My Velveteen Rabbit Reasons to Love Monday

I'm having computer issues this morning... keeps freezing up on me. I think it's time to take this baby in for a tune-up. I have been wanting to talk to my computer guy about doing his business insurance so it would be worth a trip.

It's Monday. It rained all day yesterday... and I did a few chores that desperately needed to be done... and I'm feeling a lot of stiffness in my back. What's new?

I'm reading a book that Sandi Patty (Christian singer) wrote about her life and the struggles she's been through. It's "Broken on the Back Row" (I bought it on Amazon, used, for about $4, including shipping, not a bad deal). She's got an amazing voice... has had incredible opportunities... very successful in her career... and she has had some major issues. I'm drawn to people with cracks and scars and so forth... and I'm very much enjoying her book.

In her book she talks about some inspiration she received from the story of the Velveteen Rabbit which is a precious children's book ... if you haven't read it, you should... here's an excerpt:

“What is REAL?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day... "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" 

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real." 

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. 

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt." 

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?" 

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. 

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand... once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.” 
― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become R

I am feeling very REAL right now. Droopy, limp, with parts that don't work as well as they should... and parts that aren't as pretty as they once were...  but I also feel like being REAL gives me an enormous capacity to connect with other REAL people. That's why Whitney Houston's funeral touched my heart so deeply. That's why I have been praying - and worrying - over a friend whose daughter is in a "crisis pregnancy" that is causing a rift in their family. That's why I can't be judgy and harsh to people in different lifestyles. I want to love them... with the same love that has been given to me.

There's another quote that I saw yesterday that really spoke to my heart...

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. - Albert Einstein

So much of our struggles in life come from trying to be something or someone we're not. I'm really meditating on that quote and what it may mean for the next season of life for me. Pain wise... health wise.. and for my mental well-being... I am a fish who has to stop trying to climb a tree.

My Reasons to Love Monday this week:
1. good coffee, good creamer, good start despite another high blood pressure reading
2. I think the rain has stopped. It's cold outside but hopefully the swamp outside my front door will dry up a bit before the next round of rain.
3. We don't have staff meeting this morning. woohoo!
4. I'm real. It took me a lot of tough love and hurt to get that way but I'm glad to be real and I'm glad to have people in my life who understand so that I'm never ugly to them.
5. I've had a great weekend spiritually and I'm entering into the week with optimism and encouragement.
6. Austin is out of school today and tomorrow so no before work teenage drama to deal with.
7. Speaking of the kid... he's been difficult over the past weekend ... we had a heated argument yesterday and I retreated to my nest. Later, he was conciliatory and although you couldn't quite consider it an apology, he extended an olive branch. That's progress.
8. I put away about half of the laundry that had become an increasingly growing mountain at the foot of my bed. It may not be completely done but it was progress.
9. I love Monday for the fresh start, the new opportunities that will come my way, hopefully I will have renewed enthusiasm for doing the things I need to do to be successful. I am trying.
10. We have dentist appointments tomorrow... a doctor appointment for my blood pressure issues on Thursday... we're going to register Austin to vote tomorrow... lots going on this week but I'm excited that I am facing a 4 1/2 day work week (due to taking half a vacation day tomorrow) instead of five full days. It makes a huge difference to my pain level. I'm also glad to be getting some resolution, hopefully, on my blood pressure because I have really been feeling poorly.

Hope you all - whether you're working today or not - I hope that you're entering into this new work week feeling REAL and not feeling like a fish trying to climb a tree. Love and hugs to all of you!