Life Lessons from Winnie-the-Pooh

"You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

"Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”

“A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.”

“You can't always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you... you have to go to them sometimes.”

Looking at the Stars

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.”

Some of you may know this already but I took a few days off last week to go home to Kentucky. Not just to Lexington, which is where I usually end up when I say I'm going home, but home home, to the mountains. I was home for a whole week and it was wonderful. I don't necessarily advocate running from one's problems, but I also know that sometimes, we all just need a break. I needed a break.




So I packed up and hopped a plane to Kentucky, where I spent the week sleeping more than I have in the past six months combined, eating myself senseless on my Mom's home cooking, going for runs in the cool fall weather, and watching the first Kentucky football game of the season too. I also rode my horse for the first time in over a year and even mucked out a stall or two...and believe it or not, I actually enjoyed it. Sometimes I think, good, honest, physical labor is good for the soul.

While I was walking from the barn back to the house one night, I happened to glance up and notice how bright the stars were. It was amazing. You can't even see the stars at night in New Orleans so I don't remember the last time I just stopped and stood with my head hanging back, and took in the beauty of the night sky. Our preacher even commented on it Sunday at church, about how he was out that same night and couldn't remember a time in his life when he had seen the stars shining so brightly.

Crossing the Bar

By: Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)


SUNSET and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.



This poem was read last week at my great grandmother's funeral. She was quite an amazing lady and would have been 103 on her birthday in October.

Lesson Learned: Don't Try to Fly With Your Pocket Knife

So I just got back to NOLA after spending a week (yes, a whole week--haven't been home that long since I left for college my freshman year) back home in Kentucky. Can we just talk for a second about how fabulous it was to be back in the Bluegrass during football season? Oh my Lord. Probably it was just about the greatest week ever, and no, in case you passed out and hit your head and are feeling a bit delirious, I did not want to come back to the death heat and humidity of New Orleans. Not one little bit. Not that I had a choice in the matter as this is where the job is which currently pays my bills...but I surely didn't board the plane back down here in the greatest of moods, that's for sure.

Anywho, my attitude notwithstanding, I got the Lexington airport yesterday in plenty of time to catch my flight but I got stopped as I was going through security (no, I didn't set off the metal detector, thank you), when the TSA guy pulled me aside and told me that they were going to have to rescan my purse, which I thought was a bit odd just because, well, that's never happened before. So they run my purse through the x-ray thingy again and I can see all the little security guards conferring with one another as they point to the computer screen where my bag is being displayed. Hmmmm...

I started doing a mental inventory of what I could possibly have in my purse. It was a short list because I'm just not a big purse person. I know some women carry their whole lives around in their purses and you'd be likely to find just about anything in there but I'm not one of those people; I carry as little as humanly possibly. I was sure I had taken my pepper spray out and left it on my kitchen table in NOLA before I flew home last week so I knew it couldn't be that. I remembered that I had a fingernail file, but it was just one of those cheap cardboard ones, which I thought were still allowed so I figured it wasn't that either. Really, I had no idea what it could be.

The TSA guy asked me to step out of line so he could search my purse, so I went over to this table that was set up off to the side and watched as he pulled out my wallet, my cell phone, hairbrush, chapstick, pocket knife and...WHOA. Yes, I had a pocket knife in my purse! And not just any little old knife either--this thing was hardcore. Like three blades and a file and a corkscrew and everything!



I feel as though I should be at least mildly embarrassed because who does that anymore? Who tries to go through airport security with a weapon in their carry-on? In my defense, I had completely forgotten that I even put that in there weeks ago and what's scary is that you'll recall that it was caught as I went through security on my return flight...which means that I made it through airport security with that thing once already on my way to Kentucky last week...

Yikes.

"It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. Let me repeat one word for you. Leave. Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It's a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."--Donald Miller

There might be some big changes coming for me soon. We'll see...I don't want to jump the gun or count my proverbial chickens before they've hatched or anything, but I think its fair to say that, one or another, change is on the way. I'll keep you posted...

Why I Love Her

Because when I decide that I want a cupcake for dinner, not only does she back me up 100%, but she totally understands the need to drive to three different places in order to find the perfect cupcake.

And then wash it down with ice cream for dessert.

The Messiness of Relationships

I'm just going to be real honest with you here--I suck at relationships. In the past year I'm pretty sure I've broken just about every rule there is in the marriage/dating handbook (I assume such a book exists somewhere--I've just never seen it)and probably a few that weren't in there at all. True, not all of the failures were 100% my fault, but I also know that I'm not without blame either so I can't just sit back and play the victim. Though that would be a lot more fun, now that I think about it...

Anywho. I've been thinking that maybe I should write a book, the topic of which would be "What NOT to Do If You Want to Have a Successful Relationship." Maybe I'll come up with a catchier title, but you get the gist. I feel as though I am the walking poster child for all of the ways relationships can go bad and surely there is someone else out there who could benefit from my hard-learned knowledge. Cause Lord knows I've got enough of it now to go around. I would be a great case study for some relationship psychologist somewhere.

You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize I've got waaaaaaaay too much material for just one post. Heck, I've got way too much for several posts. Maybe what I'll do is just start by telling you my story, and save my words of wisdom for another day. How's that?