friendship – Page 26

the plan, the reality and the provision…

Published on July 7, 2014 by Mae @ RainydayinmayLeave a comment

The past two weeks have been absolutely crazy. I suspected they might be a little busy as Gen returned from Jamaica and got ready to spend a hefty chunk of the summer with family & friends out west. As the mom of a teenager I get to be chauffeur and along with that we were seeing to all of the eye doctor, dental and physical appointments we usually take care of between school years. When planning the trips, it made absolute sense to have two solid weeks between the two, so we could spend quality time and lessen the blow of missing our girl (who is growing up so fast). While we did get some quality time, it was very bitter-sweet, and sad and chaotic and rushed… Minus Chw finishing a movie that Gen and I had already watched without him, (and wanted to see with him) we managed to accomplish everything we set out to do.

Though my blog was eerily quiet…

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Before she left, however, we spent the Fourth of July at Greenfield Village (A part of the Henry Ford Museum.) If you’ve never been, it’s a cool place. If you ever want to go for the fourth of July, I highly recommend it, but maybe do it differently than we did… We learned a lot about how NOT to go (which is how we went), but would do it again because the fireworks show is hands down the BEST ever…

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One of the two weeks that Gen was home, Chw was in Utah on business. This week he is once again out-of-town on business, (Chicago area) and I decided to tag along. My thoughts had been long quiet days of writing, reading, catching up on letters and just enjoying the down time. In the evenings we could try local restaurants, maybe see a movie, spend time at Millennium Park and take in a museum. Not at all a bad plan, but the drive into the area took twice as long as it should have, (think 8 hours instead of 4) and Chw had to work on a project before this morning so that was a bummer. My lovely morning was shaken, quite literally, by jackhammers and other manners of construction right outside my window. Even so, they upgraded us to a lovely suite with a full service kitchen, which will make my lunch times a breeze. (plus, there is a Trader Joe’s and a Super Target. I mean, seriously…) So I can’t really complain. Chw even left me his noise canceling Beats so the construction isn’t so bad, and I’ve decided to just pretend the shaking, vibrating and earth moving is a bonus massage. That works right?

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In April, when we were back home visiting, Gen was helping our dear friend D (her Godmother) with her (much younger) kids and D piped up and said “You know Gen, you should come back for the summer and help me.” D was serious because she works mostly from home and this would help her a ton. Gen responded with a resounded “Fine by me!” Because she loves those kids, she loves that family, she loves Idaho and it seemed fun. Of course, the weeks leading up to it (and the solo, cross-country flight) she was less thrilled and wanted to stay home. (Can’t fault the girl for trying.)

The week before Gen’s trip, D was injured and had surgery. She is now laid up in a cast for the next three months and definitely needing a TON of help. Of course none of us had any idea, prior to the trip, this would happen, but it’s still pretty cool that Gen is there to help her out. {Bonus cool is that one of Gen’s good friends from when they were younger is visiting from California and our Very dear family friend Aubree is ALSO visiting Idaho. She’s one lucky girl!}

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If I’m realizing anything, it’s that we make plans, and often the reality looks/feels nothing like the plan… BUT, most of the time it turns out awesome, OR it turns out we to be the best thing anyway, even though we didn’t know it when we planned it.

And, on that note, it’s Monday. This weeks Hi-Five:

SONG- THIS!!! Gen and I heard it on the way to one of our many appointments. We swooned. Adorable! (Not the best video, sorry! the song is worth it though!)

SHARE- Anne with an E. Have you watched these? I LOVE Anne of Green Gables and while these videos are cute, they aren’t really my favorite. (I’ve been spoiled by the quality of Pemberly Digital, I think) What i DO LOVE about this series however, is their twitter feed. (among the characters.) Absolutely adorable…

SOMETHING I’M LOVING- This Trader Joe’s REFRESH Body Wash that I picked up here. I usually use Rain Bath and the TJ’s peppermint but forgot both and so I tried this. The smell is AMAZING!

SOMETHING I’M INTO- I’m embarrassed to admit this… Clash of Clans. I found out my friend K was addicted to it when we were home in April and I held out until a couple of weeks ago. Then… I don’t know what happened. Now my husband is getting intrigued by it.

SOMETHING NEW {TO ME}- Coconut water. I’ve held out trying it due to the steep price tag, but the hype is so big I finally gave in. I’m not sure how much I love it, but I want to. Any Coconut water tips/secrets?

just call me the bag lady…

Published on June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 by Mae @ Rainydayinmay3 Comments

My weekend was a mixed bag…

Whenever that happens, and it’s not simply a fantastic set of days, I’m tempted to wallow and cast a negative shadow on the whole thing. In the essence of fairness though, that’s simply not, well, fair.There is something truly redemptive in the way discomfort or a “bad day” makes the beautiful look better. It really does have a way of fine tuning our gratitude, when we let it. I tried to let that be the attitude with which my weekend seemed to abide by. I wasn’t perfect, and that’s ok.

On Facebook I shared that I wanted to:

1.) see a movie. (now there’s a shocker.)

2.) paint my toenails.

3.) finish a home organization project.

And I met my goals. While I did other things, and I likely could have done more, I set three simple goals that were practical, important (to me) and fun (or at least a mix of the three) and it made the weekend a lot easier. When I did that, I did not know we would deal with the teenage animosity we dealt with, pangs of homesickness over what we were missing back in Boise this weekend, or that I would struggle with an on & off again three-day migraine. (allergies combined with stress…)

But the really good bits-

an unexpected nap;

food & game night with friends;

laughter;

my husband’s awesome popcorn;

having the laundry done by the end of the weekend- these are really good things. And amidst the worst moments, these rays of brightness become even better. Maybe the very best we should hope for is a mixed bag, because too much of a good thing just makes it bland and ordinary and I don’t want that for any of my beautiful moments…

hello June…

Published on June 1, 2014June 1, 2014 by Mae @ Rainydayinmay2 Comments

June is a pretty special month for me… Not only does it hold several very important birthdays, but it’s the official start of summer and that’s a great thing, right?

Me-

– An exciting new project that I can’t divulge too many details about, but you know what they say: my excitement is your excitement… {They say that, right?!?!}

– I joined a new summer book club and I am so excited! (Perhaps I should add overuse of the word exciting and any words derived from it. Yikes.) I’m hoping it will be a great experience and connect me with a few new gals in my area!

– I have some fun books between my night stand and my kindle that I’m looking forward to getting in to.

– have coffee/tea/social plans with a new friend.

– I have not done it in ages, but I really want to do a paper craft project, or two, this month.

Family–

– End of the year school program.

– sending our youngest off to Jamaica with a youth group team from our church, for a mission trip. {yikes!}

– we are (finally) going through the stuff we have stored in our garage, from our move, that we just don’t have room for.

– celebrating several birthdays of loved ones, even if from afar.

– having a belated Father’s Day since we won’t be able to be together for the calendar scheduled one.

– bike rides, evening walks and active weekends.

– summer movies, trip to the drive in, etc.

Food–

– I’m wanting to try some new, summery recipes in the kitchen.

– Mastering fontina cheese fondue. {Yum!}

– concentrating on more vegetables.

– Grilled dinners complete with deck dining.

– weeknight sun tea, fresh squeezed lemonade, weekend cocktails.

Home–

– I’m inspired to redo my photo ledges (and this has been an ongoing hope for months) but I can’t quite figure out what I want to do.

– we’ve had tragedy befall our dining room table recently so we will be taking on a creative, yet affordable redo in that area.

– My office has been a mess since our trip to Idaho. When I’m in here, it’s for a quick second or to rush through a work project. I need to organize and clean it.

Love–

– We have theater tickets to a Tony winning show that I’m really excited to see!

– We have a couple of other fun, intentional dates on the calendar for the month. Our intentional date challenge has been a really fun one!

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en-cour-age…

Published on May 23, 2014 by Mae @ Rainydayinmay10 Comments

Encouragement might look different for each of us. I know that it will likely always be one of those mysteries… We can’t actually see it, or touch it, yet we feel it and crave it- therefore knowing it is real.

Since March of 2012 I have been on a journey that has led me through my darkest hours. I’ve been deep within the trenches of darkness and depression at times, and I have contemplated the long hike up the hill towards hopeful optimism at others. The last year has been better than the previous, but only because the bad details were different. There has been a lot of isolation and aloneness, which I honestly don’t like. The first year found my husband and I purging our lives of relationships which were not healthy for our family. We had sort of known for a while, because of how they made us feel, but due to the circumstances that year brought along, our eyes were finally opened to the way those people viewed and treated our kids (as well as us) and we just couldn’t stand it any longer. It was easier than we would have thought, though admittedly, it was sad that it took us so long to see it.

This past year though, was different. An unexpected job change had us relocating to the other side of the country again and frankly, I wasn’t at all interested in leaving my friends. I have a core group of friends that I love and adore and being close to them (geographically) had become (what felt like) vitally important. And yet, here I was, thousands of miles away. Already struggling with depression and things just seemed to go from bad, to worse, (to worse.) Other friendships I had struggled to maintain, mostly one-sided, really took their toll on me and suddenly living in what felt like complete isolation altered my perception and opened my eyes yet again. The growing, it’s not comfortable or pleasant but it’s necessary and on this side of it, I am so grateful. Through the process I’ve learned so much about friendship, and about being a friend… And about encouragement…

Like I mentioned before, maybe it looks different for each of us. Maybe there are those of us who are content with a greeting card variety of some one else penned phrases and little genuine effort. I am not that person. The most encouraging thing someone can do for me is make an effort in my life. {The opposite is true too though, the most discouraging and hurtful thing is to disrespect me by ignoring/dismissing me.} The biggest thing I’ve learned however, is that I am my MOST encouraged by being an encouragement to others. I let the light into my darkness most, by intentionally being a light to others. Maybe it’s supposed to be that way… Maybe it isn’t. Maybe I’m weird, maybe I’m a slow learner. I don’t know… All I know is that this recent process in my life kiln, these past two years have shown me that I am my most encouraged when I simply love others actively, genuinely and intentionally…

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