IHOP Girl: To Order

Sunday, November 13, 2005

To Order

I apologize for the lack of bloggage, but I have only been MOSTLY swamped. I will attempt to keep up with my accounts for the sake of my faithful readers and commenters. Oh, Make sure you check out Jess #1's blog, she's awesome!! www.maryscraziness.blogspot.com

As an explanation for the lack of SFL response, he is here (with his lovely wife) visiting me. It has been great. Last weekend the three of us went to Asheville, NC to rock dig. For three days we hiked through the woods, got covered in dirt, found some cool rocks, explored downtown Asheville, and thoroughly enjoyed each others' company. The leaves were absolutely beautiful, and at one location we had to drive down this steep, really bumpy road to get to an old abandoned mine that they filled with H2O. Although we had fun we didn't find anything to great, and so we headed back up the road (I was hoping that we wouldn't have to get out and push, b/c I wasn't so sure that we could make it up). However, due to SFL's excellent driving abilities we made it to the top and got to enjoy a breathtaking view of the mountains all in color (we even got to see some turkeys crossing the road). It was great. We got some great pictures, and awesome video footage too, they are very entertaining...

Then I was back at school and working my tail off, you have no clue how many times I prayed that Thanksgiving would hurry up and get here. Oh well, I'll make it through! God's kept me going for years already, he can get me through pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Health Assessment, therapeutic interventions, and Professionalism.

This weekend my family was back for more, and you'll never guess what they did. They show up at the apt., and make me come outside. Attached to either front window of the van, flew a Tiger flag. Upon SFL's side was one of those airport tube things (the ones that show the direction of the wind), and on mom's side was a very cute flag. Mom goes, "guess who picked what." It's pretty self explanatory. Saturday we fully enjoyed the Ballgame, YEAH we won!!! SFL and I almost lost our voices, but we had a blast. Game day is always so fun, b/c I have never been at a place where fans are so dedicated. Anyways, it has been amazingly fun having the fam. here, and I only wish they weren't going home today. However, before you know it it will be Christmas break!!! Yeah!!

~Me

2 comments:

Jess said...: JESS!!!! HI!!!! Thank you for calling me the other day; it cheered me up immensely. You always have a knack for cheering people up. What a blessing you are. Even SFL will have to admit that. ;)

Speaking of the dear old SFL, he is now leaving, to quote him directly, "biohazardous" comments on my blog. Have you noticed this? He said it was because of the lack of "bloggage" on yours. Oh dear, oh dear, whatever shall we do?

I know. Let's you and I make a pact to post and post and post and post and post and POST until the shrunken frontal lobe shrinks some more. We shall fry the frontal lobe!! Muahahaha!!! Poor SFL will have an overload and he sha'n't know what to do!

Ready? Set? POST!!!!

Heheheheheh....let's see what happens. I intend to augment my blog with a post on consumerism. Can't wait to see what yours will be!!! Love you lots, Jess!!! Talk to you soon! :) :) :); 10:12 AM
Jess said...: Oh, dear SFL...so we have fallen into your trap, have we? tsk, tsk. I don't think so. It is all part of the plan, SFL, all part of the plan...; 9:01 AM

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.