I know, you are probably wondering to yourself, "what the hell is this picture". Well, let me explain. For those that know me, they know I think kind of "different". I can't help it, I don't why, but it's not always bad. I look at life a "little" differently as well. So, let's start with the pen. Way back on Christmas 2006 Brande's Christmas gift to me was a trip to Maui and we stayed in my very favorite condo, Elua Village, in Wailea. I had no words, I mean no one had ever done something so unbelieveable for me before like that. Well, wait, there "was" that time Mr. Wonderful emptied our bank account when he was plotting our divorce, although that was not a good "unbeleiveable". Anyway, during this particular Christmas I was just having a tough time with a lot of things in my life. I felt like everytime I turned around, I got knocked back down again and would have to tirlessly drag myself back up. So, going on this vacation meant so much to me. When we got to the condo, I walked down to the beach immediately and was reminded why I loved Maui so much. Then on my way back to the condo, I got lost like a dumbass. But to my defense, ALL the condos look the same and I had just arrived there. The guys working at the gate kindly pointed me back in the right direction. The pen pictured above was from our condo; you know how they leave note paper and pens for you. When I got home from Maui, I stuck the pen in a notebook I use daily. It is the one I use to write down my bank balances and checks that hit each day from the business. The pen is was a reminder to me that even when money is tight, or life has knocked me down again, that I can stilll get back up because there is still really good and loving things in life, like your kid taking you to Maui! Today, that pen ran out of ink! You know, that was a damn good pen! It lasted since January 2005! I retired it to one of the two little vintage curio's I have in my bedroom. They are filled with little small stuff that hold memories for me. There is a red Starbuck's straw in there that Riley clung on to the first time she went swimming in my pool when she was a baby. So listen up kids, when I'm dead and gone, some of this trashy looking stuff in there has meaning and I wasn't AS crazy as you think I am!
Now, on to the two dollar bill. You do know that two dollar bills are lucky. I've always had two of them in my wallet that I carry with me. On Sunday morning, before I went to work, I was hoping and askin' God if he could just help me out a bit. I had a lot of bills to pay, Saturday sales were a little slower than they should have been, and I wanted to be busy. I love to work when we are busy, or "slammed" as we call it at Country Roads! Anyway, we have a lot of Japanese customers that come over from Japan and shop with us. They are so nice and polite and I'm always grateful to have their business. The first hour or two of the day had been kind of quiet. A young Japanese couple came up and when they paid for their purchase, the two dollar bill above, was included in their payment. After that, I kept telling everyone, "we are going to be slammed today". I just "felt" it, you know? And we were unbelievable slammed that day with a huge total at the end of the day. So, when I got home, I emblished my two dollar bill just a bit (hope I don't get in trouble for defacing money) and now carry that in my wallet as well. It's reminder to never give up, to keep thanking God for all the good stuff that happens if you just stay positive and keep doing your best. I've always been weird when it comes to those little "signs" that we get in our daily lives. And I believe if you take the time to really think about stuff and "notice" stuff in life, you too could have a little curio cabinet filled with pens with no ink, and bent Starbuck straws. But then again, is that a bad thing?
And lastly, weird plants!Brande had planted a one gallon plant in my front yard flower bed a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what it's called, but its never bloomed and its taken on a life of it's own growing in every direction. It always reminded me of something you would see as you rode the little Jungle Cruise boat at Disneyland! I was just thinking the other day that I wanted to rip it out since it sneaks, crawls and goes everywhere in the garden. This morning when I went outside to get the newspaper, on my way back to the house, I stopped and looked at my garden like I always do. There it was, the crazy damn plant had bloomed!! And I looked across the garden and the other end of it had bloomed as well. So, the moral to this long, and wordy post of mine is this: appreciate the simple things in life, and never give up on looking for meaning in each of your days. The good is there, you just have to be open to accept it!!
I know, you are probably wondering to yourself, "what the hell is this picture". Well, let me explain. For those that know me, they know I think kind of "different". I can't help it, I don't why, but it's not always bad. I look at life a "little" differently as well. So, let's start with the pen. Way back on Christmas 2006 Brande's Christmas gift to me was a trip to Maui and we stayed in my very favorite condo, Elua Village, in Wailea. I had no words, I mean no one had ever done something so unbelieveable for me before like that. Well, wait, there "was" that time Mr. Wonderful emptied our bank account when he was plotting our divorce, although that was not a good "unbeleiveable". Anyway, during this particular Christmas I was just having a tough time with a lot of things in my life. I felt like everytime I turned around, I got knocked back down again and would have to tirlessly drag myself back up. So, going on this vacation meant so much to me. When we got to the condo, I walked down to the beach immediately and was reminded why I loved Maui so much. Then on my way back to the condo, I got lost like a dumbass. But to my defense, ALL the condos look the same and I had just arrived there. The guys working at the gate kindly pointed me back in the right direction. The pen pictured above was from our condo; you know how they leave note paper and pens for you. When I got home from Maui, I stuck the pen in a notebook I use daily. It is the one I use to write down my bank balances and checks that hit each day from the business. The pen is was a reminder to me that even when money is tight, or life has knocked me down again, that I can stilll get back up because there is still really good and loving things in life, like your kid taking you to Maui! Today, that pen ran out of ink! You know, that was a damn good pen! It lasted since January 2005! I retired it to one of the two little vintage curio's I have in my bedroom. They are filled with little small stuff that hold memories for me. There is a red Starbuck's straw in there that Riley clung on to the first time she went swimming in my pool when she was a baby. So listen up kids, when I'm dead and gone, some of this trashy looking stuff in there has meaning and I wasn't AS crazy as you think I am!
Now, on to the two dollar bill. You do know that two dollar bills are lucky. I've always had two of them in my wallet that I carry with me. On Sunday morning, before I went to work, I was hoping and askin' God if he could just help me out a bit. I had a lot of bills to pay, Saturday sales were a little slower than they should have been, and I wanted to be busy. I love to work when we are busy, or "slammed" as we call it at Country Roads! Anyway, we have a lot of Japanese customers that come over from Japan and shop with us. They are so nice and polite and I'm always grateful to have their business. The first hour or two of the day had been kind of quiet. A young Japanese couple came up and when they paid for their purchase, the two dollar bill above, was included in their payment. After that, I kept telling everyone, "we are going to be slammed today". I just "felt" it, you know? And we were unbelievable slammed that day with a huge total at the end of the day. So, when I got home, I emblished my two dollar bill just a bit (hope I don't get in trouble for defacing money) and now carry that in my wallet as well. It's reminder to never give up, to keep thanking God for all the good stuff that happens if you just stay positive and keep doing your best. I've always been weird when it comes to those little "signs" that we get in our daily lives. And I believe if you take the time to really think about stuff and "notice" stuff in life, you too could have a little curio cabinet filled with pens with no ink, and bent Starbuck straws. But then again, is that a bad thing?
And lastly, weird plants!Brande had planted a one gallon plant in my front yard flower bed a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what it's called, but its never bloomed and its taken on a life of it's own growing in every direction. It always reminded me of something you would see as you rode the little Jungle Cruise boat at Disneyland! I was just thinking the other day that I wanted to rip it out since it sneaks, crawls and goes everywhere in the garden. This morning when I went outside to get the newspaper, on my way back to the house, I stopped and looked at my garden like I always do. There it was, the crazy damn plant had bloomed!! And I looked across the garden and the other end of it had bloomed as well. So, the moral to this long, and wordy post of mine is this: appreciate the simple things in life, and never give up on looking for meaning in each of your days. The good is there, you just have to be open to accept it!!
What a great story! Your daughter must really love you loads to take you on such a wonderful trip! Then you keep a 25 cent pen! How funny! I used to tell my students to use the same pen to take notes that they used to take a test...cause the pen had all that knowledge already loaded in it! Amazing how that story would work! Kids who never thought they could succeed believed that their pen could do the job...and it usually did...once their confidence was elevated! I am going to find you a special pen...one that has good account balances in it! I will send it to you!
ReplyDeleteHad a really busy day today. Postponed our trip home by one day. Will try to write more tomorrow night!
Malisa