Archive for May, 2009
birth day
4 a.m.
Cold glass of water.
DVR episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
And the silent rhythm of pre-labor contractions, my breath and the life inside.
We’re getting close, little Jude. Just a few things left to do. Your birth day is almost here.
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There goes my hero, watch him as he goes…
- Foo Fighters
I’ve told Jason many times that he’s my hero. In so many ways (mostly intangible ways) he has come to my rescue, slayed the beast and recovered my heart.
But recently Jason became a hero for an entire village.
When he found out about Ellie’s Run for Africa and that it only costs $25 to put one child through school for a year, he didn’t hesitate a second. He signed up immediately to be a hero and run the 5K race on Saturday, June 13 to raise awareness and support for children in Kibera, Kenya.
In just five years, Ellie’s Run has:
- Raised over $155,000
- Helped put over 420 kids in school by providing them with necessary items – books, uniforms and shoes
- Helped build classrooms and laboratories at a school located in Kibera, Kenya
- Helped build a vocational school in Kenya – where students can learn and develop a trade
- Donated funds for medical supplies at Mercy Children’s Clinic in Kenya and the Living Hope Clinic in South Africa to help Africans suffering from dehydration, malaria, starvation and HIV/AIDS
Learn more about being a hero for the children of Kibera and come out for the race. Or support Jason. Believe me…there’s nothing like seeing your hero be a hero to someone else.
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Do you ever have one of those days, or weeks, or months where you keep coming across brilliant words? Where the words seem like something more, something heavier, some small treasure waiting just for you alongside the journey road?
Maybe since I have such a love affair with words, I’m more altered by them. But maybe you’re altered, too. So, as a toast to life-giving words (and the ones who so transparently offer them), I wanted to share a few I picked up along my path this week…
“We have magic adventures, more wonderful than any I have told you about; but now, when we wake up in the morning, they are gone before we can catch hold of them.”
- A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
“Lucky I’m in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again…”
- Jason Mraz, Lucky
“Nothing moves a woman so deeply as the boyhood of the man she loves.”
- Annie Dillard
“If I turn to the suburbs where I live and see the pretentious mega-houses, the ugly shopping malls strewn about to make consumption more efficient, and the alluring billboards promising comfort and relaxation in very seductive ways – all of that while forests are demolished, streams dried up, deer and rabbits and birds driven out of my environment – I am not surprised that my body screams for a healing touch and a reassuring embrace.”
- Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved
“Perhaps the real answer is beyond human understanding: we know so little about Time and Individuality.”
- C.S. Lewis, Yours, Jack
“You are never more Christ-like than when you are choked with compassion for the brokenness of others.”
- Brennan Manning
“There is no fear in love…”
- 1 John 4:18
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If you are an Introvert, know that there is nothing wrong with you.
- Kathy Reed O’Gorman, columnist
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I know. Why does she have to be such a, well, such a hermit?”
As I solitarily meandered aisles of old Mason jars and dusty bone china, the two ladies in the antique store chatted back and forth about their friend for several minutes.
“Well, I’ve never heard her talk about more than one or two friends. And she never wants to go out.”
“I know. I feel sorry for her. She’s got a problem.”
I felt sorry for their friend, too. But not because she had a problem. I felt sorry for this “hermit” friend because it is obvious that she is an introvert living in an extrovert’s world.
I, too, am an introvert. Ever since I took the Myers-Briggs test about ten years ago, officially outing myself as a hardline introvert and finally understanding what that meant, I have felt guilty. (And, believe me, ten years is a long time to feel guilty.)
Guilty that I’d rather stay home alone when Jason goes on his occasional guy night or camping trip. Guilty that social events and parties drain me dry. Guilty that my queen-for-a-day scenario has only one requirement: solitude.
Introvert = Guilt
But as I found myself eavesdropping on the bewildering conversation of these two extroverted women, I took comfort in this article I’d just read: “Being an Introvert in an Extroverted World.” I took comfort in the fact that we introverts do not have something wrong with us. That our God-given traits are not some mistake for our extroverted friends to “fix.”
It’s just a matter of understanding one another a little better.
So, if you, like these women at the antique store, ever feel confused, flummoxed or even slighted by your introvert friend, then I highly recommend this article. And if you, like me, ever feel guilty, berated or misunderstood for being an introvert, gulp down this cup of wisdom.
“I guess we’ll just keep trying to help her come out of her shell.”
That was the last thing I heard as I left the musty shop. As the door closed behind me, I wondered if I should have said something – something kind, something balanced, something to help these women see their friend in a different light. I didn’t want to meddle. But maybe I should have said something anyway.
After all, I know we’d all rather be alone, but we introverts gotta stick together.
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