The Many Shades of Friendship

It's been a whirlwind of celebration and good times around our house for the last five days or so.  I know how blessed I am to be able to say that as there are so many people in the world who have nothing to celebrate and not much to call good in their lives.  My hope is that I'll never take any of the gifts of this life for granted.

A good friend flew in last Thursday to spend a few days with me.  It just so happened that Thursday June 8th was National Best Friends Day.  I got to celebrate well!   It was also the randomly assigned date that I was given to write a daily devotion to be shared worldwide by my church.  I have written here before about how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life to call friends...people near and far, old and young, male and female.  To be assigned National Best Friends Day as the inspiration for my devotion was perfect!  I'm not sure that I can call any one person my "best friend" because all of those that I call friends are near and dear to my heart and all add their own unique gifts to my life.

Here is part of the devotion that I wrote on and for National Best Friend's Day.   It is based on the  passage from Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10

It's better to have a partner then to go it alone.  Share the work, share the wealth.  And if one falls down, the other helps.  But if there's no one to help, it's tough! 

A Word of HopeToday is National Best Friends Day, "a day to honor that one special person you call your “best friend”.   This day is a time to show them how much you appreciate them, how special and important they are to you and how you cherish their friendship."
As an only child and thus never having a sibling relationship, my friends have always held an extra special place in my life.  Whether swapping my favorite marbles on the elementary school playground, lamenting the woes of adolescence, or sharing the joys and sorrows of adult life, friends have taught me that it is most certainly better to have a partner than go it alone.  In many circumstances of my life, I know that my friends have been the hands, feet, and heart of Christ.  And like Jesus, they are the ones who have shown me unconditional love, often when I didn't deserve it. Friends are those people with whom we are comfortable and willing to share trust, support, sympathy and empathy.  But, how often do we think about those particular words when we think about our friends?  
The Urban Dictionary defines friends in this way: [Friends are] "people who are aware of how retarded you are and still manage to be seen in public with you, people who make you laugh till you pee your pants, people who cry for you when one of your special items disappears. When you don’t have enough money to get an ice cream, they chip in. [A friend] knows all of your Internet passwords. They would never make you cry just to be mean."  
Though this definition may seem a bit trite on first reading, it exhibits trust, support, sympathy, and empathy.  It is, at its core, the picture of what we value most in those we call our best friends,  painted in a way that most of us can easily relate.

Yes, the official day to celebrate our best friends has come and gone; however, we can and should be thankful for those people and our relationships with them every day.  

Who are your best friends?  Do you see the hands, feet, and heart of Christ in them?  Can they see and feel Christ in you?  Do you see your friends as a gift from God?  Think about your friends today.  Tell them how grateful you are to have them in your life.  Thank God for them.

If I had to name one best friend, it would be Weber.  He is the one that knows everything there is to know about me - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and is still willing to go to sleep next to me every night and wake up and stand by my side every day.  I'll be the first to admit that some days that is not easy!

One of the reasons that my friend Joni came to visit was to help us celebrate Weber's 60th birthday.  I have to say up front, he is not a birthday party kind of guy.  His dislike of birthday parties is less about the aging thing and more about the party part.  We had to have a little "come to Jesus" discussion about how life is a gift and allowing your friends to celebrate your birthday is a way to say thank you for that gift of life.

We spent Saturday evening, his birthday, surrounded by friends, family, and barbecue.  It's hard to be grumpy when your world is filled with such awesome people!  Banana pudding, instead of birthday cake, helps too!

And as if Saturday night's festivities weren't enough, we reconvened with many of the same people Sunday morning in church  to worship together and afterward to break bread.  Several of us were together again Sunday evening to watch the Tony Awards.  Yep...that's what friends do - celebrate together, pray together, eat together, relax together.  And sometimes we share hugs, tears, laughter, and hard truths.  Oh...and banana pudding!

Today, June 13th, is  International Albinism Awareness Day.  Though albinism is something I have lived with for my entire life, it is not something that I have ever thought deserving of a celebration.  It wasn't until about seven years ago when I became active with the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH) that I allowed albinism to be more than just a part of me, but a part of me that is deserving of a celebration every day.

Through NOAH, I have many new friends with whom albinism was the commonality that brought us together, but our friendships are bound together by the things mentioned above - trust, support, sympathy, and empathy.  We are now the kind of friends that will cry together when one of your special items disappears (like those stitches on your sock gusset, Joni), lend money for ice cream (Becca), and hopefully will never make one another cry just to be mean!!!  Stealing your salad fork does not count as being mean, Becca! :-)

Here Joni and I are rocking our friendship and the albinism twin thing.  Lol!  We got to share most of International Albinism Awareness Day together before she headed home.

Thank you to everyone that I am blessed to call friend.

And Here It Is June...

So what have I learned lately?

My desire to do is greater than my ability to do.

My intention, once school was out was to write more.  I have done that...just not here, which was not the plan.  I thought that I could keep up here, with my regular Pixels, Plates, and LOLs posts, and writing every day for Blueper B...oh, and a photo a day for him and for me.  Then there was stuff like preparing meals, and laundry, and a little (very little) vacuuming and dusting.

Let's just say that during the month of May, I learned the limits my mental capacity.

Weber and I bought our friend Blueper B when we were in Delaware during my dad's illness.

I guess you could say that he was a silly diversion from all of the sadness and seriousness that was going on. He travels and he tells the story of his adventures in words, sometimes mixed up words, and pictures on his own blog.  I vowed that during the month of May I would help him write a post every day.  I fulfilled that promise, but at the expense of writing here.  Looking back, I am really okay with that.  Weber and I had fun with Blueper B's everyday posts.  If I am to be totally honest, I was a bit sad when I helped him write his last post of his Month of Me yesterday.

If you are interested, here is Blueper B's blog.

He will continue to write regularly, but regularly will not be every day.

Now that I know that I can only write so much, and three regular blogs is too much, my writing attention for June will be back here in my own voice.  I suppose if I were a little more disciplined I could manage all three, but I'm not right now.  Maybe I will get there.

The biggest thing happening in my world this month is that Weber is retiring after twenty-five years of teaching.

As of right now, his plan is to be a house husband.  I am perfectly okay with that as I am not retiring.  It will be a bit of a role reversal for both of us as he has worked for the last forty plus years and although I have worked, I have also been the one primarily responsible for household chores for all of my adult life.  I suspect that I can get used to getting up to my breakfast being made and coming home to my clean laundry.  The furry kids are looking forward to having him home all day too.

It's funny...once people hear that he is retiring, the first thing they ask is if we are going to travel.  We are traveling quite a bit this summer, but that has nothing to do with his retirement; it is just the way things worked out.  We won't be taking any long trips during the school year since I'm still teaching; however, I don't teach on Fridays so we will have the ability to take some long weekend trips.  And, my semester breaks are longer than his were so much of January is time that we will have off together.

It is a new chapter to which we are both looking forward.  He just needs to get through the next two days, through the last last day of school!

A Whirlwind Week

The past week seems to have flown by!  Last weekend we were in Baltimore because I had a NOAH board meeting.  Though it was a quick trip and I had little free time, I enjoyed the getaway and change of scenery.  Weber and I did have a bit of time to wander around Baltimore's Inner Harbor on Friday afternoon before my meeting began at 6.

It was interesting to see another lightship.  My dad was instrumental in restoring a similar one, The Overfalls, in Lewes, DE.

We didn't have time to do the on board tours of the Chesapeake or any of the other boats in the harbor. That will have to wait until our next trip to Baltimore.

U.S.S Constellation, constructed in 1854

Below is a seriously blown-out image of the Constellation.  I forget to check my camera settings before I shot the image.  It is so "not right", but there is something kind of magical about it that I like. Don't ask me why.

We had a nice lunch at an Irish pub overlooking the harbor.

After lunch and a little bit of shopping, where Weber got a new hat, we headed back to the hotel to rest a little before my meeting began.

The Friday night meeting only lasted about two hours.  It was during that time that the horrific events in Paris took place.  We emerged from the board room to see the chaos unfolding on every TV in the hotel.

While we were touring the city in the afternoon, we passed by the World Trade Center in Baltimore.  In front was a piece of mangled steel, a remnant of the devastation from the terrorist attack on the The World Trade Center in New York.

I had no idea when I took this photo that in only hours terrorists would again strike in one of the world's major cities.  We flew home early Sunday morning.  The security lines were long and slow at the airport and there seemed to be more TSA agents than usual.  I suppose this could have been my imagination or perhaps a coincidence.

Despite the uneasiness in the world, Monday morning came and we routinely started our school week like every other one this semester.  When I got to school, however, my students were not interested in analyzing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata or writing four-part chorales; they wanted to talk about what was going on in the world.  My job is to educate; sometimes that means setting aside my own lesson plans and "teaching" something different, something that would never be included on any course syllabus. I can answer the students' questions about what chords Beethoven is using, or how to avoid parallel fifths in part writing, but I cannot answer, "Why did this happen in Paris?" or, "Do you think we are on the verge of a Third World War?"  I don't know.  For the duration of that discussion, my students and I were on equal ground, no teacher and students, only people waiting, wondering, and praying about what the future holds.

All week long, the flags on campus that flew at half mast were a constant reminder that we are a grieving world.

On a different note, here is a twirl and haiku from this week...

"The Kiss"

Carefully chosen

To express the hidden me

Words and images.

The cat has decided that the puppy is no threat to her.  Honestly, Piper has absolutely no interest in Frankie.  Though Frankie will never admit it, I think that hurts her feelings a little bit.  With all of the unrest in the world, it is comforting to have peace at home!

Little, dog, big dog, medium dog, and cat happily co-existing!

And the week ended with me making pumpkin butter, a sign that the holidays are fast approaching as pumpkin butter is one of those things that I seem to only make around this time of year.  For the recipe, visit www.pixelsplatesandlols.blogspot.com

Despite all of the ugliness in the world right now, there still exist many reasons to be thankful.  This week I am thankful for safe travels, caring students, loving family and friends, my four-legged furry family members, a forgiving heart, time to make pumpkin butter, and hope.

A Vase, Photoshop, and Rumi

Today's Capture Your 365 photo prompt was color.  I love color!  This should have been so easy for me.  I am discovering though, that the prompts whose subjects are those about which I feel deeply connected are the one's that are most difficult for me.  I suspect that I over think them.

I finally decided that i would buy some colorful flowers this afternoon at the grocery store and photograph them in a colorful hand blown glass vase that Weber and I got while we were in Vermont on our honeymoon.  That was a great plan until I forgot to but the flowers.  The vase is pretty in its own right so I decided to photograph it empty.  I gave it my by shot (pun intended), but the photos did absolutely nothing for me.  I decided to see what would happen if I played with some fun techniques in Photoshop.  This is what I got.

I feel like the Photoshop Twirls are the photographer's answer to drawing mandalas, a practice which I also enjoy.  I simply went through a process with this and waited to see what emerged.  I must admit that I was surprised but the image that resulted here.  To me it looks like two hearts joined with a cross at the center.  That pretty much sums up my relationship with Weber and since the original image was that vase that we bought on our honeymoon,  the whole mood seemed to come together.

The quote from Rumi also seemed perfect.  Every day I am thankful for the person with whom I share my life, but today I am particularly thankful for his support of and inspiration for all of my creative endeavors.

Let's Talk About Today

My day began early and with the following two posts on Facebook:
1. "The time needs to change.  Getting to school in the dark is just not right."

2. Note to self: Beginning a 7:30 ear training class with harmonic dictation in the minor mode is not a good way to start the day.

And so went my day.  It had an early and rough start, but by my 9:00 class, things were moving along fairly well.  Five classes later, I was done teaching for the day and more than ready to come home.

Weber has been home from school for two days because he has Shingles on his face.  The worry was that it would go to his eye, but thankfully that hasn't happened.  I think that we were fortunate to have caught it relatively early and he started the anti-viral meds before it got too bad.

So how is the best way to spend the afternoon when one of you is exhausted from a long day that started early and the other has Shingles?  Meet with your estate attorney to rewrite your wills, powers of attorney, medical directives, and HIPAA releases. It's no fun, but it is necessary.  Fortunately, we found a great estate attorney who was helpful, efficient,  and had a great personality.  I consider a "hat trick" with an attorney to be pretty darn amazing!  So now its all done and we don't have to think about these things any time soon unless we have some major changes in our world.  Hopefully that won't be for a long while!

One piece of advice that the attorney gave us is to make sure that you have a HIPAA release form.  THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS A MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY!!!  We all think that a medical power of attorney gives us the right to all the medical information related to a loved one.  With the passage of the HIPAA regulations in 2004 (I think) this is no longer true.  The medical power of attorney may give you the right to "pull the plug" perhaps, but you may be making the decision to do so without a complete picture of your loved one's medical condition because you are not listed on their HIPAA form as one who can receive specific details of their medical condition.  Crazy, but true.  I ran in to this with my dad.

When dad was in the hospital the last time, we needed to begin making arrangements with hospice.  Because I did not live close and was not there day in and day out for my dad's treatments, he had not specifically listed me on his forms as one who was privy to all of his medical information.  During his final week when I told him that he needed to do that, he said that that was ridiculous.  Of course they would give me all the information; I was his daughter.  Wrong!  He had to specifically inform them in writing that it was OK.  Doctors risk an expensive fine for each instance in which they violate the HIPAA laws.  Even if you are not ready to write your will, you may want to consider consulting an attorney for at least this one form.

None of us wants to think about estate planning and end of life issues, but it is a lot better to do it before it becomes absolutely necessary.  Doing so is one of the greatest gifts that you can give to your family ,and really yourself.

On to happier things...pumpkin bread and a cup of coffee before I go to bed, relatively early for me!

Today;s photo prompt was "repurpose."  At our house, every cardboard box is repurposed as a cat bed.

95/365-3 Gathered Together

"Easter Afternoon"

Between six church services in the past few days, dinner last night with family, and lunch this afternoon with friends, there has been much gathering together in our life over the past few days, but none of it did I photograph.  This afternoon, once Jesus was raised and all else was said and done, it was a quiet afternoon with just the two of us at home.  I managed a few shots before Weber took a nap in the recliner and I spent way too much time on the computer.  Such is life.

Happy Easter!

91/365-3 Sundown

"My Sunshine at Sundown"

Today's prompt of "Sundown" suggested that twilight provides beautiful light to capture warm skin tones.  Weber volunteered his skin tones for today's prompt.  I think he may have also figured that if he agreed to be totday's subject on this first day of the month that he might be off the hook for the next 29 days.  Wrong!  The Ptactice Portraits class that I will be taking starts next week.  Hopefully there will be some advice in the class on exposing for bald heads.  Now I know why I always photograph him in his hat!

45-53/365-3 Another Round of Catching Up

February seems to have whizzed by and I have no idea where it has gone!  All month I have been making lists of things that I need to do and I have actually crossed a goodly number of them off, but it seems that I am adding new things faster than I am removing accomplished tasks and the lists continues to grow.  The good news in all of this is that I have gotten a lot done, both things that I need to do and a few that I want to do.  I'll continue to work to whittle down at the rest trying to be gentle with myself about the places where I have fallen short.

As I write this tonight, I have a wicked cold that is not doing anything to help my productivity.  The good news is that due to an impending ice storm, school has been cancelled for tomorrow.  That gives me some to get some extra rest in the hope of defeating the cold and some time to catch up on other things.  I consider the ice and cold to be a gracious gift from Mother Nature, just what I need right now.

And now to catch up on the daily photos so that I can scratch that off of my list.

45/365 Valentine

"Edible Valentine"

We celebrated a simple Valentine's Day sharing bagels and coffee.  That evening, We went to see Book of Mormon with some friends.  That show is so wrong but so hilarious!

46/365 Depth of Field

"Bones"

The dogs supervised this shot in case any props happen to be dropped along the way.

47/365 Flowing

"Goofy Grapes"

This was a last ditch effort taken and edited very late at night with my phone.

48/365 Wide

"Rainy Afternoon"

Standing out in the rain taking this shot reminded me how much I love rain.

49/365 XOXO

"XO"

A late night photo of a late night snack.

50/365 Isolate It

"Quiet Life"

51/365 Colored Bokeh

"Signs of Spring"

On the way out to the mailbox on Friday afternoon we noticed the first dandelion of the year, the first sign of spring.  I felt like I needed to document that, but I also felt a bit guilty about our dandelions and seventy degree weather while so much of the country was immobilized by snow and bitter cold temperatures.  And now it is 28 degrees here and we will wake up tomorrow morning to a blanket of ice.

52/365 Indistinct

"Wishes"

This was not the photo that I intended to take for the prompt, but it was my favorite photo of the day so it became my daily photo.

53/365 Looking Forward

"Frankie"

Nothing was happening for me creatively today.  Though I am usually a positive person, always preferring to look forward rather than backward, I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for the day's shot.  Perhaps this is because of the cold that has taken up residence in my head.  Now that I think about it, I really don't feel well.  On the up side, I did get a picture of Frankie for this month.

For what it's worth, I am now caught up here...one less thing on my list!

And, there is a new Pixels, Plates, and LOLs! post.