Buzzard Cannibalism

My most random thought of the past couple weeks:

Do buzzards eat each other if they are the roadkill?

I think this is a symptom of too much driving for work. Way too much time on my hands in the car. I'll definitely be remembering to charge the iPod next time!

Music Stands, revelation...what's the connection?

For all my music nerd friends out there (aka- Jen), here is my newest random revelation from God last night. I'm sitting in Tallahassee Winds rehearsal, and the lady next to me is having issues with her music stand. As in, every time she pulls it up, it slowly creeps back down. So as she's playing, she is trying to hold it up with her knee, and every time we have a rest in the music, she pulls it back up really high so it takes longer to sink. I watch this through several pieces until I realize, duh- if I slide my stand over, hers can rest on the edge of mine and it won't sink anymore. So, I act on this. And she looks at me with the most genuine look of appreciation and says, "Thank you SO much."

And I sit, thinking...funny how such a small thing can inspire gratitude in people. (And funny how long it took me to realize the solution). But seriously, if we as people would just do the little things to support the friends and people in our lives and be grateful to recognize what others do...we could really and truly live in the kind of community and relationship God has called us to. My prayer is that I would find a little thing to do every day to bless someone and let them know I am here to support them. And also, that I would recognize those times when other people bless me and be truly, genuinely, beyond appreciative for them. Just something God's been working on in my heart.

Girl Scouts

In honor of girl scout cookie season, I was prompted to share this post. Growing up, my older brother was in boy scouts for as long as I can remember. My mom was a scout mom, which meant she went to their meetings, and she took me with her. Well, once a little girl reaches the age she can join Brownies, she is no longer welcome at the boy scout meetings. So, when I reached that age, they sent a girl scout to my house to ask if I would be interested in joining girl scouts. My mom called me to the door to talk, and this is how the conversation went:

Girl scout: "Hi! I wanted to tell you about being a girl scout and let you ask any questions you have. We'd love to have you come and join us!"

Me: "GIRL SCOUTS ARE SISSIES!"
(insert slamming of the door)

My mom: "Well, I guess that's your answer."

It was a short conversation, but a very clearly communicated response. Could you say I was a tomboy? ABSOLUTELY!

Tornado!

So, most of us have been through public school and are well-acquainted with the whole fire drill and tornado drill protocols. I have to say that in all my years of schooling, that's all it ever was...a drill. On Tuesday, I experienced my first ever 'for real' duck-and-cover with a school full of kindergarten through second-graders. Can I say I'll be perfectly okay if that never happens again?

First of all, a sure fire way to create panic is to make a schoolwide announcement that begins with, "I need everyone to remain calm, but..." Yikes. Talk about immediate chills. Anyway, the first 5-10 minutes were a little scary, given that a tornado had been spotted not too far from the school. The remaining HOUR AND A HALF was just crazy. The kids were allowed to sit up after several minutes, but no one was allowed to move about the school. So imagine nine classes of kindergarteners in one library for almost two hours....doing nothing. Right. So, while the drama of it was a little fun, the reality of it was a whole lot less fun. Poor kids...or poor teachers. Depends on how you look at it.

How true this is...

"Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue." -Edith Wharton


I am a huge fan of quotes, and this one really spoke a lot to me. For one reason, part of my job is to work with children- and this is a prevalent issue. If I can't build on the experiences of the child (which is the basis of their reality), I stand little chance of actually being heard. Second, it is something my own mind is having a hard time working through right now. People offer wisdom and advice about every situation, everywhere you go. My difficulty is learning how to graciously sift through all of it and walk away with the parts worth keeping. If you have ever been offered advice about a situation that the advice-giver has NEVER experienced, you know how painful it can be. If everyone spoke solely from the basis of their own experiences, wouldn't we carry a lot more influence in those areas, and avoid inflicting wounds on others? Interesting that when we grow up, people expect us to hear them regardless of their experience or ours. 'Experts' on subjects often have head knowledge and no 'heart' knowledge or experience to speak from. Just my thoughts, from my experience of reconciling it in my own life. Now you get to choose whether to take it or leave it, because you always have that choice!

I miss these guys...I just wanna SQUEEZE them both!

Life Lessons 101

So I just learned a VERY valuable lesson. Well, two actually. One- always check behind yourself to make sure you have collected ALL of your belongings when you are leaving somewhere. Two- when using a USB memory stick, ALWAYS back up the information somewhere else. Twenty minutes of panic ended in a very fortunate finding of said memory stick, but it could have been a LOT worse...