I should be writing tonight: I have major work to do on a freelancing project, and I really would like to make progress on one of my WIPs. But after more than three hours on the phone with my mother during various times today, my brain is shot. Just shot. I sometimes fail to understand how we are related. And I always fail to understand how she can be so nice to me in one breath and so viciously mean and self-serving in the next.
So...in order to distract myself and still feel like I'm doing something meaningful, I am going to participate in the 101 in 1001 MeMe: it's a list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days. Talk about...ambitious!
Milestone for today: my mother heard me utter the F-word for the first time ever today - I'm 27 years old and I would never have dreamed to say such a thing in front of her before, but her pity party was just simply too much to bear and I had to strike back and remind her that the rest of us have problems too. Sometimes big ones. Sometimes heartbreaking ones. Sometimes ones that challenge our souls. And yet the rest of us still go on with life. I think she was shocked. She certainly changed the subject and ended the phone call quickly afterwards. Of course...she then called back...twice. Three hours, people. OMG.
Happy moment for today: celebrating Kristen's graduation from law school at our house this afternoon. Ya, Kris! You rock, girl! (Now, since probate is your "thing"...after you pass the bar, wanna write our wills/trusts/medical directives? Can I even afford you?!)
Sad moment for today: physically, the rehab surgeon is under the impression that my dad will be well enough to end treatment for his broken hip and subsequent surgery on December 21st. That should be a happy thought. It isn't. Mentally, the social worker who has been consulting on this case (my mom was being investigated after Dad was brought home by the police a total of six times after he'd wandered away in a daze...a few times when she didn't even know he was gone) is recommending that he stay in the nursing home indefinitely due to his mental state with the Alzheimer's. UCK. UCK. BIGGER UCK. The better news side is that Medicare/Medicaid should continue to cover 100% for the forseeable future. However, I do not want my father in a nursing home any longer than necessary. Period. So I think I'm going to continue to let this play out for another couple months and then put my foot down. I agree that staying a bit longer is probably for the best...but for the long term? No. Hell no.
So...on to my MeMe! Please continue to keep my Dad in your prayers.
Tiffany
Showing posts with label Faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith. Show all posts
Upcoming: REALLY LONG MEME
Published on
Saturday, December 15, 2007
in:
Faith
,
Goals
,
Life
,
Time to Write
Wonderful Wednesday
Published on
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
in:
Faith
,
Time to Write
,
Wonderful Wednesday
,
Work
My church has a program called Wonderful Wednesdays for Women. It's held every Wednesday morning from something like 8:30 to noon...so obviously it's aimed at housewives and stay-at-home moms, neither of which am I. But I had the opportunity, while unemployed three years ago, to attend a few times, and although I was a generation younger than most of the women there, it was very fun and fulfilling. I was thinking about that this morning, while on the way to work: needing to get more church back into my life.
There was a time, growing up, that I never, ever missed a week at church. I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition (with an occasional Presbyterian service thrown in, a la my mother) and by the time I hit high school, I was nearly fanatical in my beliefs - I literally went to church several times per week (ok, I also went to a Catholic high school, so some of it was mandated) and come the holidays - Christmas and Easter - I'd go every day straight for weeks. In college, I dropped back to simply 2-3 times per week - every Wednesday at 7 AM at the Catholic Campus Ministry house and once or twice on Sundays. I was the pianist for the Sunday evening college-focused service at the local RC Church in Bloomsburg, and also went in the morning in Scranton if I was awake enough after getting out of my overnight shift at AAA.
After I moved to Texas, I joined a Methodist church. As I've often explained, I did not do so because I have any major beef with the Roman Catholic church. Rather, I lived with the parents of the guy I was dating at the time for about two months after I moved here, while I was settling into my first post-college job and finding an apartment in a strange area and such. Granted, I'd been here before to meet his parents and do job interviews and such, but it was a tremendous help to have somewhere to stay until I could figure out where to live...and get my all-important first professional paycheck, to boot!
The McAlears attended this fabulous church in Southlake, and to be polite, I attended with them each time I visited Texas and then on each Sunday while I lived in their house. After I moved into my own place, I continued to attend...I told myself that I was simply continuing to be polite, and "on the side", I also visited a number of RC churches in the area, trying to find one to call home. After awhile, I realized that none of the dozen or so Catholic churches I attended felt nearly as homey as the Methodist church that I was visiting every week. And so, my accidental conversion. I threw myself into church life - joined a newbie Bible study and joined the choir, which met every Wednesday night.
Has anyone noticed the continuing theme of Wednesdays, yet? Wonderful Wednesdays with Women, Wednesday masses in college, Wednesday night choir...weird!
In any case, I attended every single week I was in town...until about 4 months after I got married! Then...it just starting seeming almost like a chore to get up on Sunday mornings to go to church. I wasn't singing in the choir or playing my violin in the orchestra any longer. It just kind of...fell off. In the past year, we've been to church perhaps 10 times. Pitiful. And I miss it.
So, sitting here this morning, contemplating this Wonderful Wednesday, I'm realizing that I've spent so much time trying to budget my hours to fit in work and writing and activities that I've forgotten what is far more important - my faith. It is said that faith conquers all, and I happen to believe that to be the absolute truth. So instead of worrying about how everything fits together, I'm realizing that I instead need to worry about getting my priorities straight. Whether I produce 15 freelance articles per week versus 10 is far less important than whether I live a life that is true to my beliefs. Sleeping an extra hour or two on a Sunday morning doesn't compare to the wonderful glow of hearing the passionate pastor at my church preach. And using my husband as an excuse (he works nights and often does not arrive home on Sunday mornings until 5 AM, so I tell myself that I can't drag him out of bed so shortly thereafter and shouldn't go without him) is just contemptible.
So on this Wonderful Wednesday, as I look at blocking out a schedule to establish for at least the winter while my mother-in-law is visiting so that all can still be accomplished in our lives, I am reminded that instead of fitting in as many activities as I can, I instead need to fit in the things that most matter: God, family, then anything else.
Hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Tiffany
There was a time, growing up, that I never, ever missed a week at church. I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition (with an occasional Presbyterian service thrown in, a la my mother) and by the time I hit high school, I was nearly fanatical in my beliefs - I literally went to church several times per week (ok, I also went to a Catholic high school, so some of it was mandated) and come the holidays - Christmas and Easter - I'd go every day straight for weeks. In college, I dropped back to simply 2-3 times per week - every Wednesday at 7 AM at the Catholic Campus Ministry house and once or twice on Sundays. I was the pianist for the Sunday evening college-focused service at the local RC Church in Bloomsburg, and also went in the morning in Scranton if I was awake enough after getting out of my overnight shift at AAA.
After I moved to Texas, I joined a Methodist church. As I've often explained, I did not do so because I have any major beef with the Roman Catholic church. Rather, I lived with the parents of the guy I was dating at the time for about two months after I moved here, while I was settling into my first post-college job and finding an apartment in a strange area and such. Granted, I'd been here before to meet his parents and do job interviews and such, but it was a tremendous help to have somewhere to stay until I could figure out where to live...and get my all-important first professional paycheck, to boot!
The McAlears attended this fabulous church in Southlake, and to be polite, I attended with them each time I visited Texas and then on each Sunday while I lived in their house. After I moved into my own place, I continued to attend...I told myself that I was simply continuing to be polite, and "on the side", I also visited a number of RC churches in the area, trying to find one to call home. After awhile, I realized that none of the dozen or so Catholic churches I attended felt nearly as homey as the Methodist church that I was visiting every week. And so, my accidental conversion. I threw myself into church life - joined a newbie Bible study and joined the choir, which met every Wednesday night.
Has anyone noticed the continuing theme of Wednesdays, yet? Wonderful Wednesdays with Women, Wednesday masses in college, Wednesday night choir...weird!
In any case, I attended every single week I was in town...until about 4 months after I got married! Then...it just starting seeming almost like a chore to get up on Sunday mornings to go to church. I wasn't singing in the choir or playing my violin in the orchestra any longer. It just kind of...fell off. In the past year, we've been to church perhaps 10 times. Pitiful. And I miss it.
So, sitting here this morning, contemplating this Wonderful Wednesday, I'm realizing that I've spent so much time trying to budget my hours to fit in work and writing and activities that I've forgotten what is far more important - my faith. It is said that faith conquers all, and I happen to believe that to be the absolute truth. So instead of worrying about how everything fits together, I'm realizing that I instead need to worry about getting my priorities straight. Whether I produce 15 freelance articles per week versus 10 is far less important than whether I live a life that is true to my beliefs. Sleeping an extra hour or two on a Sunday morning doesn't compare to the wonderful glow of hearing the passionate pastor at my church preach. And using my husband as an excuse (he works nights and often does not arrive home on Sunday mornings until 5 AM, so I tell myself that I can't drag him out of bed so shortly thereafter and shouldn't go without him) is just contemptible.
So on this Wonderful Wednesday, as I look at blocking out a schedule to establish for at least the winter while my mother-in-law is visiting so that all can still be accomplished in our lives, I am reminded that instead of fitting in as many activities as I can, I instead need to fit in the things that most matter: God, family, then anything else.
Hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Tiffany
