Pink Plastic Flamingos and God's sense of humour

It stands to reason that the inventor of wit would be a great one Himself. Here's a fun example in the form of something that happened to my sister on Friday.

My sister's co-worker was cleaning out a storeroom and found a brand new, pink, plastic flamingo - you know - the lawn variety. As soon as my sis saw it, she asked to borrow it for a few minutes so she could menace another friend with it. Off she went to D's office and poked the head of the flamingo through the doorway, letting it just kind of loom there for a bit. She stood waiting for a little while, and then D appeared, looking rather haunted. My sis thought he was just being silly and overdramatizing, but then he asked if she had time for a story and pulled her into his office. On the way to work that morning, D had passed a funeral and had had a feeling that it might have been for someone he knew (I don't know why - maybe he saw friends' cars or something, or it could have just been one of those feelings) and later that day his wife called to tell him that an older gentleman from church whom they had really liked had passed away and that had, indeed, been the funeral which D had passed. D was understandably upset that no one had bothered to tell them that this man had died or inform them of the funeral time. In their church there had been a history of planting a pink plastic flamingo in the yard of someone who was noticed NOT giving offering. This was done in good fun, don't get me wrong, but D was expostulating to his wife on the phone "sure, I get a pink flamingo if I don't pay my offering, but someone dies and I don't even HEAR about it! Shouldn't I really get a pink plastic flamingo for this?" And that was when my sister just happened to stick the pink plastic flamingo through the door. :o)

So I guess we should all keep our inner ears open to those little nudgings and promptings we feel from time to time. Sometimes we are called to do great things, but other times we are called to deliver a message that's just as important, even if it does take the form of a pink plastic flamingo.

The Journey - my mini-epiphany

I have really appreciated the words "the joy is in the journey" in the past, but you know, I don't think I ever consciously applied them to the biggest Journey - LIFE. As I wrote in my journal last night, I had this mini epiphany that just kind of overwhelmed me as I was writing. Here's my entry.

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My intention is that my Journey will bring me to the place and position in which I ultimately envision myself. However, this is an evolving path; new goals appearing as earlier ones are met. The joy is in the Journey. This is not a constant, unfulfilled striving for perfection; it is a constant spiraling both inward and outward of self-betterment. Each step along this sacred pathway is something to be treasured and enjoyed. Even mistakes and shortcomings are to be savored. Sometimes they are the best teachers, and bring about the greatest changes. Remember to enjoy the journey.

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It was a big thing for me to come to grips with not *waiting* to feel fulfilled. I'm a very easygoing, laid-back kind of person, but I still found it enormously freeing to think of allowing myself to really enjoy the Journey more than striving for "someday." You know that "someday" when you have the perfect house, or more $, or you're done with school, or the kids are older, or you've lost some weight, or whatever those things are that we tend to wait for. That doesn't mean I don't still strive for my goals. By all means, I'm as fired up as ever! But I intend to not put off that feeling of fulfillment until "someday." I intend to enjoy every moment and just add more enjoyment on top of it all as I reach my various goals. :o)


I posted that over on a message board I go to and received this amazing quote in reply (source unknown):

"Sometimes on the journey towards happiness, we must stop and allow ourselves to BE happy."


I need to put that on a plaque.

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I've been sewing again! Some birthday things for a friend's son (and I'm actually ahead of time for once) and some dolly bibs and wipes for a trade and for sale. My lucky children will score all the blems, LOL! I think some dolly clothes are in order, too.

Gogo gave us a scare with a lump on his neck. I took him in and it seems that he'll be OK as long as it keeps shrinking (lymph node.) He has a re-check in 2 weeks.

Still waffling on the vaccination issue. The diseases would be terrible, but OTOH, my 2 who don't have all their vax are my healthiest kids. If they get something we all get, they get it very mildly compared to us. Sometimes they are the only ones to NOT catch what we all have. Sigh... (seems a no-brainer sometimes, but other times, not)

Just finished Harry Potter 6 not long ago (re-read them all) and was so shocked. I was just dazed for the rest of the day. Then I googled "____(spoiler)" is really alive" and there are a lot of folks who seem to think so, and with good reasons. I'm in that camp, too, since I can't/won't accept that death. Now I need to re-read it with looking for more clues in mind...

Now I'm re-reading the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife so I can get on with The Amber Spyglass. I WAS reading Angels and Demons, but I couldn't take not having pics when I know there's an illustrated/annotated version available, so I've put it down (with difficulty) to wait 'til I have that one.

We had the library summer reading party yesterday, and for my book I chose "Walking the Labyrinth." Looks Good! It was a tough choice between that and one of the Mrs. Pollifaxes though. :o) Guess I'll try to put those on hold.

I started a scrappin' stash game on Amity's and have been doing more pages than ever! What a motivator that has been!

I don't spend much time on the computer these days, but maybe I can put in some more mins on my blog than I have been. Life is busy! But so rewarding! :o)