Thank you, Mr. Labor

I’m going camping this weekend!  We have chosen to remember Mr. Labor this weekend for all of the great things he has done to make this country the great nation it is today and my family has chosen to celebrate that great man by going camping.

The camper's television!

I am really looking forward to camping!  I’m going to take my dogs and head south for cooler weather and not do much else but lie in my hammock and take my dogs on some awesome hikes.  I think I am going to bring my song books (and maybe even my guitar) and see if I can’t get some long awaited writing in too.

Any view is made better looking up from a hammock - cartoon by by Arnie Levin

The motivation for writing has been more than a little lacking these days.  It is half of the reasons I started writing this blog in the hopes that forcing myself to sit down and write something, even if it is only stupid, pointless thoughts would inspire me . . . and maybe it is working.

I actually got my song book out today to look at some of the unfinished lines I have written on receipts, traffic tickets, and anything else I could find that was close enough to me at the time of inspiration.  I had forgotten about many of them, but remembered many more and I was taken back by some of them and how good they sounded to me now.

 Many of them did not seem that good to me at the time I wrote them down, especially the ones written in the last five years and the few that I tried to finish during that period seemed forced and trite.

But now they appear to have potential and I am excited to see what may become from this weekend.  Who knows, I may come back with the first completed song I’ve written in over four years.  That is kind of exciting!

                                      I miss writing songs a lot sometimes.

Now, I understand that this is a family campout and I am probably being unrealistic as to how much alone time I will have with my thoughts.  But the potential is there and that is more than there has been in a long time.  So thank you very much Mr. Labor, here’s to you!

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Until next we meet

You are important to me

If it was not apparent from my previous blog, I have been feeling a bit world-weary lately and overwhelmed by the items I have put on my plate and the items that have been placed on my plate by others . . . okay let’s be realistic, mainly the items I have placed on my plate. I was questioning whether or not I would be able to do everything that had to get done.  What’s worse, I was questioning the point of accomplishing those items.  I was feeling a bit down on myself and a bit depressed.

Mmmm . . . that's more like it!

 The universe has a funny way of giving you what you need right when it is needed most.

Not 24 hours after voicing my frustrations publicly, I woke up to a message from one of my cousins saying that she was thinking about me.  Once a week we used to get together and watch the latest episode of Dawson’s Creek (feel free to get all of the jokes out of your system now).  She was missing those times and just wanted to let me know it.

Say what you want, but Joey was cute!

A little later that day I was shopping at Target when a young lady that was passing me took a look at me and exclaimed, ‘Hey, you’re Eric from HOBY!’  I stopped and went through my mental rolodex of names, frantically trying to find hers (I am soooo bad with names).  She told me her name and assured me that it was alright that I didn’t remember since I had so many HOBY names to remember.  She told me how much she enjoyed the last food bank event we did and I told her about the upcoming community service events we had and voiced my hopes that I would see her there.  After some more brief small talk about her senior year and such we parted and continued with the rest of our shopping.

The problem with my rolodex is it doesn't have a back so the pages keep falling off.

 All of the sudden I was riding high!

I thought about it a bit and wondered why.  What changed?  I still felt overwhelmed by my to do list.  I still felt bad for having to close achapter of my life. The message from my cousin and a conversation with a high school student didn’t change that . . . Then the reason was obvious.

Acknowledgement.

The things I was doing made a difference in the lives of people around me and two of them let me know it that day.  I was still tired and weary, but it was worth it now.

Acknowledgement. Such a simple thing that is easy to do and can make all the difference in the world to someone. It isn’t done nearly enough in my opinion.  I know I could make a better effort to acknowledge  the people around me.

So thank you to my cousin and Tess (I won’t be forgetting your name for a while now!), and the people that encouraged me after I posted my last blog.  You made a big difference in my day and gave me a better outlook.

Until next we meet.

Hard to say goodbye

Yesterday I turned in all my materials to the Red Cross to take an extended leave of absence (likely permanent).  That was pretty hard . . .

Seven years ago I got it into my head that I was living a pretty self-centered life and first looked into joining a local DAT team for the Red Cross.  It has been an enriching experience that I will not soon forget and I appreciate all of the amazing people I was fortunate enough to meet there.  The Red Cross reminded me of the deep passion I had in myself in service to others.

I have learned a lot from the life and example of a great man that said it best in a quote I first heard almost 20 years ago.  ‘I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.’

'Choose your teachers well because that is your responsibility' -Andy Hersey.  Photo by Yousuf Karsh

  

I am grateful for the happiness that I have gained through my service in the Red Cross.  But lately I have felt overwhelmed and I feel like I might be losing myself in my service.  For someone who truly believes in the need for balance I sure do swing from one extreme to the other like a pendulum . . .

It was a lot more fun as a kid!

The need to regain balance in my life has bubbled to the surface and I feel the quality of my activities slipping. I wish I could have 10 more of me so that I can do everything that I want to accomplish.  The opposite reality, that I have limitations, is often hard to accept.  This has been a decision over a year in the making.

So now I must take a hard look at the direction my life is going, combined with a realistic look at my personal limitations, and close a meaningful chapter of my life.  That sucks.

Until next we meet.

Dance Like A Goober

I never thought I danced very much . . . that is, until facebook came a long.  People have tagged me in at least half a dozen photos where I was breaking it down in one form or another.

Please note that I did not say I was a good dancer.  On the contrary, I am pretty sure I am a horrible dancer.  But sometimes in life you are just so happy that there is nothing else you can do but dance.  And I am a pretty happy person – most days.

I think one of the best things I have going for myself is that I don’t let what other people think of me stop myself from doing most things.  I do not want to give the impression here that I am never concerned with how other people perceive me; I just think I move past it easier than most people.

See, the thing is I don’t think many people really are good dancers.  But that is not the point of dancing; at least not in my opinion. The point of dancing is the freedom to express the joy you are feeling when words just aren’t enough.

My cousin had a milestone birthday on Fat Tuesday this year and we went to Mardi Gras to celebrate.  As stated on facebook, one of the highlights of that night was watching me dance down Bourbon Street.  I was very happy that night, but I don’t think I ever realized that I was dancing; at least not that much. She later went on to explain that I was ‘having so much fun that it was infectious.’

That brings up another excellent point about dancing.  It is infectious.  When people see you dancing like a goober and they become aware that you do not care that you look like a goober they can’t help but smile, or laugh.  Pretty soon they may even begin to tap their foot or shake their hips ever so slightly and, before they know it, they may even start dancing themselves.  However far they let themselves get, they are happier than before you started dancing.

How could that ever be considered a bad thing?!

Therefore, if you are ever so happy that you can hardly contain yourself, I encourage you to dance like no one is watching you; especially if everyone is.

So to help with this encouragement here is some music you can't help but dance to and, I present to you sandalmarks dancing like a goober . . . courtesy of facebook:

Until next we meet.