Friends Live On

Yesterday, a dear friend lost her battle with cancer.  I had the privilege to sit by her bedside and tell her how amazing she was hours before she died.  Today the hole in my heart is being filled with precious memories of countless examples of her character, faith, love, loyalty, friendship, motherhood, leadership, integrity and strength.

We are rarely able to  truly convey how deeply we are  touched by those we consider dear friends.  We realize with death that physical absence cannot steal precious memories.  Thankfully, those we love live forever in our hearts and memories.

Two Ways to Get 100%

I count the number of people ahead of me in line and calculate how long my 6 mile commute home will be based upon traffic flow at the 2 mile mark.  So it's not surprising that I track completion of my run route by percentage completion at various points.  This morning as I was doing my mental math it also occurred to me that any steps I take are 100% better than inactivity.

It helps keep me motivated to have different ways to measure success.

How do you measure progress?

Little Irritants Aren't About Me

One of the hardest things to remember when we're stressed or frustrated, is that things didn't suddenly conspire to increase our angst.  It's often the way I'm viewing the circumstances that make it seem that way.  Some interesting things to rationally consider when we're very calm and controlled:

• traffic lights don't randomly turn red when a given car appears
• the trains that block traffic on Westheimer, San Felipe and Richmond travel on their schedule, not ours
• processing cut-off and pick-up times are uniformly applied
• expiration dates are set well in advance of our intent to use an item or service
• the "change password gremlins" have a preset timeline independent of our important deadlines
• adult proof packaging is intended to protect our children, not preclude us from accessing products
• airlines don't intentionally delay flights
• the copier and printer have a preset number of pages a cartridge will produce
• retail stores have established times for opening and closing
• many professional service providers tend to keep the same business hours that we do - so that very early or late appointment that would be ideal for us isn't an option
• Daylight Savings Time isn't optional
• the change in the postal rate was universal and every conceivable stamp denomination is not available (remember this if you receive snail mail from me with three stamps - 32 cent,  10 cent and 4 cent)
• the office doesn't have a mother-in-charge, we all are expected to be responsible adults
• the person declaring urgency or importance doesn't always have sway with the person assessing the situation
• there is no organizational mandate to have only one cashier

The list, is of course, endless.  Which minor irritants challenge you to remember "it's not all about me"/

Beauty of the Detour

Most often, when challenged by a detour, I fret.  Expected timed appearance is usually the source of my detour stress. This weekend I had the chance to embrace the beauty of a detour.  My run route was altered by a fire truck attending to a gas leak, caused by demolition, so that a home site can be reconstructed for new owners.

Had I been racing to my next meeting, I would have been stressed.  Fortunately, I'd already altered my weekend schedule and readily adjusted my route.  The detour allowed me to drop a layer of clothing along the route, increase the length of my run and see what's happening in a different part of my neighborhood.

New Uses for Things We Have

It is always energizing to me to express creativity and/or save time, money and other resources by embracing  things we have.  Some love single purpose tools.  I love things that meet multiple needs or that can be creatively re-purposed   Some of my top of mind favorites include:

• binder clips as chip clips and money clips for active pursuits
• Kleenex boxes to contain the endless supply of shopping bags (even when we often take our own reusable bags)
• contact lens case for travelling with preferred shampoos and conditioner ( can still avoid checked bags)
• law books or other hardback favorites stacked as a table
• ring holder as a visible, attractive and accessible hair band holder
• pine cones as filler around a potted plant

How do you creatively re-purpose things in your life?

What a Difference a Year Makes!

It's hard to believe that I've been running for a year!  Little did I know at this time last year that the novel activity I accidentally tried would become an important and positive part of my life.  This one year milestone caused me to think about why something I'd never considered embracing would make such a difference.  There are so many positives including:

• Open to new activities and ways of thinking
• Influenced by positive role models
• Focused on health
• Balancing active and busy
• Setting and achieving a fitness goal 
• Enjoying the outdoors
• Seeing neighbors
• Don't have to schedule it, able to just lock the door and start the route on my time frame
• Time to think and pray without distractions

You are Strong

I recently had the chance to engage with some survivors of the dysfunction caused by a loved one's addiction.  On the surface, there was fragility.  But once they shared their stories, their great strength was evident.

We often see what we expect.  Though I expected fragility, I found their strength.  If we consciously look for  and acknowledge the strength in others, everyone wins.