classes to try and learn how to calm myself. The classes were molded in more of the western style of yoga to be about exercise. My instructor was a great person that incorporated some of the real meaning of yoga along with the western world need to sweat. But my training taught me the real beauty of yoga - breathing.

Yoga taught me to be present, to focus on my breathing and to focus on right now. That sounds simple enough, but in our society it's virtually impossible. We have so many distractions in life. Very few of us can have a single train of thought and complete it from start to finish without something interrupting.

I love my yoga and miss teaching terribly. I've asked God numerous times for that door to open. I've wanted to open a yoga studio for quite some time. It looks like that dream will be put on hold for a bit longer. But maybe this yoga computer is God's way of telling me to keep my options open for down the road.

Rafa

Anyone that reads my Facebook feed or that knows me very well, knows that I love tennis player Rafael Nadal. I've lost many a night's sleep watching him play in some far away location. He's been injured for the last 7 months and not playing. I've missed him terribly.

In watching his return, he's definitely not the Rafa of old. He's older (only 26, but that is fairly ancient for professional tennis players) and his body has been put through quite the tortuous schedule for too many years. His step is not as quick and his once thunderous swing is missing some lightning.

When he lost last year at Wimbledon and started his hiatus, I had this terrible feeling he would never return. He is back on the court, and I'm grateful. But it is difficult to watch him struggle in matches that he would easily have closed out before. It begs the question, would it have been better for him to have never returned than to come back and be less than the king he once was.

I will forever be a fan of Rafa, win or lose. It is not just his play, but his humble nature. He might be a Spanish bull on the court, but off the court he frequently shows his soft underbelly. And the sheer will and determination that he shows on the court is an example to all that hard work pays off.

I know players can't be on top forever. I will definitely miss him when he's gone. Until then I will continue to lose sleep watching my favorite tennis player of all time and savor every win along the way.

Productivity

There was a time where I could work anyone under the table. I had a manger once that told me I got more accomplished in one day than 4 people. Those days are definitely behind me.

I still am a hard worker, don't get me wrong. But my productivity comes in spurts. After a really fruitful spell, I think to myself "Imagine what you could have accomplished had you worked like this all day?!" I usually think back to the extra sleep I got or the much needed rest I enjoyed and quickly dismiss that thought.

I still move at a different pace than Tony. He and I don't work well together for various reasons, but his SLOW approach to EVERYTHING makes me want to scream. He works 15 minutes and then takes a break for 30. Makes me NUTS! He usually likes it when I keep working straight through and finish whatever we're doing while he's on break. Of course he takes credit for completing the task. I think he does it just to see my head spin around. UGH!!

Today was a reasonably productive day. There are still things I would have liked to have accomplished. But they'll be there tomorrow, never fear. No one will do them in my absence, that's for sure.

Careers

As a kid, I went through multiple phases of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I ran the gamut for sure - a semi truck driver, a scientist, an astronaut, a doctor, a track Olympian, etc. None of those ever stuck as I bored easily when it came to the day to day monotony of preparing for that field.

When it came time for college and having to pick a major, I went with my heart. I have always loved history and writing. I wanted to study history and become an archaeologist. I wanted to write history books and encyclopedias. Strange I know, but I remember the footage from Tutankhamun's burial site like it was yesterday. I've always been intrigued about the way people live and the customs they follow. And being a tomboy and loving the outdoors, digging in the mud to find stuff (maybe even treasures) sounded like a great idea.

But then reality hit. Tony informed me that I would never make any money with that career and it would be a waste of an education. As young as we were and already having started a family, we were very focused on succeeding. I took his input and the challenge. I got a management information systems degree and pursued the business world.

My first job was with Bank of America (then NCNB) in their Technology department in Charlotte. I was hired into their management development program. Within the first 6 months of being there, the program changed.  It was the best thing that could have ever happened for me. They wanted to give each candidate exposure to the various back office functions of the bank to guide them in becoming general managers.

It was perfect for me. I'd stay in a role for anywhere between 9 to 18 months. Having an expiration date for each job made them more tolerable. I did my best to learn, but mostly got to figure out what I didn't want to do as a career from each. The program also provided development classes, and I learned valuable lessons in an attempt to smooth some of my rough edges.

When the training was complete, I could go anywhere I wanted in the bank. I went back to one of the groups I started in and created a new role that would focus on the skills I had honed. It was a relationship management role. It was a role where I could help people. Always the mother hen, it was the perfect fit.

From there I had Cassidi and went to a part time status. I got an opportunity to change positions when it came time for me to go back to work. I learned some more things I didn't want to be when I grew up. It got so bad, that I left the bank and became a contractor. That taught me a lot of very valuable lessons, too.

But due to the long term instability of that type of work, I went back to the bank in yet another technology group. In the 17 years I worked for the bank, I had at least 5 major role changes and at least 50 different managers, thanks to reorganizations along the way. It was not a place that I got bored, and if I did,  I just had to wait a bit for things to change.

When Jennifer went off to college, I decided I needed a REAL change. Raising her in the city provided more challenges than I was up to for Cassidi. So, I went back to school for massage and yoga. A lot of people thought I was crazy for walking away from such a great paying job with vacation and benefits. But I realized it was making me be a person that I didn't like.

We moved when Cassidi started 6th grade. I still worked from home with the bank and started my massage and yoga on the side. I then transitioned to part time at the bank as things picked up on the other front. Finally, I felt it was time to take the leap. I went on a 6 month leave of absence to see if I could really make it. It worked, and I hung up my corporate world shoes.

I have since opened my own day spa with a business partner. It has been extremely successful financially and just as rewarding spiritually. My mother hen gets fulfilled everyday. In the pursuit of that new career, I felt God led me to it and through it. There were so many times where I was trying to cram the square peg into the round hole and then HE would get my attention. I finally learned to let go, and let God. It was a tough lesson, but thank goodness HE is truly patient.

In the last few years, I have wanted to write. I've searched and searched my soul to find the answer of getting me started. It's an unknown world that I can't attend a class to master a skill or the dynamics of the profession. I'm sure there is a "how to" book somewhere that I could buy to get me going. I just need the impetus to get the ball rolling.

I think I have finally found just that. In documenting Eleanor's cancer journey, I received numerous words of encouragement about my writing style and skills. Many people said "You need to write a book". I've been trying to figure out just what it is I'm supposed to write. I want it to be something that is helpful to others and not just about making money. The other day God finally made it clear to me what I'm supposed to do.

Being the history and human condition lover that I am, it only makes sense for me to write about people. When my Grandmother died, my Mom wanted me to write her story based on the accounts of her family. I didn't get around to it by the time Mom died 11 months later. And then of course when she died, I wanted her story told. Again, I have not gotten that done. Finally now that Tony's Mom has died, I want her story shared. These thoughts have been mulling around in my head, but I never put two and two together until recently.

I need to be the one to write these stories. Not just for these people, but for anyone that has lost someone that they want their story captured for future generations. It is sort of like ancestory.com with the pieces woven together into a patchwork quilt representing each loved ones life.  What better way to honor those that have gone before us than to document their life so their great grandchildren know where they get their stubborn streak or deep blue eyes.

I was so excited when God opened my eyes to his plan. There are a few kinks I have to work out in regard to just how to make this happen, but I know it's what I need to be doing. The same day I realized this, I was also working with a pregnant client. It struck me that I could also document the birth stories for Mother's to share with their children.

A biographer - that is essentially what I'd be considered. But not just of famous people that have reams and reams of information to share. But of the everyday person that lives their life putting one foot in front of the other. It's not really a unique idea, but hopefully one I can make affordable to help carry on the legacies of those that have gone before us.

Careers used to be for a lifetime. I'm so grateful to have been afforded the luxury to experiment and explore so many. I hope this one is as exciting and educational as the others have been. I know that God has led me through this journey all along. I doubt this will be my final destination, but only another patch to add  to my own quilt of life.