From the desk of the President

"I keep a to-do list in my desk. It's ambitious, but you and I didn't set out to do easy things."

I know this is the text of a solicitation email, and I know we of good conscious and civic responsibility need to encourage our elected officials to hear our criticisms as well as our affirmations.

But today I am just going to be thankful we have a  leader that didn't set out to do easy things.

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.

 

 -Buddha

One week

In a week I get the keys to my new place!

Moving is this weird, psychologically challenging, physically draining and life-story exciting thing. I'm going from the middle of nowhere to the city, from with people and cat to sans roommates, and from one of the most prolonged periods of my life to the newest and most unknown.

Both O the cat and I are experiencing some separation anxiety, but we know it will all turn out okay in the end.

Beautiful words about God in relationship with us

Pieces and snippets of what I've recently read:

...from the knowing of my head to the bleeding of my heart...

...it is helpful to recall that Jesus did not write a book but lived a life...

...and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks...

...My God, I would not know how to do that if You did not enable me to do it...

...If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed or color are children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try...

...above all, keep loving one another earnestly...

Ultimately

Thank you, Dad, Grandpa, and Uncle. Thank you to the families who entrusted you to service. Thank you to those others who are so dear to my friends and their families. Thank you to the young men and women I knew in high school who served and served ultimately. I do not know what courage it is that you have, but I do know that the ideals and dreams I've been privileged to grow up with are those your protections have helped provide.

Multiplicity

I've wanted to see this movie since I was a little kid, and now, thanks to random gifts of the TV at the gym, mission accomplished.

In related news, I've run 105 miles this year. If my Adidas' make it through the marathon in October, they are officially retired. My running shoes are 12 years old; they are one of my longest-standing relationships with inanimate objects and people.

Birthday Time!

Happy birthday to my awesome stepfather Special K!

I don't know if I've ever told you that you are a really great listener, but you are, and on top of that, an all-around fun guy who I continually enjoy getting to know better as we continue this thing called a happy, dare-I-say-functional family.

I hope you have an amazing day!!!

Octopodes

Me: "What's that?"

Four-year-old: "An octopus. I really love octopuses."

Me: "Really? Why do you love them?"

Four-year-old: "Well...sometimes people just know that they love things."

Normally

I'm not a huge country fan; folk, sure, all the time, but the twang usually gets to me.

There are exceptions, like songs from childhood in Frederick joked over with friends, and Lee Greenwood on the Fourth of July, every year since 1990.

And this song, which, when it somehow makes it onto my radio, especially in the car, has the tendency (and the audacity!) to bring tears to my eyes.

I think it's a good Monday song. Because Mondays need back up.  Mondays can be dream-squelchers, and we don't deal in that here.



PS - Lee Greenwood, "God Bless Canada" is almost as good!

Performance

 

 There are a lot of great things about this picture, the most of which is perhaps Brandi Carlile, of course, but it gets me thinking.

Who do you "perform" for? Why do you perform? Does an audience matter? What is, at the end of the day, your performance?

That's a lot for Sunday, but it's sunny out, so I think we can take it.

In what seems like forever...

 

While I am well ahead of last year in terms of posts, man, it's felt like an eternity since I got on here to write.

What's been going on? Mostly the same. 

Mostly work. Work has transitioned from a heavy-deadline schedule to one that is equally busy, but with a great deal of flexibility for me to set my own deadlines. Which means discipline, which means sleep, which means that, after getting not enough sleep for months and looking at the reasons for this...

...I stopped drinking caffeine. Sure, it's been six migraines in two weeks, but it's also been the best sleep I've gotten in months and the best I've felt since I don't know when. That said, I miss coffee. I see someone else carrying an iced coffee during this beautiful spring we've been having and I fantasize about it. It's ridiculous. And it's worth it, even after the headaches and one day in particular where my adenosine went back to being my sleep-wake cycle's dictator and my dopamine/glutamate rebelled. Viciously. It's worth all that to be healthier, more balanced, and able to wake up and go to sleep on my own terms.

Some running. Back and forth, around town, wearing myself down as the runs get longer and becoming rejuvenated as I think about the reasons I am doing this. I hear often from my amazing running partner and life-long friend. She tells me her training success stories, I tell her mine, and it feels like we're really doing this together, and that is the best. Friends like her are one of life's biggest gifts, and she's a constant inspiration. And so funny, which makes the times when our legs feel like 1000 pounds so much more bearable.

There's significant stress about moving. Which, honestly, has been going on since February, but comes to a head now as I am less than a month away from the actual transition, and trying to face it with grace and optimism and responsibility (plus fun and a good sense of interior design). In eighteen days I will be spending my first night at my new place, my first my place, and it is the biggest transition I will have made since September in some ways, since taking my job in other ways, and since starting college in even other ways. It is a good thing, and I am ready for it.

And then there's a happy life. I've been reading inspiring stuff, laughing at my own folly, and this afternoon I sang with a great group of people, in Davis Square, like I actually knew what I was doing. It wasn't perfect, but it was, because it was real. And because there was ice cream after.

Children's mental health - pretty much the most important thing ever.

Still on my quite impromptu hiatus from blog world this week, but I thought this quiz, these webinars, and the overall message were worth passing along before I get back to writing:

How outrageous are the barriers to children's mental health care? Take the quiz and find out! http://childmind.org/quiz

http://speakup.childmind.org/