Terrapin Station

Friday Five: Encounters

Martha set the Friday Five this week at RevGals: five encounters in your life leading to unexpected results.

I will be brief as i am on my tablet and don't type fast here.

* I encountered a professor in my undergraduate days whose impact was enormous and many faceted. Perhaps the greatest was that he recommended me for a job in the Study Abroad office, From that, I built a career in international education. 

* A former boyfriend influenced me tremendously in high school. He was a fairly radical individualist, and I learned much from him...to question authority, to appreciate darkness, to love turtles.

* My grandmother did not want to be embalmed nor to have strangers dress her after death. My female relatives and I did that work in the funeral home, observed by a staff member who clearly wasn't used to this sort of thing. Well, neither were any of us. Some of those present remember it with horror, but it marks an incredibly important point for me. It was the most sacred and tender scene I had ever experienced, until...

* My grandfather died three weeks after his wife. He was 89 and not particularly ill, but shortly after her funeral he got sick and went to the hospital. I dropped everything and flew back to be there. As it developed, I stayed with him in the hospital through his death. Being from out of town gave me total freedom to concentrate on him and not on quotidian duties. During that time, I had precious one on one time with him. I rescued him from the chaplain who came around and said things like, "it's all part of God's plan." And I was there as he died. I watched him doing essential and difficult work and was privileged to witness it. Since that time I have felt that hospice work was a calling, perhaps as a volunteer in my retirement. 

 Aaaaaand...

* Searching around the Web one day in 2005, I found some women who were in ordained ministry and talking about it on blogs. From that gre RevGalBlogPals, which has been one of my primary communities since then. What a gift! Could I have ever imagined the friendships, travel, spiritual growth I would gain? I just thought I was buying a t shirt. 

Testimony

 

As is my custom, I am overthinking the hell out of this star word: Testimony.

Does it mean I have to start proselytizing on street corners?

Does it mean I need to be LDS (in that church, "testimony" is a very particular thing and you can find a lot of stuff about it on the web)

For today, I think it means telling my truth. Which will mean knowing my truth. Which will mean a hard look at some things.

All for now.

Random Friday Five

From RevKarla at RevGals: Happy Friday, dear friends!

I am feeling all in the moment, or at least the past few days moment, so our random FF is focused on the last couple of days (or week, or however you want to interpret this….)

So, without further ado….

1.  What is the best thing you have had to eat in the last couple of days? My coworker John brought me a salmon croquette he made last night. It reminded me of my grandmother, and it was a delicious and protein-rich breakfast on a day when I "forgot" to eat one.  :)

2.  What is the topic/subject of the best thing you have read in the last couple of days? It would have to be "One Weird Old Trick to Undermine the Patriarchy." Go, read! Rejoice!!

3.  Who would you like to give a shout out to that has been in your life the last couple of days? It would have to be my dear husband, with whom I have had some important conversations...the kind that most people shy away from. And with whom I am more and more myself (doesn't that feel good!) I think maybe he is finding the same thing. He is now on a motorcycle trip and I am delighted for him.

4.  How have you practiced self-care in the last couple of days? Hum. Well, I've started taking some supplements to help with night sweats. While they don't seem to be doing much (so far), I am now having and remembering lots and lots of vivid dreams. Taking some time to sit with those, after waking up, feels like self-care.

Also, I am now a devotee of the Egoscue Method for stopping chronic pain. I have the video and do a quick workout most mornings, and it is revolutionizing my hip and leg pain, my movement ability, and my faith that I can improve and heal my posture and my body function. Pretty great feeingm at age 48 and with a lot more moving that I want to do in my life.

5.   Use the following words in a sentence:    couple, shutter, smile, pillow, groan, skip, baby elephant, red shoes. I'll come back to this. Maybe.

 

Watch This Space

Because I need to write about my words for the year. But I'm not sure how.

One of them found me...incarnation.

The other was drawn for me...testimony.

I feel a little chagrined by the second one. And greatly challenged. So that's the major one to be working with!

More to follow.

Contemplative Practices Tree - Singing in Prayer

Thanks to the Contemplative Christians site, where you can read more about this and see the source of the graphic. 

This week, I've been trying to think how to write about the place that singing has in my prayer life. This is as opposed to singing in my worship life...which is entirely different, but hugely important.

Tuesday of this week, I took our Josie to the vet. We had noticed  a small lump in her mammary area, and that morning it seemed larger. We were very worried.

The vet took a sample and said that there were some cells he needed the pathologist to look at.  More worry. The next day, vet called and said there were no cancerous cells, and that we should just watch the spot.

Huge relief!

I'm thinking back to the vet visit, though. They took the sample and brought her back to me while the vet looked at it under the microscope. As I held her in the exam room (happy, peppy, totally unaware that anything might be wrong), I started to sing softly. "Come Ye Weary" and "I Will Rejoice in the Lord Alway" and spirituals. It wasn't for Josie...she doesn't care if I sing. It was for me. It was prayer, and it was comfort.

When Ken was in the hospital in December '12, I did the same thing one late bad night. Now, Ken cares if I sing. As in, he'd rather I wouldn't. Because he has perfect pitch and I don't. So I mostly refrain when I am with him (and not in a choral setting). A cappella singing is not my forte! But I had such deep pain that night, and so did he, and I didn't know how to pray for him otherwise. He didn't object (that was nice of him). Because I needed it.

There are times when singing is all that gets me through...in the car, when I am sad; in the laundry room, when I am happy.

Looking at the tree, they categorize it as "creative" activity, which I think is true. Prayer singing helps me open a space for me and the prayer intention...the beloved dog, the precious ill spouse, the people I lift up during the quotidian work of laundry.

Do you sing? Why? When? Where?

Friday Five: Calendaria

Anne says at RevGals:

Whether or not we make resolutions with the new year, we all transition to a new, physical calendar. In recent years my favorite wall calendar is called Pooped Puppies, a monthly collection of sleepy, or sleeping, pups that can’t help but evoke an “awwwww.” for many years my godmother gave me a flat, weekly desk calendar that featured National Geographic photos. One of the great things about calendars is that for each of us they fulfill the “form and function” requirement–a place to indulge an interest while serving a purpose.

For today’s FF, tell us about five calendar themes that you like to see hanging on your walls or going with you to appointments, or that you WISH existed to adorn and accompany your life.

1. My new 2014 office calendar is "Dogs Doing Yoga"

here is a selection. :) This is over my desk and not really convenient to write on, but I love the photos and it gives me handy calendar reference.

2. My home calendar doesn't have a photo theme, just very large grids for each day. It will be useful for filling in class assignments, doctor appointments, meetings, etc. Also, it's the place I put the little stickers to remind me that I need to give the dogs their heartworm meds...!

3. I had a Georgia O'Keefe calendar years ago that I adored:

4. For the last two years, my city has sent a calendar in the mail with all the information on garbage and recycling pickups, city events, etc. It's been exceptionally useful, but I haven't received one yet, so I guess I won't. Boo!

5. And finally, probably my favorite calendars have been ones that family members have compiled with photos of reunions or family members. My brother Don's family did a great one a few years ago, and my sister Nancy had one with her kids on it. I LOVE, LOVE those. :)

oh, and a bonus? As a MONSTER church geek, I always get (from somewhere) an Episcopal Kalendar. It looks like this:

it has all the liturgical colors/seasons, and on the back is the lectionary for each day and Sunday. :)

Because that's how I roll, y'all.