Category: Moments, Thoughts, Life

Upon arriving home for the store a few weeks ago, I found a bird in our entrance. I quietly backed out of the garage door and told Jeff he should open the outside door in hopes it would leave. Jeff opened the door ever so carefully and then walked to peer into the side window. “There’s no bird in there,” he said. He continued to say this until he found the bird, ten minutes later, sitting just under our bed. He opened the sliding door, wiggled the bed, and the bird trotted out the door looking quite pleased with himself.

A few hours later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw another one walking into the living room. He had passed the TV and was making his way to the fireplace before Jeff saw him. We closed the blinds and stood on the opposite side the room making silly noises as we watched him hop out onto the deck, he looked both ways, and flew off. Ellie, our 75 pound, 12-year-old golden/lab, was laying in the middle of the living room unbothered by either visiter. “She didn’t even move,” I said. “Maybe this goes on all the time,” Jeff said.

Ellie has the life. She spends most of the day sleeping on the front porch. She has a second story view of the ocean and the entire street. She doesn’t bark much anymore, only when really strange people are around. For the most part, she lives the life of a retired dog.

This afternoon a humming-bird entered the front door. He flew around for just a moment and then snuck between the blinds and fluttered there. As soon as he landed in the window, I looked down at Ellie who was stretched out in front of the TV. She raised her head, and looked back at me, and with those sad but all-knowing eyes said, “The idiots are here again.”

 

I’m a huge Dr. Who fan – HUGE. Thanks to my kids, I now wake up at 4:00AM on Sunday morning, pay my $1.99 to Amazon for the privilege of watching the latest BBC episode.

The show is brilliant on many levels. Dr. Who always warns us about changing someone’s future. However, he typically he does it anyways.

Tomorrow morning, I will get in a rental car at 4:00 AM and head to LAX to catch a morning flight to Denver. My daughter is having a very difficult recovery from a procedure that was done last week. It’s no coincidence that it was four years ago tonight that Jeff and I were on a plane taking the same route. Four years ago tomorrow, Miss Emery Rain Ford will be four years old.

Some may say that history is repeating itself. Other’s would feel bad that all those bad memories will get on the plane with me and be my evil journey buddy. And still others would say that perhaps there is something I still need to learn, so I am being force to make the same trip.

I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Who. I’ve learned that we CAN change our future and I intend to do so. I will fly into Denver with my Neenee Cape and Sonic Screwdriver determined that this trip will in no way mirror the one taken four years ago. How could it? Miss Emery has surpassed everyone’s expectations and is one of the funniest and smartest kids I’ve met. As for Mom and Dad, they may be weary – but I’ve got a Sonic Screwdriver.

I believe we get to experience life from both sides. If we steal, we will be a victim. If we cheat, we will be cheated. I also believe that we may live through experiences several times. And when that happens we have the choice to bring the past with us or create a whole new future.

Time Traveler or not, we have the power to change the future.
Emery Rain Ford

Nov 6

My little store does fashion shows throughout the year. We take eight women and dress them up in three outfits and then allow them to parade through a crowd of other women who are all wishing they knew how to put together outfits like these. It’s quite fun and the women have a great time. At the beginning of the fashion show all the newly named models are prim and proper. Buy round two, a few begin to sashay. And on the final round, there will undoubtably be one or two who feel the need to show off their chorus line moves.

The most recent event is for a large… as not to offend anyone, lets say… Organization. It’s one of those Organizations where large numbers of people go on a Sunday morning and a fewer number attend Organizational Meetings throughout the week. These newly named models who attend this Organization have unanimously won the ‘nastiest group we’ve ever encountered’ award. It’s a new award as we’ve never needed it before.

As a writer, I could go in many different directions with this topic. But the one that is blasting like a fog horn in my ears is taken from a little Proverb called the Virtuous Woman. That famous one where the woman gets up before dawn, is wise in her business dealings, tends to her children’s needs for which they in-turn rise up and call her blessed; all while her well known husband sits at the city gates. Ya, that one.

There is a one liner in this well known Proverb that tells us this rare woman cares for her servants. Most of us would not admit we have servants and many would say we would like a few. I would ask to consider who are our servants?

I believe its the woman who checks me out at the grocery store, or the teacher who spends eight hours a day with my grandchildren. It’s the kid who takes my dry cleaning and young women who writes down my order and dutifully serves me my food. It’s the guy who has been assigned to answer my customer service call, and the barista who hands me my latte. These are my modern day servants. And if I want my children to someday rise up and call me blessed, I need to care for my servant’s needs. Seems simple. Seems like a Proverb that has been taught in most… Organizations.

So what is to be done with the “nastiest group we’ve ever encountered”? I will serve them; as long as they are in my clothes, they are my servants and I will care for their needs. I will also pull a leader of this Organization aside and gently and honestly share my thoughts on the subject. And I will remind myself every day that I am to care for my servants, no matter where they work. After all, my children need a reason to call me blessed and my husband needs something to talk about while he sits all day at the gate.

A good friend and I were talking about some difficult interactions we had encountered over the past week or so. The ones where it’s easy for the other person to suck the life out of you – fill your mind with frustrating conversation, and even push a few buttons.

She shared that after one such encounter, she had allowed it to affect her for several days. She didn’t sleep well and her entire day was filled with negative thoughts. On day four she said, “I realized I was allowing their devil to come into my life.” Interesting perspective, I thought.

We talked further about trying to balance difficult individuals in our lives. Mid sentence, she slapped her hand on the table and said, “That’s it! Allowing myself to take on their devils stopped me from sharing the love of my God.”

We’re warned not to get sucked into other’s problems. Not to become an enabler. Not to be a fixer. But why? Until that moment, I believed it was a way to protect ME. It now appears to have a much larger purpose. When I take on your devils, I can’t share my God’s love with you…

…and love trumps devils every time!

As a kid I envisioned God looking just like us – but bigger, way bigger. A few weeks ago while watching an interview on the Daily Show, Dr. Michio Kaku began explaining the complicity of our brains. He said that it would take a building the size of a city block, six stories high to hold a computer equivalent to our brain. “Made in His image,” came to mind. I looked at our son and said, “Maybe it’s our minds that are made in His image?”  “Of course, it is,” he replied. He is much smarter than I.

God refers to the danger of man’s mind a few times, but there are two that stand out to me. The first is in the Garden after Adam and Eve’s disobedience. God says, “They have become like us.” Those are very powerful and scary words. The other is when all the people of Babel are building a tower to heaven. God says, “They are one people with the same language and now there is nothing they try that will be impossible for them.” Another strong statement made by the Creator of the Universe. As with everyone’s greatest strength, it also becomes their greatest weakness. If indeed our minds are created in His image, it’s no wonder it is the mind that is under the most attach.

I’m no Dr.  Kaku, but if my 10^th grade algebra serves me right, A=B and B=C, then A=C. God’s image, our minds. If we could ever get those crazy voices to stop telling us we’re naked, think of the possibilities.