Morning Coffee

I had coffee with you this morning. 

I know you like to have coffee on the patio, but ours isn't covered and this Texas heat is too much for you to bear. 

The sun room is fine though. The light shines through with great hope, the coolness of the indoor air is refreshing, and you can still hear the birds chirping which is good because we can talk about what it would be like to be one of them.

I'm sorry I don't have one of your usual coffee mugs. Mine aren't as stained with rings from long-winded stories or faded from a life of experiences. They have yet to be so adventurous. 

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I wrote a song about you.

It's not perfect yet. I don't want to share it until it's perfect, but when it's ready you'll be the first one I share it with.

You taught me many things. I never mentioned that to you, but you did. Strong-willed and bull-headed, but a compassionate soul that wanted everyone to feel loved...even the plants, so you named them and conversed with them knowing that they would return the love with blooms of life. I'm still working on my green thumb.

I'm sorry I never told you any of this before. Life fools us into thinking that it lasts forever and time tricks us into believing there's always something more important. 

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Coffee was good this morning.

I would rather have coffee on your patio, but it's not yours anymore.

The sun room is fine though.

I don't have one of your usual coffee mugs. Someone else has it as a reminder of you.

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I had coffee with you this morning. 

You weren't there, but your chair was. 

Chasing Squirrels

Two aspects of this story exist, the one where my dogs escape and leave me frantically chasing them around the block in tears and the one where my dogs saw their window of opportunity and flew through it without hesitation.

Meet my dogs.

Left - Kujo  :  Right - Kaiser

Can you guess which one is the lead opportunist? If you’re thinking Kujo because “who names their dog Kujo after that horrible rabid dog movie” you’re wrong. Kaiser is the opportunist of the family. The ultimate naughty that is too smart for his own good and has the world conquering mind of a cat in an unfortunately larger, stronger, and faster body. He’s my escapee and, although smaller, undoubtedly the leader of the two.

Now, for my aspect of the stressful afternoon:

We just finished hosting a garage sale and it was time to trace my tire tracks to collect the advertising signs I posted earlier. My husband was in the kitchen getting his stuff together for his night shift at work. I was looking for my keys which are never in their designated location (I gave up on that long ago) and decided to check the garage. Without thinking, I swung open the door with tunnel vision for my lost keys and within seconds my oh-so-sweet naughty little Kaiser races past my legs into the ally and about the neighborhood to terrorize the community; Kujo following close behind because it probably looked like fun and his mind capacity reflects that of a cow’s.

After 15 minutes of gallivanting about terrifying the neighbors, antagonizing other dogs, and chasing squirrels, we finally caught them. My husband, red with anger and stressed because he’s now late for work; me, a bawling unhelpful mess of a dog mom, and the dogs, happily bouncing about the backseat of my jeep like they just won a championship and are now being taken for free dinner, drinks, and dancing, are finally headed home.

Kaiser’s aspect of the situation:

He saw his window of opportunity and, without the slightest hesitation, barreled through it with great haste. Kaiser’s dream is to roam about the world carefree and (maybe) return home for dinner. He found a way to make his dream a reality and took it. There were people afraid of him, dogs jealous of him, and others (mostly me) worried about him, but that didn’t stop him from chasing his dream…or the squirrels.

We humans have dreams to chase too. Once the fleeting ever changing window of opportunity presents itself, we have two choices: to barrel through it or stay where we are – probably perfectly content but always curious of what’s on the other side. 

Just like the obstacles Kaiser faced, there will be people afraid of your success, envious people hoping that you fail, and then your loved ones (probably mom) always worrying. Regardless, your window of opportunity will open and when it does will you stay perfectly content looking out, or will you chase the squirrels?

Photo Credits : Allison Terry Images

Sponge Cake

BuzzFeed quizzes are superb at helping you find yourself. I really don’t know where I’d be if I’d never taken the Order A Meal At Chick-fil-A And We’ll Reveal Your Best Quality quiz (I’m understanding), or the "Build A Bowl Of Mac 'N' Cheese And We'll Tell You How Many Kids You'll Have quiz (eleven...nope, no thanks).

Although these quizzes are totally cheesy and far-fetched, I learned something magnificent when I took the Tell Us Your Taste In Men And We’ll Tell You What Kind Of Cake You Are quiz. As I’m nonchalantly choosing which celebrity man appeals to me more I’m excitedly anticipating my results of, “YOU’RE CHOCOLATE CAKE! Everyone looks forward to seeing you at big events and you’re great at pressuring others into what you like!” or “YOU’RE CONFETTI CAKE! You love to have a good time and you light up the room wherever you go”, but that didn’t happen for me. I made one choice. One wrong choice led me to something I never saw coming…

Sponge cake. I’m a sponge cake. No explanation. I’m just a sponge cake. I’m pretty sure my grandma doesn’t even enjoy sponge cake. Like, what am I supposed to believe about myself now?

So, as humans tend to do, I made excuses. It’s just the quiz. Everyone’s a sponge cake. Then my friend took the quiz. She changed one answer, just one. SHE WAS CONFETTI CAKE!? Unbelievable. 

Thanks, Oscar Isaac, for making me sponge cake.

Which led me to my magnificent learning moment…one choice can change everything. One simple little choice, perhaps one that you think holds very little significance can drastically change an outcome. 

We make choices every day in life, some big and some small, some bad and some good. Sometimes we think about our choices, other times we don’t, but what if we took the time to reflect on our choices before we made them? Crazy idea I know and I’m sure I’m the very first one to think of this, but really, how is what I’m doing now going to help/hurt me later? Is this choice leading me to accomplish my goals or holding me back? Is this a sponge cake choice or a confetti cake choice?

So I leave you with this, what will you be…sponge cake or confetti cake?

With love,

LL

Success

I’m in the midst of setting life goals. Goals that will hopefully lead me to be successful in the short amount of time I have. Ya know, things like: learn how to fold a fitted sheet, keep my eyes from rolling when my husband tells me I’ve gone over budget, binge watch every Netflix original series…really important stuff here. However, to set successful life-changing goals, I decided to google what success is, actually, I googled ‘successful animals’ because human success is slightly overrated. This is what I found.

A horseshoe crab. This is my successor. This is what I need to strive for. YES! No. On the other hand, I think the horseshoe crab may encompass some valuable facts that could really help me formulate my goals for success. After all they have been here for like…ever.

1. They’ve roamed the earth for approximately 445 million years.

Four hundred forty five million years. 445 MILLION YEARS!? This whole time the cockroach has been stealing their thunder when in reality horseshoe crabs are obviously the real winners here. So these creatures are virtually indestructible. They laugh in the face of danger (probably) and just keep on trucking. I can do that too.

2. They’re invertebrates.

They don’t have spines, which is probably why the cockroaches are stealing their thunder…because the crabs won’t stand up for themselves.

Actually, I like to see it as them humbling themselves. They don’t need all this recognition to keep doing what they do. They just…DO. Just do it. Now we know where Nike really got their slogan.

3. They’re blue blooded.

Their blood is super special. So special in fact that it is used in many vaccines and cures for various things. God created them unique, giving them a little something special, a gift for them to share with others. Intriguing.

Using these 3 facts pulled from a potentially unreliable source, I found three goals:

• I will overcome obstacles, probably not 445 million years worth, but I will overcome.
• I will humbly “just do it”.
• I will share my gift.

Whoa. Horseshoe crab just dropped some serious knowledge on us.

Planning for success isn’t an easy feat, but if it were easy it wouldn’t be worth doing.

Until next time!

LL

Setback

set·back – noun - a reversal or check in progress

Have you ever looked at the definition of the word setback? I mean really looked at it, not just glance over it like you did just now to try and skim to the juicy stuff of this post. I’m talking dissecting the definition until it’s perfectly relatable to a persistent successful human being like yourself. Let me help you.

A reversal or check in progress.

Nope. Still says the exact same thing it did a minute ago, the last time we skimmed over it, but let’s move our emphasize to a specific two-letter word that turns a possible failure into a future success.

A reversal or check in progress.

There it is. That two-letter word makes all the difference, giving us an option when it comes to setbacks. We can either reverse, potentially giving up and succumbing to failure OR  we can check ourselves before we wreck ourselves…say that with attitude while snapping your fingers in a z-formation across your body. There ya go, nice and sassy like that. See? Now we can sass our way out of a setback! 

 

But how? It just can’t be as simple as the sassy snap! It just can’t! The problem with a setback is that it is often accompanied with rejection and well rejection, put simply, just doesn’t feel good. I think we can all agree with that. Human beings have some sort of desire to please everyone and the fact is you just can’t. It truly isn’t possible and that is completely okay. Say it with me, “IT’S OKAY NOT TO PLEASE EVERYONE!” Let’s be serious, Jesus – the all-knowing sinless and perfectly miraculous – Jesus, couldn’t please everyone, so don’t beat yourself up over it!

Rejection is the outcome of trying to please people. When we accept the fact that not everyone can be pleased then we can accept rejection, making it easier to 'sassy snap' our way out of it and move onto the next adventure, which you may have to sassy snap through again – fair warning.

In conclusion, don’t give up. If a setback lands in your lap, welcome it graciously and then, as Zach Galfriekcisnaksdjksiaklnackis would say:

You’ve got this!

LL