Sleepless Stream of Consciousness

It was one of those special days.  When you wake up happy and the happiness grows exponentially all day until you arrive at the end of the day with so much enthusiasm and gratefulness that you are too jazzed to sleep.

And live music played a part as it often does, lately, in my life ...  Today was a full-circle day.  Today was a gift.

I woke up happy because I knew it was going to be a fun day at work.  More on that in a minute.  But it was also Weigh Day and I had a good feeling about it this morning.  I almost always know--I know what kind of week I've had (good choices or bad; moved my butt or sat on it).  I had a good week and saw a good result on the scale.  It's a guaranteed mood lifter when that happens.

Then it was on to the full-circle ... Back on Valentine's Day I was at a Gold Award Committee meeting listening to girls present their project proposals to be eligible for Girl Scouting's highest award, the Gold Award.  (I refuse to say that it's like a BSA Eagle Award because it's not reallly, except in the fact that they are both the highest award of their respective organizations.)  At that meeting we approved a young lady's project to improve awareness of local hunger issues and help our food pantry.  She designed a contest for county middle schools to hold food drives and the school that brought in the highest average number of pounds per student would win a concert from a local band.  She has other components to her project like working at the pantry and giving cooking classes to the clients on how to make the most satisfying and nutritious meals from the foods commonly found in the pantry (so when you're making donations to your local food pantries, keep this in mind:  nutrition and variety are important).

As luck or coincidence would have it, our middle school, under the leadership of the Student Council, decided to participate and won.  So we had two concerts today--the first before lunch for our younger population, PreK through 4th grade, and the second after lunch for fifth through eighth.  But I got to sneak into both and was introduced to the young siblings of Sweeter Than Honey, amazingly talented, high energy musicians who had nearly the whole student body on its feet during the two shows. They played covers and original songs and were tight, producing quite a big sound for only three people.  Good harmony and a well-paced set list engaged everyone in the room from the 3-year-olds to those of us who are considerably older.  Ruth and her brothers talked to the kids about taking music lessons and shared that you can do sports and make music; their "concert banter" was really professional.  I can't wait to hear them again someday.

The second show was introduced by the Girl Scout whose project this was.  She spoke to the older kids about hunger issues in our community and was both informative and eloquent.  I wasn't surprised.  I remembered her poise and maturity from several months ago.  Sweeter Than Honey played again and there was some pretty enthusiastic dancing taking place.  And some of it was good!  Okay, not exactly good but they were very cute.  And the younger they were, the less self-conscious they were.

The price you pay for having fun all day is working late but even then it was fun, probably because our spirits were so lifted by the music.  (I will pay for all this fun next week when we're sprinting towards commencement and packing 15 hours of work into 10-hour days.)

I drove from the office to this month's Gold Award Committee meeting.  (See that?  It's the full circle.)  We heard about 10 proposals tonight.  Another girl will be serving the food pantry with her project to help clients' children learn to make nutritious food choices.  Each of the girls was passionate and prepared to do her best on behalf of her cause.  By the second to last girl, I was getting a little teary.  It's hard to explain but these girls walk into the room looking slightly or--some of them--a lot more nervous and they walk out with approved plans, good advice from us "sage veterans" and with determination and drive.  You just know they're going to accomplish so much and you were able to witness the birth of some meaningful leadership in and service to their communities that will provide them with experiences which could enrich and empower them for bright futures.

It's a long day when you're at work by 7:30 and arrive home around 11:00 but when your day is so fulfilling that you can't sleep and find yourself writing about these blessings, it's a really, really good day.  I had a really good day today.

~~~

Sweeter Than Honey covers Hey, Soul Sister here.

  

Love Stories

It's still Valentine's Day for another hour.  The past 24 hours have me thinking about all the ways love manifests itself in my life.  I posted an outline of my thoughts on facebook tonight.  I hope my friends forgive the way I treat facebook like a blog sometimes.  This is probably a more appropriate forum for the ramblings that seem to continually clutter my head.

It all started, really, with Gavin DeGraw but that's another story for another time.  It could be it's own book, I think.  If you don't know who he is, search for him--not on Google but on YouTube. The last 24 hours started with a song he co-wrote for the movie Safe Haven which opened tonight.  Now pay attention, my stream of consciousness is taking over and it might not be entirely clear ...

Safe Haven is based on the book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.  AMC Theatres ran a double feature of the famous Sparks film The Notebook plus Safe Haven last night.  I read the book (Safe Haven) because of the song--that motivation will be examined at a later date, as I said.  I'd never seen The Notebook but I was anxious to see Safe Haven so I bought a ticket for last night.  I've avoided The Notebook all these years because I knew it was extreme romance--romantic love on steroids.  True love like I didn't experience.  I couldn't see it because I didn't want to face some truths in my life.  But the last year of journeying along with the ebbing and flowing of my river taught me to face the those things I couldn't face the last 15 years and one of the gifts that the music (the Gavin DeGraw music) has given me is hope that there might exist a possibility of letting love back in.  Some day.  Some time.  Maybe.

So the last 24 hours started with a double feature with a double lesson:  true love does exist and there are second chances.  Now I've had examples of true love all around me (my mom and dad being the prime example) but when your own fairy tale ends not with the prince in the castle but with your being thrown in the moat, it takes a while to believe again.  When a relationship ends with words that play over and over like tortuous crappy music on repeat, you start believing them and doubt begins to rule your life.  The stories I enjoyed last night, while fiction, were like affirmations of truth I may have known all along but buried during the last 15 years.  So Valentine's Day started with love lessons.

Valentine's Day at work is usually fun and this year was no exception.  I work in an elementary school so there are parties.  And cards.  And cupcakes, brownies and chocolate covered strawberries.  We had all that in abundance today.  Small children and innocent expressions of precious friendship.  A  reminder that love can be sweet.

After work I attended a rally to urge politicians and leaders to stand up against gun violence.  The Have a Heart-Take a Stand rally.  There were speakers--local mayors who've banded together because they are tired of the devastation in their communities, because they realize Newtown can happen anywhere--prayers and music, people with signs and petitions.  It was heartfelt and passionate.  A group of strangers bonded together by outrage and sickness at the thought that 33 gun deaths happen each day.  Every day people lose someone they love because of guns. A group of strangers bonded by a belief that ultimately, love will win over violence if our leaders will have the courage to stand against the selfishness of the gun lobby.  Outraged love.

From the rally I drove to our local Girl Scout office.  I was recently appointed to the Gold Award committee in our council.  That's the highest award a girl can achieve in our movement to "build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place."  Tonight we had four girls from 9th to 11th grades proposing final projects to earn their Gold Award.  These ranged from projects to benefit soldiers on a base in Afghanistan to helping children making their First Communion in Hurricane Sandy-ravaged South Jersey.  They were young leaders in their neighborhoods and schools who were passionate about local hunger issues, relieving stress in pediatric cancer patients through art therapy, marking spiritual commitment and international relations.  They were inspiring in what they've accomplished so far in their young lives--excellent students, presidents of organizations, active in their faith communities, good communicators, highly organized, poised for success.  Girls who cared about their neighbors, towns and those less fortunate.  Generosity in love.  Love and leadership in action.

Arriving home at 9:30, I brought in the mail.  Among the envelopes of mostly junk were two cards from my daughter.  Late birthday cards with Valentine messages hand written in.  Small treasures.  Tokens of her love to be loved and treasured by me.  Also tucked in my mailbox was a rice krispy treat--a heart-shaped rice krispy treat, in fact.  Someone obviously read my facebook post from this morning pleading for a rice krispy treat to arrive amidst the other sugary treats passing through my office.  I think I know who put that treat there.  It was further proof that I have a wonderful community of friends who form the backbone of my life.  Love in my mailbox.

My "24 hours of love" day started with a song by Gavin DeGraw that led to my reading a book that led to my seeing a film last night.  So it's only appropriate that these 24 hours end with Gavin DeGraw.  He and the musician/friend with whom he co-wrote the song, Colbie Caillat, sang the song on vh1's morning show this morning.  I just watched the tape of their performance.  The song channels the themes of finding a second chance for love and overcoming one's past from Nicholas Sparks' Safe Haven into lyrics and music.  They'll sing it again, a few minutes from now as I write this, on the Tonight Show.  I'll be singing along.

"We Both Know"
(Gavin DeGraw with Colbie Caillat)

They all say it
All the ones that made it
Once you find the one you claim it
But you're gonna have to fight
When I think back
The things that threw us off track
We handled like a heart attack
Cause we didn't see the light
Oh, yeah, now
We both, know our
Own limitations, that's why we're strong
Now that we spent some time apart
We're leading each other, out of the dark
Cause we both know

From this moment
Forget what we were scared of
Say we're never giving up
You say you'll always
Try to be my
Helping hand
Try to be the one who understands
When things don't go as you've planned
We're still worth it all

Oh, yeah, now...
We both, know our
Own limitations, that's why we're strong
Now that we've spent some time apart
We're leading each other, out of the dark
Cause we both know
What we're scared of
And what dreams are made of 
They can take us further than what anybody can see, yeah
We both, know our
Own limitations, and that's why we're strong
Now that we've spent some time apart
We're leading each other, out of the dark

We both know our
Own limitations, and that's why we're strong
Now that we've spent some time apart
We're leading each other, out of the dark
Cause we both know

We both know.