Meter Monday

Amazing season for my Packers, even if the NFC Championship wasn't so good...here is my ode to the end of the season, in Haiku:

Go Pack Go!
Superbowl Sunday
Will not be quite as special
Always a Cheesehead.

Spiritual Song Sunday

I love music. All kinds of music. I don’t really have a whole lot of music that I hate, even though most rap does fall into the category of music I’d rather not listen to.

I am a church-goer. I feel that my faith helps me to deal with life problems and find hope in a world that often feels hopeless.

My Sunday meetings are filled with worship music. I love to sing hymns, but many times I don’t get through the song. See I have this disorder. It’s called “when I feel the Spirit, I ugly cry.” Obviously it isn’t an actual diagnosis, but I have diagnosed myself with it.

Spiritual music just makes me cry. Today we sang a hymn entitled: “In Humility, Our Savior.”  It’s a short song with only two verses, but it is packed with meaning.
These words of the first verse got me:
“Let me not forget, O Savior,
Thou didst bleed and die for me
When thy heart was stilled and broken
On the cross at Calvary.”

Oh did I cry. Just so you know, it’s really hard to continue singing while crying. So, I just sat and cried.  I did join in for the second verse only to again lose it with these words:
“Then when we have proven worthy
Of thy sacrifice divine
Lord, let us regain thy presence;
Let thy glory round us shine.”

What words of hope. How personal they are to me. To know my Savior bled and suffered for me personally, for all my shortcomings and heartbreaks. And then to one day truly be worthy of that sacrifice and be able to mingle with Jesus again is hope indeed!

Something You May Not Know About Me...

I may or may not be obsessed with Kelly Clarkson and her music.

I have seen her in concert 11 times.

The picture above is at her concert on The Today Show in Central Park in New York City. I told my mom she was doing a free show there about three week before it happened and Mom said to book plane tickets. I loved that trip to NYC. It rained that morning. In fact, we were all drenched. The cool part was that I think the rain deterred many people  from coming. I got like four rows away from her on stage. I think tickets for that run about $200 these days, and it was free that day. Great memories.

It is in my bucket list to meet Kelly. If you know her you should tell her that we could be best friends. Also, if you feel like nominating me for any of the categories on her talk show that would get me to her show and to meet her, feel free to fill out the information HERE

What celebs would you like to meet?

Fitness Friday!

 This week

I have always loved lifting weights, but this year I have been super motivated to do more of it. I do not lift heavy but I do lift lots of reps and I feel the burn. It is super convenient to have a Weight Conditioning class for my first hour of the day. I work right along side my students. . 

I have also lost about 15 pounds this school year. It isn’t exactly where I wanted to be by now but I am making progress. “Progress not Perfection!”

I have also given up Diet Coke. (I have probably talked about this a million times already. It’s a life changer.)Well, I am working on it. “Progress not perfection!” I drink it when I’m driving a van of smelly boys for hours. Like tonight as we drove from to play basketball in Fort Duchesne, Utah. It was also snowy and the wiper fluid was out in a treacherous canyon. I was okay with the boost...although it is starting to not taste as amazing as it used to. 

Do something for your health today. Make sure it is something you like so you will keep doing it. Remember, “progress not perfection!”

Deep Thought Thursday

The headline read "Train Vs. Pedestrian"

Sounds to me almost like a fight that you can't buy tickets to.  It also sounds ridiculous.  It was not train vs pedestrian.  Perhaps the headline should read "Pedestrian vs. Pedestrian" for those final moments must have been a very intense battle. 

I don't think anybody really wants to die.  I bet those last moments may have had many tinges of regret. 

I have thought about this all week because on my daily walk with coworkers there were just short of a dozen community service vehicles on scene to deal with this incident.  I saw the cop with the drone who had found what was left of the body.  I then saw the police and fire personal walking and searching and then huddling around what was probably the spot.  I cannot imagine and do not want to know what that mass looked like. The haunting image ingrained in those service people's minds now, an addition to all the trauma they deal with daily.

A quick out for that man is now on the memory of so many.  That quick out also caused havoc for travelers for most of that day.  It's almost aggravating to think about that stuff.  We say things like, "Why didn't he just pick a different place?," or "Didn't he think of all this after stuff?"  Nope, he definitely wasn't thinking about those things.  Those irrational last thoughts were probably pretty heavy.  I don't want to know them either.  I wish somebody could have changed his mind.  My sympathy even for a stranger is strong and in those moments hoping it wasn't one of "ours."

Last year a similar disruption in travel was on the busy thoroughfare between here and Salt Lake City.  I thought the same thoughts: "Why didn't he chose a different way, a way that wouldn't have made the morning commute so difficult for so many?"  Those thoughts came to a screaming halt when I discovered who it was, a former student.  The demons he carried strong too, and I only know a few of them. 

I hate thinking, "Is it one of ours?" after every incident like this.  If only the love and support of an army of people could help win this battle.  The one that seems so impossible at times.

Train vs. Pedestrian.