An Amazing Account of Acquired Awareness

Carren challenged me to the come up with 10 things that I love starting with A. This was easy. Maybe she know that it would be and was giving me a break, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, I liked the exercise because it gave me the opportunity to think of things that I really to appreciate but would never blog about but am very, very grateful for. Let me caution all who read it, be careful how you comment on this because you too could be challenged with a letter.

10: AJAX: Wait a minute, don’t groan. I am serious. I like AJAX, it and similar cleaners(Comet) are my cleaners du joir in my home storage. I like how they make everything smell clean. I have this false impression that whn things smell clean, they must be clean. It is simple, I don’t fill like I am killing the ozone layer by using it and it is cheap!



9. Aragon of LOTR fame.: Ahhhhhh, this is definitely a case where a picture is worth a 1000 words. . He is sensitive, rugged, determined, and comes to an understanding of his full potential with the help of his leading lady. And he does not drop her as soon as he reaches the top.


8. Appalachian Trail: I have had a fascination with this place since I was 10 years old and read about it in a National Geographic magazine. I always dreamed about walking the entire trail/it takes several months to do it. You start in Georgia and it goes all the way to Maine(2160 miles) People do this. It would be like going back to the basics, back when the country was new. Only problem now days, people get killed doing it because there people along the trail to prey on lone hikers.



7. Apollo Missions: Having been in high school when this was all happening, I love reading about the amazing feats that NASA engineers and astronunts did. Can you imagine going to the moon with the computers they had back then.? My laptop probably has more capabilties. Yes, I am aware that there are people who think it is all faked but I don't. I believe John Glen to be a very honest man and if he said it was done, it was done. If you are more of the LDS persuasion, David Lind was an astronaut and had an experiment used during the Apollo 12 mission. They stood on the moon and looked back at the earth. How amazing would that have been?




6.Alphabet: Have you ever stopped to think about it, what our lives would be without the alphabet? It would be reduced to communicating through clip-art. I am serious, it is so neat to think that because of 26 letters, we can communicate (I didn't say get along) with half the world.



5. Albert Einstein: I love this guy (not a very nice or moral man) but wow what a genius. His theories of relativity, time, matter just blow your mind. I think that his theory E=MC2 is probably the same thing that is discussed in D&C 131:7 (given about 100 years earlier)
7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;




4. Astronomy : To look at the night sky through a telescope is like looking into the past and future all at once. To see so many stars and know that all things are in order and with a plan. That I am seeing the same stars that Abraham saw and that I can see the Andromeda Galaxy that is over 2.50 million light-years away from the earth. My favorite quote is from Neal A Maxwell: "Therefore, on a clear night, though we see stars of incomprehensible longevity, they are not immortal. But, thankfully, we are!"

3. Alma 5: This is not what you are thinking, even though it is great scripture, the 5th chapter of the Book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon is probably one of the great reality checks to where we personaly stand with each other and with the Lord. Take time to read it or reread it. It is just a masterpiece of evaluation and what we should be doing with our lives. I have underlined dozens of questions that Alma asked and it never fails to very quickly put me in my place if I start thinking that I am doing pretty good in my personal and spiritual life. It is really the best reality check you can read and the best relationship manual EVER written.

2. A+ blood type. Probably the only A+ I have ever gotten, but I am very grateful for blood and what it does to keep me going.






AND NUMBER ONE:

1. Atonement. There is nothing better or more prefect. I am so grateful for the Lord Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is all true. He lives.

Confessions of a Dreamer

Spoiler alert: lots of good lessons learned.

This is the Rex Lee Run for a cancer cure, I am the one in the white (and eventually very red face)

Lesson 1: Desire does not qualify you for the race.

I really wanted to do this, several from my office have been planning to do it for months. I finally got around to preparing for it this year. I was not going to run, just walk and I had been working on my treadmill somewhat faithfully and did feel that if I could do two miles on a flat treadmill, what is the difference with doing three on city streets. (you see where this is going) There were thousands at this race (along with my very prepared co-workers) it was a cool morning but I really wanted to do this. So the race began and we started off......uphill. Remember I said that I had been working on a flat treadmill......this is where the red face came it. I made it almost to the top and when all of the mothers pushing 3 and 4 kids in stollers had past me ( and little kids pushing strollers had past me) I figured I would probably drop over dead and then one of those little kids would have to push me back in a stoller because I couldn't breath anymore. So I quit and headed back down hill. I was not prepared and my wanting it was not going to make it happen.

I spent about 2 minutes of my usual self-loathing time as I walked back down hill when it suddenly occured to me....I was breathing!

Lesson 2: Not all the race is uphill

It only took a few seconds of going downhill before I had caught my breath and was doing ok. I even considered turning around and trying again but I knew I could only have probably really made it to the two mile marker before I would have pooped out. I would have to walk two miles back to the car. But it really was one of those "AHA" moments when I realized that not everything is uphill all the time and if I had just hung in there a few more steps, I could have gone on a little further.

Lesson 3: The only person I am competing against is myself

As I walked back to the starting line/finish line to turn in my tag, I came to understand that it did not matter who past me up, I was in this for me and not for them. My shoe tag recorded what I did, not what they did and I was never in it to come in first, just to do it. Which someday I will, for me.

Lesson 4: Preparation is the key

Which brings me back to lesson one. You just can't fake your way through things and have it matter. You have to be prepared and know what is expected to complete "the race" which I am going to do. I am going to run a 10K some day. There are going to be hills, and surprises but correct preparation along with a fair amount of desire will help me get it done.(D&C 27:16)

I am not discouraged and for the most part my red face has gone away (until Monday when I go back to work), I got some good exercise in that morning, and now have a training plan in place for the next race. Lessons learned.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Jackson and Allie came to play on Saturday while Lori and Scott watched BYU play the Lobo's.(dang, so close) Jackson wanted me to be downstairs with him while he watched movies. I was sewing on a quilt and he asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was quilting. When he asked me what quilting was, I told him it was something that grandma's do. "Ohhhh...., quilts make monsters go away".

That is going on my wall!!