Nose itches, ears ringing, all about people

Many people know I am a superstitious person.  So the old saying, “Your nose itches when someone is thinking of you and your ears ring when someone is talking about you,” is one I’ve believed for years.

Therefore, I’m wondering if people’s noses have been itching.

Driving home from the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament Rod Stewart’s song, “You’re in my Heart,” played on Sirius’s The Blend channel.   Any time I hear Rod Stewart I think of Lisa, who was one of my dearest friends that sadly I haven’t spoken to in so long I can’t remember when we last talked.

I miss her.  Attributes of Lisa’s that I always admired were that she was smart, honest, loyal, funny, hard working, goal oriented, and real.  We had the type of friendship where we could go a time without talking, pick up the phone and talk for hours.

As I continued to drive I thought about more people whom I made so many memories with: Smiley, Drake, Tricia, Vern, Jen, Shawn, Cade Twins, Corky, Rhonda, Adonia, and Lana.

Growing up my friends were my family.  I learned so much from all of these people:

1.     Laughing so hard (sometimes someone might have even wet her pants in the front seat of my car, the USS Layson) that no one else will ever get the joke

2.     Protect one another (whether the heartbreak of a parents’ divorce to the fear of what will happen by breaking up with a boyfriend)

3.     Gaining an education about birds and the bees (first one while sitting on some hay bales)

4.     Gaining a new perspective (whether it came from running all the way back to Peru or long talks during play practice or Swing Choir)

5.     How to welcome others into a home (sleepovers on school nights)

6.     Being boy crazy (Not Shawn, of course, but definitely the rest of us)

7.     Sharing space as well as wardrobes (Locker buddies!)

8.     Listening and just being together while cruising

9.     Becoming the type of person I want to be

The list is actually much longer than I could ever include in a blog.   

An area of education that some tend to forget about is the Life Education.  Throughout relationships I’ve had, have, will have, I continue to learn.  Another way I choose to be a lifelong learner.

Thank you for being such great teachers! Love and miss you all!  

Wonder what happens when you write about a person?  Does the hand itch?

Is it okay to value personal meaning more than actual one?

“Mom, what does Valentine’s Day stand for?” Zachary asked after I tucked him into bed.

“Well, Honey, I remember it is to celebrate a saint, but I’m not totally sure.  It’s a day for us to celebrate the relationships in our lives…” I searched for some type of explanation.

How sad is it that I don’t know the true meaning behind Valentine’s Day? Is it so wrong that I don’t or is it okay to stick with my answer to Zach?

I choose to believe my answer to Zachary—a day to celebrate relationships in our lives.

Every night before I close my eyes for what I hope is a few hours, literally every night, I say thanks for the blessings in my life.  It goes usually like this:

“Thank you for the amazing husband I have, extraordinary boys I get to call sons, the amazing family who loves me, the support others give me, amazing (I know I overuse this adjective and yet I still keep using it) career I have.  I will work to make you proud as well as myself.  I will strive to make a difference every day.  Thank you for always believing in me and giving me guidance as you can.”

Now, I say this to various entities: a God I’m coming to learn more about, my grandparents, and so many other energies I can’t yet identify.

Relationships that have helped me become who I am and will be deserve statements of gratitude every day, not just Valentine’s.  So while I’ll give some small tokens to some special people to acknowledge them on Valentine’s Day, it’s more important that I continue to appreciate them and give thanks for them on a daily basis.

Thank you for being a part of my life and helping me to become better every day.

Thick or thin crust? Not exactly...

 Throughout my life people have been telling me I just need a thicker skin. I completely disagree.  Believe me, I know things in my life would have been and could be easier if I had a thick and impenetrable skin. However, I’ll stick with thin, thank you.

Too feel and too feel deeply is a gift, not a curse.  It can make things challenging, but it can also make life beautiful and inspiring. 

By feeling deeply I have grown as a person and have gained amazing relationships.  I truly believe that by being the type of person who can be affected easily by others I am able to better understand a wider variety of people.  This is crucial in the path I have chosen to follow.

I am not, nor do I want to be, impervious to criticism.  It is through criticism that great things have come to be for me. 

The criticism is painful to receive, but how I respond is in my control, one of the few things in life I can control.  I do not forget criticism. Instead I keep a bank of criticisms to pull from to problem solve for new experiences.   

So many of the things I experience or have experienced lend to reflection on what ifs for our children.  Do I want my kids to have thick skin? Yes and no.  I don’t want them to be hurt, but I do want them to really feel, feel to their cores when necessary.

While I will still appreciate how people will tell me that “things will get easier” or “you just need a thicker skin,” I know that inside I will say a word of thanks for feeling as I do.