IHOP Girl: A little slice of heaven on a shelf

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A little slice of heaven on a shelf

I know that we all have our own definition of heavenly experiences.

I'm pretty sure that I've had several different experience that get that classification, but Sunday night was definitely on of those. Sarah and I found this book store called McKays. OMG! It is wall to wall of used movies, books, etc that people have traded in. You can either bring in a trade that gives you store credit that you can use to get something new, or you can just buy something. Everything is supper cheap, and the variety is awesome! I was transported...I may have to limit myself otherwise I may go overboard. What what a great place - I mean so what you get a book there that you don't end up wanting to read, no problem just bring it back and you get credit to buy a new one!!!! Just saying ;-)

I think we all need those things in life that we can enjoy just for the sake of enjoying them - I hope that you have an experience like that today!

4 comments:

Jess said...: How fabulous!!; 12:47 PM
sfl said...: why not simply steal what you want and forego all this trade and credit nonsense? isn't borrowing without payment easier and then you can just give the borrowed item to some needy person and they feel good and you feel good. it's a win-win!

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: of course theft is illegal and punishable by fine, imprisonment, loss of employment, humiliation, ridicule by funken-lobed goobs who gave you the idea but never thought you carry through on such a stupid suggestion, loss of voting rights. you should only conduct illegal activities once you are elected to public office, extremely wealthy, or become famous through athletics, acting, singing, or notorious actions.

hew!; 5:36 PM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: Hahaha - great suggestion...I love the irony! Mom would say that the great "They" the same ones that get away with theft are listening, and will come for us...be afraid be very afraid!!; 5:40 PM
sfl said...: WOT wants you to stop using mom, because that will draw attention and she abhors attention of all kinds.

she is giving me the hairy eyeball and THAT is something to be very afraid of. she's looking at me that way again. and has to me to "stop it!!!". she's looking at me again, and frowning. of course i am smiling and that vexes her greatly...; 5:51 PM

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.