My Comfort Zone...

Last Friday, we all were invited to a surprise birthday party for my dear friend, Katie. The host and hostess have a house on beautiful Lake Norman. These are two photos taken on their boat. A truly glorious sunset. My comfort zone? The water... as long as I'm in a boat and not in the water.



I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Books. Books online. Blogs. Letters. Emails. Text messages. Lots of reading. And I've been inspired to do lots of writing. Other people's words inspire me to fire off a few of my own.

Jen, at The Word Cellar, wrote a piece that is linked to the title of this post. I hope she doesn't mind if I use her writing as an inspiration for my own.

She wrote: "I do these things because I know I'd regret not doing them."

Here's a partial list of the things I do for the same reason:

* Blog, telling my story and sharing my thoughts with others
* Journal a lot; there is no topic too small or insignificant
* Take photographs whenever the mood hits me
* Read books that challenge my entrenched ways of thinking

* Eat dessert - especially chocolate with nuts in it.
Haagen Dazs Chocolate peanut butter ice cream is one of my favorites.
* Exercise
* Drink water
* Eat as well as I can - when I'm not eating dessert, that is

* Travel alone
* Travel with Steve and the kids
* Leave my mind and heart open to new people and experiences

* Stand up for what and who I believe in
* Listen to and consider the ideas and opinions of others
* Bow out of relationships and situations that repeatedly injure me
* Withdraw from the fray when conflicts escalate - give peace a chance
* Give forgiveness and reconciliation a chance too

* Push myself to stop what I am doing and listen when my children speak to me
* Apologize to them when I don't
* Watch movies and play games with them

* Figure out ways to get over feeling hurt and offended as quickly as possible
* Ask myself why I respond as I do to the situations in my life
* Seek out and ponder the answers to my questions
* Pray, asking for grace, mercy, patience, love, and peace

* Tell people that are scared and hurting that they don't have to live in fear and pain all the time
* Weep with those who weep
* Laugh with those who laugh
* Maintain long-distance friendships;
loving, caring, loyal friends are hard to come by

* Allow myself to be nostalgic, to remember moments of sheer brilliance gone by
* Allow myself to dream big, to imagine how far I will go and all I will learn on this life journey
* But above all, rejoice in this moment, right here, right now, giving thanks for each breath, each sip of hot, sweet coffee, each click of the computer keyboard
* Seek out times of solitude and silence to reflect on the wonder that is this one, wild, crazy life I have been given to live.



This was the dessert plate at last Friday's party.
I ate the one near the middle with the raspberries on top
and the boat shaped one in the bottom row, the one with raspberry jam on top.
Yum, yum on both counts!
No regrets on either count!

Life is sweet.