Sunday, February 13, 2011

Happy Birthday to me!

It’s been a crazy around our house for the past few days. My husband, who was traveling in Europe, came down with some nasty I-don’t-even-know-what-it-was cold/virus/whatever while there. Then he had to fly home with said affliction, something that puts us both on edge ever since, years back, when he was similarly ill and flew home from the Orient. On that flight, the pressure drove the congestion down his eardrums. The result? Bells Palsy.

No fun.

Taking a sigh of relief that the flight hadn’t created a reoccurrence of that fateful Orient flight, he settled into being home and trying to get well. But…that didn’t go quite as planned. He did get over the European ailment he had, yet it was immediately replaced with a cold.

Ugh!

Then came Friday night and into Saturday morning. Our granddaughter had been suffering a cold and was teething, the results of which had been the regular symptoms. But then, her temp spiked. At 103 degrees, our daughter decided it was best to take the baby to the hospital. Six restless hours passed as hospital staff ran test after test, suspecting an infection, but finding none.

Finally, they sent her home stabilized and with a reduced fever of 101, an improvement but her still not out of the woods. Since being home, the baby, as expected, is too miserable to want to eat, sleep or do anything other than look at us with that do-something-to-make-me-feel-better look, the one that melts my heart.

Throw into that, my birthday today, Valentines’ Day tomorrow and the baby’s mother’s birthday the following day.

Whew! Busy times, indeed!

But we’re doing what we Hanna’s do best. We’re digging in and getting through it. My husband is feeling better today. Kai, did get a little food in her and has slept a bit more. My birthday was celebrated, and we’ll celebrate the upcoming events. Some might question why we’d do the latter. My answer, because if we don’t make an effort to celebrate the good things in life, then what will provide us the fuel needed to get through the tougher stuff?

Saturday, February 12, 2011

There’s something extra cool about feeling the love of your friends. Sure we know they love us, that they tell us, that they do little things to show us. But to feel their love…that’s pretty amazing!

That’s been happening to me over the past couple of days, and it humbles me. Sunday is my birthday. Friends have organized a special celebration for me and another friend beginning tonight. I say beginning tonight, as my friend’s birthday is today. So we’ll celebrate their special day until midnight when my festivities will kick in.

To me, birthdays are super significant, for they are when we get to honor their meaning—the birth of that special someone. Yes, we do and say things throughout the year to show our appreciation and love, but the day—the actual birthday—that’s paramount for me.

I wrote earlier this week that over a six-day period, our family has a lot of birthdays and Valentines Day thrown in for good measure. Some seemed surprised that we go to the effort to make each and every actual birthday a recognized celebration. To me, I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way, for it’s the actual birthday that brought that special someone into the world. And had they not been born, they wouldn’t be such an integral part of my life. And so, yes, I celebrate their birth, existence and special place in my heart on their actual birthday, allowing them to feel my love in the process.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Earlier today, I was running one of my favorite mountain trails when up ahead I spotted two men approaching. As we drew closer, I noticed that one of the men looked like a Mr. Universe, while the other was blind. Carrying his cane, though not using it, I was impressed with how well the blind man was navigating his way down the steep incline littered with stray rocks, pebbles, ruts and raised roots. The man didn’t falter or slow his pace. Instead, he relied heavily on his other senses to carry him across the terrain without incident.

Later in the day, I got held up in traffic. Inching along, and finally coming to the source of the delay, I spotted what had been a bad accident—two cars involved. Both had spun out of control. And the front end of one was wrapped around a street pole. Off to the side, I noticed the passengers, and gave thanks that they were all okay. Well…that is…except for one young man. As I looked on, I noticed his arm was already in a sling and his leg messed up, from some other incident. Hobbling away from the car he had exited, he looked a bit dazed but went to help others. Watching him, I couldn’t help but think that his day just got a whole lot worse. Already recovering from some other set of injuries, he now had to deal with just having been in a terrible car accident.

In the early evening, while waiting for my car to get an oil change, I watched the news and was delighted to hear of the good news in Egypt. It still baffles my mind that in just over two weeks the revolutionaries were able to pull off what no others had since the 1950’s. Still more intriguing was when I watched a man interviewed who had Facebook written across his forehead. When asked the significance, he told how everyone had organized ahead of time on Facebook to know where and when to show up to begin the revolution that ultimately freed their country. I was stunned.

What do these three tales have in common, and why did I opt to share them? Each demonstrated something I am most fond of—human nature to go deep within, locate one’s limits and then push beyond them.

In the case of the blind man, he could have stayed off the challenging mountain trail, or had his friend guide him down by holding his arm or staying right beside him. But he didn’t. Instead, he opted to push himself to accomplish what he wanted.

The already-injured young man in the car accident could have been ranting and raving and adopting a woe-why-me attitude, but he didn’t. Instead, he overlooked his own discomfort and saw to the needs of others.

And the revolutionaries could have continued living under the corrupt government their ancestors had, but they were willing to strive for something more. To not only push the limits, but also to organize a state-of-the-art revolution set up with pinpoint accuracy and that had minimalistic collateral damage.

Don’t you just love it when you hear stories about folks triumphing? I know I do!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

It’s ironic that I was just blogging about hummingbirds. How they flit from one thing to another. And then came today, one of those days where from even before my eyes open, I feel like I’m running a race where I start out behind.

Like that hummingbird, I flitted from one thing to the next today, with a schedule that had no wiggle room. So, when things didn’t go quite right and the minute pockets of time I was supposed to have got gobbled up by mishaps, how did I react? Well, in the past, I would have gotten upset, frustrated and then angry that things weren’t playing out the way I had hoped.

But I’ve worked hard over the past few years to improve upon my tolerance, self-expectations and self. As such, when my carefully micro-planned day began crumbling here and there, I took deep breaths and remembered the valuable lessons I’ve learned from treasured friends who help to keep me balanced. They are constantly reminding me that I am human. It’s okay if everything doesn’t get done. And above all, to remember to smile and laugh my way through the more challenging moments.

So, that’s how I got through my day. I’m currently eating my second bowl of oatmeal—a good source of nutrition and what I had time to make, and am getting ready to head out the door to yet another meeting. Did my day go as I’d expected? No. Am I okay with that? Yes, for at several points, I took stock of how things were going and reprioritized what had to get done—today. The rest? It can wait until tomorrow. After all…I’m only human.