A little inspiration does a body good

hello, friends...

maybe a few of you are still reading these scant posts.

someday (soon) things are going to calm down and i am going to post everyday. okay, let's get real: things are never going to slow down, but someday (SOON) i am going to start posting everyday.

promise.

its been a crazy week. puppies! baby! more puppies! i have been house/dog sitting for my aunt and going back and forth between my mom's house and her's. at first shawn, cohen and i were staying there full time. she has a big back yard and we thought 'why not take all the dogs too?' so we packed up like we were moving AGAIN (good grief) and moved in to her place. i will save you the painful details, but that turned out not to be such a good idea. well, minus the fact that she has an awesome bathroom that was perfect for whelping the puppies. but other than that, having our four dogs plus her mini schanuzer all in one house was not a brilliant thought. because the big back yard is not fenced and the not so big front yard is directly on a large, busy road it was not such a brilliant thought. everyone ended up inside together. two adults, one baby, and 4 dogs plus another pregnant one is frankly, just too much. so after jetti had the puppies, the dogs all got moved back to my parents way out in the country where they have the run of garage and 5 acres out in the middle of nowhere. and we are all much happier...even while driving back and forth taking care of my aunt's house and dog.

shawn went fishing with my dad in michigan last weekend and that was the really hard part...when he left. before that, he was taking our 3 out to potty and he can control them better than i do. i was just dealing with jetti who hardly could move she was so huge. and my aunt's dog is leashed up outside. but when he left, i was taking each dog out one by one on a leash. not fun.

wait...i didn't tell you about shawn chasing grey (my aunt's dog), did i?

its a good story. wanna hear it?

so my aunt informed me that grey is a runner...you let him off the leash and he bolts. so everyday i was taking him out and making sure he was secured tied up outside and then taking him ON THE LEASH into the house. i have no time for chasing dogs. i guess we had been there about a day and i was inside making breakfast. grey was out on his tie up in the yard. shawn decided to take our 3 out to go potty. he had been out a few minutes when he came running in, with our 3 dogs in tow, and he was red-faced and panicked. "he just took off!" he yelled, out of breath.

"who?" i asked, my emotion quickly raising to meet his.

"grey!"

"grey?!?!?"

"yes, grey" he looked surprised at my bewilderment.

"SHAWN! i said he bolts! why did you take him off his tie-up?!?!?" now i was panicked.

"what? i don't remember you saying that...i just thought he would like to get off and play with the others."

he didn't remember me saying 'just leave grey- he bolts'? are you kidding me?!!?!

it was the last thing i said, people. the last thing before he walked out the door. just further proof that men really don't listen. i couldn't say anything i was so mad (and that's mad for me) i raced out the door in my pjs which would hardly have been appropriate for any woman, let alone a nursing mama. i spotted him. i walked toward him telling myself to exude calm assertive energy (thank you, mr. dog whisperer) grey was socializing with 3 tiny pomeranians next door. i got within two feet of him and he lunged away and ran across that big, busy road in my aunt's front yard. i was sure i was going to see him get killed, but he just missed a semi. the neighbor offered to help and i was about to fall apart. then i saw shawn speeeding across the road. i watched as grey darted around the apartments and shawn chased him. and there i stood in my pjs screaming "chase him AWAY from the road!" i really had lost all sense of pride, friends. i just didn't want to have to tell my aunt her precious dog had died on my watch after two days. grey darted behind the apartments and i lost sight of them for a minute until they were in the parking lot of the medical campus a ways down the road. grey thought it was a game. shawn looked tired. suddenly i remember my son sitting in his swing and i ran back inside. i was crying. about ten minutes later i heard shawn's FLIP FLOPS (yes, he was running in them) on the sidewalk and he came in carrying the wayward dog. he put grey down inside the door and muttered something about being out of shape and needing to run. grey looked tired too. i started laughing out of relief but then i was laughing because it was kind of funny.

needless to say, grey was never off that leash again outside. my aunt gets home saturday and her dog will be alive and well to meet her.

i didn't really intend to go into all of that...but what the hey- why not?

my mom has this friend from college, sprinkle, that i secretly wish was my friend. i guess she is, but we are friends in the way that you are with someone the age of your mom. she has a beautiful, round face and this wild irish red curly hair and these shiny brown eyes. she is shorter than even me and her laugh is addictive. luckily, she laughs a lot. she was here last for my brother's wedding (which was GORGEOUS, SWEET, JOYOUS, MAGICAL). she stayed for the weekend and she left a book for my mom. my mom doesn't get the occasion to read much while she is chasing around her elementary age little boys. shawn went to visit a friend in columbus tonight, and so when he did and cohen was nursing, i picked up the little book.

she told me briefly that it was about...a friend of rich mullins who lost his 2 year old, severely disabled daughter 6 months after Rich was killed by a semi, and then lost his mom wrote the book. its a novel about grief and heaven..somewhere between fiction and non-fiction... in the same vein as lewis' book 'the great divorce'.

well..i am half way through and I LOVE IT. in fact, i love it so much that i had to pause reading it so i could write a blog and tell you to read it.

its that good.

i am putting a link on here so you can get it and enjoy it like i have. its beautiful...beautiful thoughts about heaven. i don't want to give anything away or rob your very own reading experience..but i have to tell one thing, ok? i would like to say i am just trying to get you hooked, but i'd be lying to deny that i just can't keep things to myself. i do want you to hooked, though, ok? so don't hold it against me too much.

ok...so the main character is having a vision/dream/i am not sure about going to heaven and he enters into this cabin in the woods. there isn't much in the cabin...its sparsely furnished and decorated. he sees on picture on the fireplace mantle and goes in to get a closer look. its a young boy playing in a sandbox. he can't help but smile. then it occurs to him...the photo is HIM. only he can't remember ever seeing it before...can't remember it being taken. later, through some plot turns, he learns that its not a photo, but a memory...God's memory...God's favorite memory of him as a boy...

yeah...its good, people. you can buy it used on amazon for only a few bucks. its worth it. trust me.



something else that you should check out if you are needing to FEEL...cry...feel inspired.

go to your local movie rental place (or better yet, buy it) and get yourself a copy of "reign over me". i think i blogged about it when shawn and i first saw it in the theater. but it just came out on video so it deserves to be blogged about again. go see it. i know adam sandler and don cheadle seem like an odd couple to be in the same movie together...but this ain't no (good grief! my grammar has been affected by joshy, i am afraid!) 'water boy' adam sandler movie.



just watch it. you'll understand. let me know what you think.

good night, friends.