That’s one thing I hate! All the noise, noise, noise, noise! ~ The Grinch in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”(1966)

It’s noisy around here lately!  Remember the great abundance of acorns on my driveway that I previously told you about?  Well, they continue to fall at an impressive rate.  I used to have a black top driveway.  Now picture a gravel driveway – only with acorns!  Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but the driveway is quite covered.  They ‘noisy‘ part is the constant PLUNK, PLUNK, rattle, thump, rattle, thump, PLUNK, PLUNK, thwack of the acorns hitting the roof.  Amanda heard the sound of several acorns THWACK-ing the roof this morning and said “What is that?” And I told her it was the acorns on the roof.  She replied, “Wow – all those crazy squirrels in our yard!”  After a brief discussion, I came to understand that she thought the acorns were being removed from the trees by the squirrels and they were bombing our house.  I had to explain that acorns simply fall off like the Fall leaves, or wind-blown apples.  We couldn’t blame the squirrels.  PLUNK,  rattle roll, rattle roll, PLUNK PLUNK. 

Carl Fredricksen: Hey, let’s play a game. It’s called “See who can be quiet the longest.” Russell: Cool! My mom loves that game!~ Up(2009)

This afternoon my Pop and I were hunting down the source of a strange noise his computer was making.  He described it as a beep beep beep.  Amanda heard it after spending a short time on their computer.  Pop went to investigate and when I went to the computer room a few minutes later I found him on all fours on the floor with half his head stuck in the computer tower.  Listening.  Listening for that darn noise.  He made me take a turn.  Oh – and it was decided that it really wasn’t a beep beep beep but a squeak-whirr squeak-whirr.  After getting down on all fours and sticking my own head in the computer tower (and watching out of the corner of my eye the little fan on the top side of the inside of the tower) I figured it out.  Noise identified!  The advertised “whisper quiet fan” was not spinning in a whisper, but stuttering loudly with each start and stop as it was thermostatically controlled.  Ted is going to have to help Pop with fixing that one!  Funny how a relatively quiet little whirr-squeak sound can disrupt and annoy while sitting in front of your computer.  But it does!

It’s wabbit season, and I’m hunting wabbits, so be vewy, vewy quiet! ~ Looney Tunes cartoon character Elmer Fudd (1940)

According to the Free Dictionary online, ‘noise’ is defined as “Sound or a sound that is loud, unpleasant, unexpected, or undesired.”  Okay, so a noise might make you hold your ears, scrunch your shoulders (like fingernails on a chalkboard), make you jump (like a firecracker) or drive you crazy (like a squeaky computer fan).  Life would sound pretty boring without them.

I hadn’t really noticed that I had a hearing problem. I just thought most people had given up on speaking clearly. ~ Hal Linden(2005 interview)

Have you ever been asked that ‘what if’ question that makes you think about, if you had to lose one of your senses, sight or sound, which one could you live without?  (silly question, I know)   I’ve always answered that I had to have my sight.  I hate bugs and if I was blind in my own home, how could I see those little creepy things if I were blind??  Okay – there were other reason I’d choose my sight over sound, but I always chose sight.  But as I think about hearing noises – acorns plunking on the roof and identifying quirky computer noises, I think I might find it rather empty without the ability to hear those sounds. 

Sometimes life gets noisy.  Enjoy the noise and look forward to the quiet.

just Laurel

When all the noise is gone there is only God.  ~Author Unknown

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.  God is
the friend of silence.  See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in
silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…. We
need silence to be able to touch souls.  ~Mother Teresa

I love those ‘change the light bulb jokes.”  For example:

How many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb?  One!  But only if it wants to change!

I had a day full of lots of changes.

When I left for work this morning at 7:10am it was pretty mild out.  I got to work and it was freezing!  I mean goosebumps all day freezing.  As I would take blood pressure cuffs off of patients, I kept noticing how warm their arms felt beneath my touch.  Of course, we give them those big wonderful warmed-up blankets!  But I also had a few patients say to me, “Oh!  Your hands are cold!”  Sorry.

The day was winding down and I was one of the nurses allowed to leave early – Yay! – and as I literally opened the door to leave, it began pouring down rain – like buckets – like cats and dogs.  Yeah, and I parked all the way at the back of the parking lot to give the closer parking to patients.  I had sandals on and jeans.  I went as quick as I could to my car through the waterfall of rain and threw myself into the driver’s seat positively drenched!  Oh boy – not only was I cold; I was now freezing cold and wet.

I drove home in a torrential downpour with my heater at full blast, trying to warm myself up and dry my clothes.  My feet were the worst – so cold and wet.  It was a crazy day of changing “weather.”  From mild conditions, to Arctic breezes, to rainforest downpour, to Florida heat wave.

And then there was this issue of my contacts.  I am still getting used to them.  The right eye lens is just peachy.  The left – well I had one lens to wear for a few days so I could get used to wearing contacts until my actual prescription lens became available.  The prescription one was a stronger lens then what was originally given to me.  So, I picked up my correct prescription trial pair yesterday – and they gave me 3 new lenses:  another one for the right eye and 2 more for the left.  Well I opened one box yesterday marked -L- for left and put that slippery sucker in my left eye.  Hmmm …. vision seemed worse and not better.  But I wore if for the whole day.  It was not as good as the one I had in my eye the day before.

Then – I LOOKED at the two boxes marked -L- and realized they were different.  Huh?  So today I put the THIRD contact in my left eye – figuring perhaps THIS was the right prescription (it had a bigger number on the box – so it must be stronger/better- right?)  and I still could not see as well as contact number one.

It was funny – there I am working at a place that does eye surgeries and as I was helping an elderly man post-surgery, he asks me, “Why are you squinting?”  He said it bothered him that here he was at an eye surgery place and one of the workers is squinting.  Haha!  I told him I was getting used to contacts – he was joking about it and not really seriously concerned.  But it was funny.

So in the past two days I have changed my left contact three times.  I don’t know which one is the correct contact.  And worse – I have two contact cases and because I’m trying to figure out which one works best, I’ve kept all three in the case(s) when I take them out – but – I don’t know which is which.  Right now, (sorry for the swearing here, but this is how I told Ted and it just defines where I’m at with these contacts) “I don’t know what the hell is in my left eye.” – I just keep changing them around to see which one works best.  I hope the eye doctor can tell them apart.

So – it’s been a day of change and changes.  The weather.  My left eye contact.  But it’s all good.  Better to laugh and be flexible.  At least my feet are warm and dry now.    And I can see what I need to see.

Change?

How many Chinamen does it take to change a lightbulb?  Thousands, because Confucius say many hands make light work.

And for my Lutheran church friends:

How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?  Change???????

just Laurel

Malachi 3:6  I the Lord do not change.

 

My husband Ted sleeps with a c-pap machine.  It keeps him from snoring, and it keeps his airway open so he doesn’t stop breathing at night.  I guess that’s a good thing.  (Of course, it’s a good thing!)

Except – when the darn mask slips and the air seal is broken and – he snores from under his mask.  >sigh<   The snoring wakes me up and I usually can give him a shove and as he moves around, post-shove, the mask slips back in to place and the snoring stops.

Except – when he has a bad cold.

Ted has a bad cold and with his airways swollen, he is snoring at night and no amount of shoving stops it.  I couldn’t stand it last night.  Two in the morning, I am wide awake listening to his snoring.  But, because he has a bad cold and I was showing mercy, I didn’t want to give him the usual shove because I wanted the poor sick guy to sleep.  In the past, I would end up on the couch.  But this time I wanted my comfy bed!

Ah-ha!  I remembered the earplugs I had in the bathroom closet.  So, I pull down the covers (snore) sit up on the side of the bed (squeak of bedsprings followed by a snore)  stand up next to the bed (snore) take a few steps (floor creaks beneath my footsteps) when suddenly Ted asks, “Where are you going?  What’s wrong?”

Really?  He can sleep through the whooshing sound of his own c-pap masked face overlayed with the sawing noise of his own loud snores, and when I try to sneak out of bed he can hear me??

So then this afternoon I was in the bedroom folding laundry while playing my rehearsal music cd for this Sunday’s service.  Now our bedroom is situated at the back corner of the house.  Outside that corner of the house we have a tree that the neighbor kids love to climb on.  I had the music turned up and was loudly singing along to a new song I needed to learn.  When there came the quiet pause between songs, I heard voices outside my window.  I think I did.  Oh I definitely did!  I peeked between the curtains and saw kids in my tree.  “Oh Lord,” I thought, “I hope they didn’t hear me!”  A few minutes later I poked my head out the back door and yelled to the kids, “Hey I hope you weren’t listening to my singing!”  “No,” they replied, “We were listening to the band playing.”

Huh, what?  The band playing?  Ohh … there was some high school band thing going on and, since we live so close to the high school, we could hear the lively marching band music coming from the stadium.

And then there was the time….

There was this girl who used to go to our church; I will call her Irene.  Irene loved to talk.  And talk.  And talk.  I remember so distinctly the time when, as I was ascending the steps from the church basement, Irene was descending.  Our paths crossed in the middle of the steps.  Irene started talking and said “Hi Laurel, how are you? Did you …. …. ….” and she continued to talk.  And talk.  And talk.  I think I tried to speak a few times but as she continued her descent while talking to me, I could only continue my ascent and merely bob my head a few times in reply to her non-stop chatter.  Irene disappeared around the corner and I stood there, absolutely flabbergasted that this person had just delivered a five-minute monologue and I hadn’t uttered a word.  I was stunned.  I’ve never forgotten that.

So what do you listen to?

I later asked Ted how and why he could wake up from the sneaking-out noises I was making and yet sleep through his c-pap whooshing and his rumbling snoring.  He said it was due to the ‘mother’s ears’ I always told him I had when I would always hear and wake up when I heard our young children in the middle of the night.  Usually, even now, I get up if I have heard Amanda up sick and he was alert to me leaving the bed in case he could help with Amanda.  He was listening for me

And the kids outside my window?  Oh I am sure they could hear me – they just weren’t listening for me because as they sat up in my tree, they were catching that cool breeze full of marching band music.

And my friend Irene?  Well, she was just listening to herself!

Every day we are presented with a lot of noise, sounds, voices, whispers, music, laughter, and all kinds of racket.  What do you tune out?  What do you hear?  Can you hear when your spouse needs help?  Do you listen to what’s happening nearby, or let your ears catch the far-off sounds that filter your way?

Do you listen at all?

just Laurel

Proverbs 1:5a …let the wise listen and add to their learning…

What do you see in my picture?  Are they flowers?  Are they weeds?  Ted will say flowers.  I say … well they are flowers … but they are a bunch of weeds too.  Because most wildflowers are weeds.  Even if they have flowers blooming on their stems.

Ted loves wildflowers.  I think they are pretty but they tend to grow, well, wild.   Ted planted his wildflower garden in this vacant patch of dirt on the back side of our house where there is plenty of sun shine.  (That’s the only place I let him plant his seeds!)  He sees a wildflower garden and I see a flowering weed patch.

I started a new job today.  I work as the post-surgical nurse in an outpatient surgical center.  I saw fourteen cataract surgery patients as they came out of the operating room, and I saw fourteen different kinds of people.  They were young, old, male, female, weak, strong, healthy, fragile, simple-minded, educated, friendly, aloof, fat, skinny, clean and dirty.  But they were all there as patients getting cataract surgery on one of their eyes. 

As my job as nurse, I only saw them as patients.  It was after I came home that I thought about how different they really all were.  And I realized how my focus insists that I treat each one of them the same, and not judge by all the above mentioned characteristics.  I only needed to see them as patients because, in someone else’s eyes they were a dad, a mom, a brother, a sister, a wife, a husband, an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, or a friend. 

I think the lesson here is that what one person may see as having little value or worth may be a treasure in someone else’s eyes.  And if people were flowers, well then I know quite a few flowers with thorny stems as well as some others that don’t smell very nice.  Some of the flowers, err,  I mean people who I know are too flashy, too show-offy, or some are awfully sweet. 

So, keep in mind, that the person you think is a pestering unwanted weed…

…is someone else’s wildflower.

just Laurel

 

 

I remember running into a friend at the OB/GYN’s office many years ago.  Noticing her rounded middle I smiled and asked, “Oh, when is your baby due?”  “I had my baby three weeks ago” she replied.

Oops.

While shopping for our first home many years ago, Ted and I were in the basement of a house that our realtor was showing to us.  The family that currently lived in the house stayed during the showing and the young son had followed us to his basement.  I noticed that one of the basement walls looked rather “ruffled” with paint curling and flaking off.  “I wonder why that wall looks like that?” I whispered to Ted.  Obviously overheard by young ears the shadowing boy loudly replied, “Every time it rains the water pours in down that wall!”

Uh-oh.  No sale here today.  And I’m sure the boys’ parents would have cringed if they knew what he had said to us!

I had to call DTE today to have them turn on the electricity to Amanda’s apartment in two weeks and to change the billing address so that we can receive her electric bill.  “Hello,” I said, “I need to have the electricity turned on in my daughter’s apartment that she will be moving into in two weeks.”  “Well, I can take care of that for you!” she cheerfully responded, “Isn’t that nice that she’s moving out and getting a place of her own!!” she added.  Smiling to myself because I knew she had no idea of our whole situation, I replied, “Well, she’s twenty-nine years old, handicapped, and in a wheelchair, but we hope it’s all going to work out!”

Awkward pause.

Poor DTE lady – I think she was mortified.  Her next comments came out all business as I could tell she was a little embarrassed and caught off guard.  I made a few little jokes and spoke very nicely to her and I think I finally got her to relax about the whole thing.

Now I want to tell you about Dean.

Dean is blind.  He lost his sight when he was a teenager.  He lives in Canton Manor.  Amanda and I got to meet him and we got to look at his apartment.  He is doing great on his own and has wonderful staff helping him during the days.  On a subsequent visit to Canton Manor Amanda and I saw Dean again.  “Hi Dean!” I said to him.  “It’s Laurel and Amanda.  We met you last time we were here and you showed us your apartment.  It’s so neat we ran into you again.”  “Hi!” he replied.  “Oh and I probably ran into YOU because I couldn’t see you!”

Did he really say that?

Yes, Dean did say that and he jokes about being blind quite often.  Bless his heart.

Sometimes we all talk too much.  Often times we say the wrong thing.  It’s just human nature.  A little kindness and a dash of humor can smooth out the awkward pause and the itchy uncomfortable feeling of saying the wrong thing.

There’s an ‘oops’ moment in the bible that is a favorite story of mine.  I will quote the bible verses from Mark 9, condensing it for brevity sake (NIV Version) with all my comments in the parenthesis’.

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”Jesus replied, “Bring the boy to me.”²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

(Oops!  Did you read what he said?  Here is this guy standing before Jesus and he asks “IF” he can do anything??  That’s like standing next to Justin Verlander and asking him if he can throw a ball.)

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus.

(I love this!  I picture Jesus stifling a huge grin because He knows this poor guy is just aching over his possessed son.  Jesus knows He can absolutely help cure the boy.  But the poor father is so anxious that he puts his foot in his mouth and doubtfully asks “IF” Jesus can help.)

“Everything is possible for one who believes.” said Jesus ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

(Jesus smoothed over the father’s ‘oops’ with kindness – and I’m sure a chuckle – and the father was able to say the right thing in the end.)

The words we say can help or harm.  Here’s to us all having an ‘Oops-free day’ !

just Laurel

I was smiling as I read my friend’s Facebook post today.  She mentioned that all three of her children were napping at the same time so she was doing a ‘happy dance, happy dance’ !!  I know the feeling!  I love to happy dance!

The other day when we were at the yacht club, I observed another happy dance.  The water level had been very low which is typical at the end of the summer.  Friends of ours have a sailboat that has a very large keel which means there’s a big part of the boat, like a fin, that sticks out underneath the boat and in the water.  You need deep enough water to keep floating or else you sit on your keel!  haha – that’s sounds funny.  You don’t want to sit on your keel – you don’t get very far!   Our sailor friends had to keep their boat pretty far out from the main part of the marina where the water was deepest.  They could not manuever into their assigned boat slip because they would’ve gotten stuck trying to move.  Well it happened that the wind blew the right direction and blew so much water into the marina that the water level rose about nine inches!  Our friends noticed the risen water and literally jumped and started moving the boat while the water was up!

And then today, one of Amanda’s friends called and asked if she could stop by.  The friend had ordered this big box of Harry Potter collectible stuff and didn’t expect it to show up in the mail today.  She was giddy, breathless, and shaking with excitement as she just had to come over that very second to show Amanda her Harry Potter box of stuff.  She was absolutely gleeful.

The thing that makes the happy dance unique is that it is something that makes you gleefully happy but is totally unexpected.  It is a wonderful surprise!  It’s the moment of peace when the kids are all asleep at once, the water has risen and returned, or the long-awaited for package has arrived.   It’s a gift.  A surprise.  It’s something you may have been waiting or hoping for, but you weren’t looking for it any time soon.

I think God sends us reasons to happy dance all the time.  You might call them blessings.

I love when I have a good day and I find reasons to do a happy dance.

I hope you find a reason to happy dance every day!

just Laurel

Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

For as long as I live, may my walk on this earth be a dance inspired by the joy He provides and the words from my mouth be always a song to His ears.      quote by Laurel