An Exciting Idea

When I was a sophomore at Merrimack College we had to take religion classes.  I hadn't grown up with one particular religion, since my mother was Protestant and my father Catholic, neither practicing but both with a great deal of faith and spirituality.  I never wanted to pigeonhole my beliefs, but I'd always been interested in all aspects of the Divine. I wanted to use the opportunity of going to a Catholic school to find out what I did in fact believe in.  I took one class on Christianity and one on Eastern Religions.  Both taught me a great deal, although I couldn't tell you an account of any one particular parable. 

I do remember, when learning about Buddhism, that the concepts the faith is based on were mind-blowing and comforting all at the same time.  I remember reading that we should try to be like a blade of grass, able to bend in the wind, and not like a rigid tree which would break under pressure. I identified with that, believing that the goal was not to be accomodating to others, but actually to not let your soul become burdened and broken.

Another lesson had to do with becoming like a river. Never stagnant.  You are literally a different person with every second of your day.  I have done something new this second compared with the last. Our knowledge is an accumulation of all the moments in our lives, but that does not mean we are the person we were yesterday. We are everything we were and everything we might be, from second to second.  I could decide, right this moment, to change my outlook on life, to change what I say to people, to change how I react, to disregard what happened a year ago. Every moment is mine. Every moment is yours.

This same lesson had to do with letting go.  Nothing is forever, no matter how much we'd like it to be. The person you think you know best in the world is a different person today than he or she was yesterday.  We must allow that to occur, or you are essentially halting the flowing river that the person has potential to be.  I try to remind myself of this day to day. Every time you wake up next to your husband or wife, you are meeting them for the first time. Every time you have lunch with your best friend, they are not quite the same as you left them last. This could seem scary, but also, extremely exciting. What can you discover today about the people you love most?

Welcome to the Good Life

I know some people are sick of all of the "Life is Good" t-shirts and bumper stickers floating around in the world that seem to stick their tongue out and waggle it at you when you're having a bad day, but I wish everyone would stop and think about it more. Life is good. I'd hate to be cliche and start saying things like, life is short, live love laugh, etc. but I think a lot of people forget how easily it could all be taken away.
We spend our lives building up our security fences, finding good jobs, buying good houses, and investing time and energy into people we think will make good spouses and signing contracts to make sure they'll never leave us. None of that permanent. You have to be happy right this second. You have to love everyone as best you can right now.
I know not everything is flowers and butterflies. There are things in my life I wish were different. The one thing I hope I never lose sight of is how wonderful my friends and family are, and how much love I am surrounded by.  A bad day at work is nothing compared to what some people have to deal with every day.  Whenever I complain about work, someone very close to me likes to say "You could be shoveling shit."
One of my favorite quotes (I think it's by Plato) is "Smile, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle."
Anyway, just some things I was thinking about. The last five months or so have been difficult, with bad news and heartbreak around every corner.  The one thing that keeps me going is the little angel growing inside me. I believe he was put here just in time to keep my spirit happy and hopeful.

Pregnant Brain

So people have claimed there is such a thing as "Pregnant Brain" although many books and websites say that it is make-believe. Pregnant Brain refers to the state of flightiness or forgetfulness that pregnant women experience. I've read that it's nothing more than the fact that you are focusing so much on your pregnancy, or are maybe extra tired, that is causing the ditziness, and not really anything chemically different in your body that you can blame it on.

However. Let me tell you about today and the amount of air-headedness I experienced.

This morning, I left my house at the usual time, around ten past seven. I decided I wanted a muffin and a decaf coffee, so I headed to Dunkin' Donuts. While in the Dunk's drive through I realized I left all of my school things at home, my entire bag with my pass to get into the school and everything. As soon as I paid for my order, I drove off in the direction of my house to retrieve my belongings, and immediately realized that after getting my change from the Dunks lady, I drove away before getting my order. At this point, it was 7:20 and I had only time to go to one place, Dunks or Home. I went home, got my things, and went to school, coffeeless.

As I got to school, I turned the car off, grabbed my bags, opened my car door and promptly realized I was stuck. Both of my legs were out of the car door, struggling to reach the ground, and something was keeping me in my seat. I thought my bag was caught on something, I jerked it, yanked it, to no avail. It was about thirty seconds of struggle before I realized I had not unbuckled my seat belt.

This was all before seven thirty in the morning.

Some days you should really be able to go back to bed and just call it a mental health day!!

Incase you were wondering...

Bobby and I blogged our way across sixteen states and a piece of Canada this summer for our honeymoon. It was awesome having the lap top and WiFi to keep in touch with our family and friends. We could upload pictures and stories about all the funny (and crazy) things we were experiencing the same day we experienced them, which made the stories much more real to everyone at home. Since we were on a three to four week vacation we would never have been able to remember all the details we wanted to tell everyone once we got home.

Now that we are home I stopped blogging because there doesn't seem to be specific moments to blog about, the way there were on the vacation. A few people have suggested that I keep blogging about things that are happening to us now that we are married (for example, we are expecting a baby in May). I named the blog "Creating a Life" for a couple of reasons. One, I would love to write about the amazing journey we are on right now since we have "created a life" literally and are going through all of the crazy moments of a first pregnancy, and two, because I'd like to write about our life in general and all of wonderful and confusing moments to contemplate.

My husband wants the laptop now and since I'm just diving into my fifth month of pregnancy, it's just about time that I figure out where my next meal is coming from. Can't wait to keep in touch. :)