Sometimes

It's okay to start Monday with an anthem.

Thought Provoking Question: 10 of 25

Crying is a sign of strength. Crying means that something matters, and that there are not words to express all of the meaning we place on people, moments, or feelings in this journey through life.

The first time I really remember crying, I was about two or three. I cried with my whole body, and my whole heart. I was drained when I stopped. I cried because I was powerless over my circumstances, and I didn't know where to turn.

The last time I really cried was much more recent. Like that first memory, I cried with my whole body, heart, and it drained me. The difference this time was that I cried because I had made a choice I did have power over, a tough choice, a real choice, and I was crying because I chose to place my faith in the ultimate outcome of that choice in the hands of Someone greater than myself.

I believe one of the strongest things we can ever do is to look our limitations straight in the eye, memorize their faces, and then give them a smile as the tears stream down our own. Let them know that they're welcome as a part of us, but that our full identity will stand no matter how much they might try to take us down.

As one of my favorites has said,

"Though you may hear me holler, and you may see me cry -- I'll be dogged, sweet baby, if you gonna see me die."

365

It's been a year since I laid down my sword and changed my life.

In some ways, I couldn't feel more the same.

In others, I don't recognize that person who I was, just starting to find my voice on my own, just starting to trust others to, as that sweet saying goes, more or less, sing the song of my heart back to me whenever I forgot it.

I went back to the Blue Hills today, to sit on a rock, talk with a friend, and center. After that talk, I embraced the solitude and autumn air just like I did in September 2009 when I first stepped foot into that wood, disoriented by my new home and endlessly excited about my new life.

As I walked around the pond, I felt whole, still excited about what's to come, but complete with just me there in my place.

I circled 'round, saw some couples, kids, dogs, and then got in my car to be with the people who sat with me, a stranger, on this day last year with just as much love as they would today.

Every day I am grateful for my life. But traditions, celebrations, benchmarks and milestones, big and small, deserve their special places of thanks and appreciation. To today, I say thank you. This day is full of irrefutable hope.

Political science literacy

Of all the weeks to have dropped off the face of the planet, I chose the week things got real in D.C. about Syria.

I can reengage in life. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. Life is too important to let a little sleep deprivation and general disorientation get in the way. Off to running club, to run for our women and men in uniform (not jammies and junk food, promise).

God bless us, everyone.

I'm alive

It was another training and it was another step within our organization and that is great and I am pooped.

I missed you, blog. A little piece of me went into you each week that helped me stay sane, and I am glad to be back.

At the same time, I'm going to miss this:

We're a group that simply cannot be replicated, and I am in a career that provides me everything I need - to grow, give, receive support, and to embark on so many practices of inspiration and innovation.

Here's to the experiences that stretch us to our limits, and the people who remind us why we dare be stretched.

In an effort not to be in this situation myself...

...I am commencing my usually-annual blog hiatus for work training season. Otherwise known in these quarters as "work-life balance" double gut check time.

While I would love to think that I could keep up right now with all I endeavor to do "off-season" from work in the same ways I do it , that's just not possible for the next month, and I suppose my form of "balance" looks a lot more like prioritization and knowing one's own limitations up front.

So goodbye blog, for just a little while. Soon enough, I'll be back with Beautifully-Illustrated Thought Provoking Questions, marathon countdowns, dancing mishaps, and other musings about the mesmerizing world in which our God has been gracious enough to place me.

Until then, be well and hugs.

This wrecks me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKZ4pdSU-s