Thursday, February 28, 2008

Movers and Shakers

My husband and I have moved 26 times in our married lives. Our children, piano and dog have moved many of those times. Now one child has moved away, the lovely dog died and we traded the petite piano in for a small spinnet. However, the husband and wife still remain.

Our moves have included 4 states, 8 cities, and 26 different houses. For each move we have gotten rid of boxes and/or truckloads of stuff. We have cleaned and reorganized. We have thrown out and given away more stuff than the world has ever seen in any one dumping ground in any large metropolis on this planet. We could have supplied clothes and furniture for 5-10 families.

Based on that information, you would think that means we hardly own anything. Not so! The truth is that if we were to move again we would need to again get rid of boxes and truckloads of stuff. When stuff seems to start cloning itself and when the windows need to be washed, we know it's time to start thinking about moving. I'm thinking about it.

It's mostly exciting and fun to move--getting to know the city, the grocery store, the post office, the parks, the fast food places, the restaurants. One mainstay of most of our city moves has been that they were mostly made because my husband took a position in a church as pastor, associate pastor, music director or principal. I, as the "little woman" (I'm not really all that little) got to go along. I have learned to like the nomadic life style. And God has always blessed us.

I hope all the moves in your life and mine are in God's will and will be the adventures we hope for.

Added note: As for the "shakers" part of this blog. Sometimes some of us who are well-endowed in many places could be known as "shakers". Oh, yes, we might as well acknowledge it.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Odd People

I've thought of many things I could write on my first blog entry--something amazing, funny, uplilfting and memorable. While I could write one blog to cover all those possibilities, I wouldn't want to set up expections for future blogs that might put pressure on me and destroy my very healthy confidence. Therefore, I will only write about how much I like odd people.

Odd people are what make the world an interesting place. As a teacher I've always found that odd children keep the classroom from becoming too mundane (as if it ever could be). I like the little girl who some days came to class and called herself a different name and acted like a different, smarter person. I like the student who wanted everything to be really neat and organized, and as she stood by my desk started stacking my many poky stacks so they were neat and lined up. She then stopped herself as she realized this was the teacher's desk. I like the boy who believed the bones dug up in his backyard were really dinosaur bones, and I wasn't able to change his mind. I like the piano student who often repeats my every direction to illustrate she has heard and understands.

Under this group of "odd people' actually falls everyone I've ever known very well. Deep down we are all odd. If we don't let people get to know us and we don't get to know them, we will never experience the "oddness" and we will miss a blessing in life.

If you are odd, I want to get to know you. Can you reveal the truth? Tell me some odd things about yourself. Queen

Monday, February 25, 2008

Waiting for lightning

Lightning never did strike. It's just as well. It would have probably killed me. Hopefully I can write for this blog without lightning.