Three Terrible Email Signatures

Sometimes I get really tickled by little things that probably aren't that funny. The other day I got an email from someone (someone who was doing a huge favor for me at work) and his automatic email signature was

Thank You,

Joe Shmo 

And that was so funny to me. Like he automatically thanks people for reading his emails even though he's just doing his freaking job. It's kind of like when you bump into someone and you should say "excuse me" but instead you say "sorry." And I thought it was funny, and I dreamed up a few email signatures that woule entertain me to no end. 

1. I'm so so sorry, Kirby Darden

2. Hopefully, Kirby Darden 

3. Please believe me, Kirby Darden  

Friend, Not Entertainer

I used to think it was my responsibility to make sure the people I care about weren't bored, mad, sad, annoyed, or anything like that. Like I had to be some sort of doctor/magician/therapist/entertainer and make sure all was well in their world when they were around me.I can't make everybody happy. I'm no fun park.

For most problems, there is no quick fix, and even if there were, that would be an unfair expectation to place on a friend.

For little problems like boredom, that's not my responsibility either. If someone is bored and not having fun around me, then frankly it's half their fault too and they're just as boring.

I recently was getting anxious whenever Brian was sitting around relaxing. I'd ask him repeatedly, "do ya wanna play a board game?" "Do you wanna go for a walk?" "Do ya want a snack? A movie? A  puzzle?" And he would always try to calm me down that he's totally fine doing nothing. And now I'm fine with that. 

Beatitude Attitude

This summer I get to teach Sunday School since all our usual volunteers are busy with summery vacationy things. We're slowly going through the beatitudes, one sentence per week. I'm planning ahead and reading and re-reading and re-re-reeading this short passage over and over. And it has brought me some encouragement and maybe it will for you too!

Matthew 5:1-11

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

He said: 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So week one of summer, we spent an entire hour discussing verse 1, that a crowd followed Jesus and he sat uphill from them. 

You can follow anything you want, up any mountain, and sit at its feet and hear what it's saying. Maybe that thing is self-doubt. Or gossip. Or maybe it can be Jesus. This is the abbreviated, kid-friendly quasi-translation that our students are memorizing:

Happy are the poor, happy are the sad, happy are the gentle, happy are the justice-seekers. Happy are the merciful, pure, and peaceful. 

Enjoying Little Things

Last Week's Goals

 1. Plan Camp. (B) I got a lot planned and sorted out and I ordered t-shirts. Just gotta get the rest of the supplies and order tickets to the water park!

2. Go to the pool twice. (C) Totally forgot this was a goal until just now. I went once.

3. Watch less TV. (C) We did okay throughout the week and really well on Saturday. Once we even played Jenga instead of watching TV. But Saturday was so exhausting that we recovered by watching an overload of Downton Abbey on Sunday, so I feel like a bum again.

This Week's Goals

1. Enjoy dinners. I've been getting annoyed by cooking so much so often. But this week I picked out a couple new interesting healthy recipes and I'm gonna do my best to enjoy the cooking process, which makes the eating process even more rewarding.

2. Start a Lettering Instagram. I think I might be addicted to calligraphy, brush lettering, and watercolor lettering. But I don't like posting my stuff on my Instagram feed, for fear of annoying my followers. I'll take a note from Kelli's book and start a separate account.

3. Go to the pool twice. I enjoy lounging around on my couch... why not get some vitamin D while I'm laying like a statue?

Go Braves

This story takes place one the day Brian asked me to be his girlfriend, during the summer in 2012. That day we took a selfie together, but I cannot find the file anywhere, so here is a picture that we took a few weeks later, just so you can see what babes we were and how we were not exactly comfortable with each other yet, hah!

So on the day Brian asked me to be his girlfriend:
It was near his birthday, and we planned to go to a Braves game together. He came over to my house early in the afternoon so we could hang out and carpool. We were putting a puzzle together when he stopped to ask me to be his girlfriend and then admitted he hates jigsaw puzzles and we put that away forever.

We went to the Braves game and had great seats, close to the front and in-between home plate and first base. I distinctly remember joking, "If a foul ball comes my way, you better save me."
About an hour later, exactly that happened. A foul ball was literally coming directly at my face. 100% directly to me me me. Normal people would stand up to catch it, but my first instinct was to cower and cover my face. Brian stood up to catch it, and it landed directly in his hands, but bounced off, and flew about five feet to our right. An old man picked it up and kept it. He didn't even give it to the cute little boys sitting nearby us.

Brian was ashamed, embarrassed, and wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear. Literally it's not that big of a deal, but it was only like our fourth official date so he was definitely on edge!

Here's another picture of us, from a Brave's game we went to last night! Go Braves!

Beachin'

The first image is sent in by someone anonymous to PostSecret.
The second image is by me, inspired by the first.

Aloha, Aloe

Happy Friday! Woohoo!!!!!

This week at work my coworker walked in with an aloe plant and said, "I don't know who this is from, but it's for you." As soon as he walked away I regretted missing out on the amazing pun aloe-ha to say goodbye. 

Apparently there's a church member who does this for all the "new" staff every once in a while. I've been there almost a year and a half but I guess she hadn't don't the plant gesture in a while so I was included in the round. I texted this to Brian and thought it was funny. 

Now the little plant is sitting pretty (and upright) in our living room. I've never kept a plant alive more than a month or so, so we'll see.