My Life is a Book

Do you ever feel like you are living in a book? I do. In those moments do you ever feel like saying: 'I really don't like this chapter?' I did today. Now before you say, "But you are living in paradise?!" Let me explain...

I woke up this morning to run the Mount after, yet another night of not sleeping through the night. As I woke up, I thought I better face the music. What music you ask? The music of the yummy food in NZ. Apparently I have enjoyed the food a little bit more than I thought. The only saving grace was that I weighed myself in KG. The benefit, you ask? You feel so little! Because for every 2.2lbs it is only 1KG. As I saw the number I quickly did the math and thought that isn't too bad...then I actually really sat down and multiplied it by 2.2 not just did it my head. YIKES...I like the food over 10lbs more....Okay I can deal with this I thought. Plus the number in KG seems so wonderful. I didn't freak out too much. But on my run I was trying to figure out some goals that I could lose it by. (I need goals to hit or I just won't do it because I like the challenge of a date to shoot for) As I was picking a date to try and lose it by I thought I had better figure out how many KGs I would hope to be to be back to my normal weight. That is when KG isn't as fun--it was only 5KG that I would be losing! All that work for only 5! But, alas, I will now have a new challenge, since my "run up the Mount by the end of March" will be achieved by Monday.

I ran to the Mount and then up it almost the whole way. I have one more little section and then I will have ran up the entire thing. (I am conquering it section by section with Monday being DDAY...the entire thing!) It isn't pretty, me running up the Mount but I will finish it. As I was struggling up the Mount this morning--wondering why I made this silly and goal and beyond that why I am making myself keep it. I got a phone call. I didn't answer it because seriously, my lungs had no more air in them to even answer my phone, much less talk. Well, I on my way down my brother and sister in law called me! It was them and they just called to say hi.

It just felt so much like a story out of a book--my brother and his wife, who live in Germany and who are moving to Holland in a couple of months called me. I felt like a character out of one of my books--"she ran down the Mount, exhausted she wondered what her day held and if anyone remembered her today...ring ring. Her brother called right then and they spent the next 30 minutes just chatting about life and family and home."

We talked about my brother's job--He is a Major in the Air Force and I am so proud of him. And Holly (my sis in law) and me talked all about the books we like to read. It was such a neat surprise in my day and a great way to end my run!

As I looked forward to the rest of my day I was excited about what was ahead. I had coffee with my closest friend here, a meeting with good friends to help them with their business, and two more mentoring meetings....plus I was going to attempt my mom's lasagna tonight. What a great day!!

I had such a good time with my friend and walked away so thankful that she is in my life. She has become my friend here that I can freak out with, cry, scream, laugh, or just be me with and she still likes me when it's over:) I feel so lucky to have made such a good friends here, in such a short amount of time.

After that I sat with another close friend and helped her and her business partner figure out how to best work together and use what they are good at to make their business successful. I left that meeting and was heading into another one that I was so looking forward too with a young girl here who is amazing. I can't believe I do this! I never get used to seeing people discover that they were created for something more than average, that there is a Creator that says they are unique, that they have incredible talents to offer this world.

In the midst of all those thoughts my phone rang letting me know I had a text. It was from my Aunt Denise...which always makes me smile to see her name pop up on my phone. It was a short text telling me that my Nana and Grandad were giving me a large sum of money since they had given some to my brother and cousin. Was I shocked? Yes. Are my grandparents extremely generous and loving? Yes. Do I deserve it? No. Does it cover my school loan payment the next 6 months while I am in NZ? YES. Was I a little bummed? Yes.

Again, you ask how could you be bummed you just got a huge amount of money you weren't expecting? Well, first let me say I am INCREDIBLY thankful, lest I get a million comments letting me know how ungrateful I am. I was a little bummed because I was remembering that my brother and cousin got their money when they got married. Seriously am I that old? Did my grandparents give up hope that I would ever get married so they decided to kick down the cash now? YIKES this isn't really my life is it? This only happens in books I read. When did I become "that" girl?

I promptly texted my Aunt back asking why I was getting it now...did they give up hope on me? And she quickly responded NO they just don't want me (she takes care of their finances) to forget to give it to you. (which is funny in and of itself because my Aunt is amazing at finances) And she added that they said that when I get married they will get me a nice gift. Oh...okay I feel so much better (said in a slightly sarcastic tone)

I had to laugh at myself today while I had a slight pity party for a few minutes--okay let's be honest for about an hour. I just received money out of no where and all I could focus on was the negative. Then I really began to laugh as pictured someone reading the book of my life, thinking this is a great 'chapter'--conflict, emotion, the protagonist is also the antagonist of her own life and humor (seriously I got a text telling me the best and worse news in the same 10 word text message--only in this day and age!),

After a quick call to my friend from earlier in the day in which I laughed as I told her, promptly following that up with I might cry in a little bit over this but let's just laugh at this for a second. You see, our whole talk earlier in the day was about how we view things from a specific vantage point. We see through these glasses that are much like 3D glasses. If we don't have them on we see the picture and it is fine, but once we put them on things jump out at us, we get scared because there are things closer than we want them to be, and reality feels so out of whack all of a sudden. The odd things is we each have our own 3D glasses. When I looked at my friend's hard situation today there was no fear, no scary things jumping out, no hoping that the "movie" I was watching would end. It was just normal, almost uneventful. But for her there were monsters lurking all over the places with the glasses she was looking through. The same was true for me. I faced a million monsters today with one simple text message. Yet when I called Michelle she was able to, yes laugh and cry with me, but also tell me the uneventful "movie" she saw when she looked at my situation because she was not wearing my 3D glasses.

I guess we always have a choice don't we? Is the glass half empty or half full? Some days that just doesn't work though because you actually want to throw the glass across the room or at someone's head! That is when it is good to have a friend that helps you see what the "movie" really is. If it is too hard to take your glasses off, they simply describe to you what they are seeing. It doesn't make all the monsters go away but it does get you to at least blink and maybe even shut your eyes for a minute. Then as you regroup, you actually have the courage to do what it takes to get those glasses off and view the world through truth, not through past hurts or future fears.

I feel lucky, I have a lot of friends that help me with my 3D glasses. And, at the end of the day, that is what I a most thankful for...friends who love me, parents who support me, family who know just when to call, new friends who text you at just the right moment with just the right words. I knew when the day started it was just going to be "one of those days" and that it was...

The emotion is over and actually I found a lot of humor in the emotional roller coaster of my day. And I go to bed tonight overwhelmed that financially staying in NZ just got a whole lot less stressful. Thank you Nana and Grandad! I love you very much!!