Hope and a Hobby

I just arrived home from Chris Raba's birthday party! Happy Birthday Chris! Chris and Tanya are a wonderful couple. I met them through Najla years ago. (They are, in fact, responsible for Najla's introduction to her husband.) Apparently it has become tradition to celebrate Chris' birthday in pajamas. I honestly can not remember the last time I attended a full-on pajama party. It certainly was not a "boy-girl" party....! So this was my first "boy-girl" pajama party. Here's the beauty of a pajama party....I am already ready for bed! It's perfect. Here's the downside....I needed to run an errand THIS evening and it couldn't wait for morning. So, I had to go to the pharmacy in my pajamas. I explained to the lady at the counter that I was not crazy, I was just attending a pajama party. Her response was, "Oh, we see way worse than this." Hmph....I am not even sure how to take that. Anyhow....the party was a success and I am so pleased I received an invitation. Tanya and Chris have been so kind to me the last few weeks. I really admire how gracious they are and always make me feel so welcome in their home.

Here is a photo of Chris blowing out his candles......
Tanya and Chris.....They are expecting their THIRD son on June 15.

Najla, Tanya, Phillip and Yazmeen....

Najla and I.....

Vincent (Najla's husband), myself and Najla. You can't see it but her pajamas say "Pregnant is the New Skinny."

I have a few daily celebrations today. First....RAIN! I realize it is the first weekend of Fiesta and the rain is a MAJOR inconvenience but we really need it! So today I celebrate the rain.

Yesterday I attended another mayoral forum. It was at a Baptist church on the east side of town. The hosts were the nicest people! They immediately made me feel welcome and almost every single one of them came up and introduced themselves to me. One lady, in particular, stands out. I said, "Hello, how are you?" She said, "I am blessed. How are you?" I said, "Today, I am very blessed, too." She said, "You are blessed every day." And I said, "You know, you are right." I celebrate her gentle spirit and kind reminder. Every day of my life has been a blessing!

Finally, I would like to celebrate hope. I wrote about transitions earlier this week. I admitted to a MAJOR transitional period currently taking place in my life. I mentioned feeling open to the grace of others. What I didn't mention is the hope and excitement that is an outgrowth of my transitional period. It really hadn't occured to me until I had an interesting conversation with a lovely gentleman I have recently met. The essence of the conversation is that we all need "hope and a hobby." I liked the idea....and I liked the alliteration as well! As I drove home I really thought about what he and I had discussed. I realized I currently feel very hopeful. Beyond that I wondered where the hope was coming from. And instantaneously it was immediately obvious. My hope is supported by the foundation of all the angels in my life. Some have been with me since the day I was born, others I have known less than a month. Regardless of how long I have known my angels or what purpose they serve in my life, people are surrounding me with love, kindness and graciousness. In all that goodness I am reminded that human nature is inherently decent, that kindness and thoughtfulness do prevail if I am constantly open to them and I am one of the luckiest ladies around! To all my angels.....old and new.....you know who you are. As for the "hobby" part of the conversation...all I have to say is "Pho Shoa!" (That's "For Sure" for those of you who didn't see Superbad!)

I am still lovin' on this album. I listened to it all day long AGAIN today! It struck me that Patty Griffin probably wrote a lot of these songs after a deep, deep loss. There is this one line from a song that has stuck with me for the past three days and I keep hearing it over and over again. I feel this line has adopted me and demanded I own it as my current mantra. It goes a little something like this, "The bird of peace is flying over, she's flying over and coming in for landing."

In honor of my friend "Spacey" who keeps reminding me that I have not included any quotes from The Office....I had this special graphic made just for you. Thank you for supplying me with the first official Office quote for the blog. (I hope you are happy, friend!)

Michael: Society teaches us that having feelings and crying is bad and wrong. Well, that's baloney, because grief isn't wrong. There's such a thing as good grief. Just ask Charlie Brown.

Goodnight friends......PS....I am having some "spacing" issues on this particular post and it is driving me mad! Please realize I do not typically write run on paragraphs. Sometimes...or all the time...blogspot has a mind of it's own in terms of spacing! I apologize.