Monday, May 21, 2012

Total Eclipse of the Heart

The eclipse was amazing last night! It was a fun experience for K.J. and I to share -- we were equally fascinated. Actually, he might actually win the Most Fascinated Award, because he created several devices out of paper to see the reflection and didn't want to go inside at all. When I was a kid, space was the most mystical and inspiring thing to me, so it's fun to see him react in a similar way.
We live right along the line where you could see the Ring of Fire, so that was especially radical. Most marvelously, my parents neighbors had a welding mask, so for the first time ever, I actually got to see it in the sky and not just as a reflection.
So awesome.
My parents, brother, sister-in-law T-Bomb, the grand kids, and when forced, The Double B, all watched together. Rad-ical.
Olivia was pretty nervous about the whole thing -- I think the whole "Don't look or you'll go blind" thing was pretty impressive to her -- but she did look through the mask once and thought it was cool.
The ring was so beautiful. Very inspiring. And seeing how the light changed, like you were at twilight or somehow like standing in a shadow, was awesome. Then, to add affect, somewhere in the neighborhood someone was burning something, so it was sort of smokey-smelling, too. AND, if you will believe this, my parents tree was somehow reflecting the light just right and the whole thing was reflected on their house! First a crescent, then the whole circle, then a crescent again. I felt that was rather magical.
Those experiences are very useful to me... something so beautiful and so much bigger then us... very faith-affirming to me. I feel so much gratitude and such a thrill in my heart that we've been given so much beauty and so many witnesses that we have a Father that is Great and also so kind to us.
Eclipse = Awesome.

On a little side note: I think that faith is a gift and we can all have it if we want it and work for it. Your particular brand of faith is your own to seek out what is right and feel the Holy Ghost testify to your heart through your searching and effort. We don't all have to believe the same thing. Personally, I am uplifted by all testimonies of God. I do think one thing would be particularly helpful for all of us: and that is to respect the faith of others. It might not be exactly what you believe, but we all have a duty to be kind and speak kindly of the faith and belief systems of those around us.
Being kind is certainly a way to attract friends.
Being unkind is certainly a way to repel them.

Look at me --
Practically Yoda today.
But it's still true.

This is the same Yoda who went all psycho on my poor innocent brother Jon last night as we drove home from seminary graduation (I know... right?). I don't know when the last time was that I was so petty, hurt and angry all over someone. Poor Jon. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was ugly, let's say that. It was also ridiculous, and of course I didn't feel any better afterwards. I actually felt worse because my words were yucky and I felt the loss of the spirit in my heart. Jon is a saintly person. So the only solution was to call him and apologize for my actions. They were dumb. He was so kind and gracious, of course. "Oh, I know you didn't mean that... You are really under a lot of pressure right now, I understand that... oh, I'm used to that..." etc.
Things that Jon is good at saying and means them, which is one of the reasons he is simply a sensational person. I actually don't know many people under as much pressure as Jon is right now, and yet he is willing to be so gracious to me. His forgiveness and my real feelings of remorse helped calm things down and restore them to some semblance of order. I sat by the Double B as he played his computer game and explained all I'd done and how silly I'd been and we counseled together. Then I remembered a sweet experience I'd recently had thanks to a loving Heavenly Father -- one that reminded me that He knows me and is willing to show me He loves me -- and then I cried a few tears from the very depths and felt able to pick myself up by my bootstraps and start again.
I am a very interesting person. Let's face it.
But this is a very interesting time in my life. Let's face that, too.

I never really know what I'm going to write on here. But I just go with it anyway.

K.J.'s current favorite MJ song is 'Smooth Criminal,' because he is dancing to that in his tap class. We listen to it over... and over... and over. Right before he left for school this morning he came up to me and asked "Mom, what exactly does smooth mean?"
I tried my best to explain in context -- which isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, by the way -- and he sat there for a minute. Then he says "Hm. I wish there was never such a thing as criminals or smooth-ees." And got his back pack, gave me a kiss, said goodbye to his sisters and headed out the door.
What a guy.

Almost summer! YAY!

1 comment:

Jen said...

I would like to officially endorse the words of wisdom in this post. Thank you!