NOTHING TO BE SAID

There is nothing to be said tonight but cough...hack...cough.  And ouch!  I think I've coughed so hard I've pulled every muscle in my upper body.  Even my forearms and wrists ache!  What ever this is it is not fun!
With pollen popping things will in all likelihood not get any better soon.  :(  Now to watch the President.  I'm sure that will cheer me up........NOT!  More reasons just given be at yet another war that is not a war.

OLD MOVIES

As part of working to clean out the house so it can be readied for sale I am going through old VHS tapes.  You know those ones that we used to record those TV shows and movies on in order to watch them at a later date.  It is turning out to be a very interesting activity.  This technology of the 20th century did not allow the skipping of advertisements or news briefs.  Currently I am watch movies recorded in 1991, 10 years ago.  They probably were recorded when I was too busy or tired from raising  10, 8,  and a 6 year olds to watch TV at night without falling asleep. Oh, they may have been on a night I was working at Julie's Quilt shop.  So here are some interesting history I am being reminded of.....George Bush senior was president of the USA at the time.  The minimum wage was raised to $4.25.  People were be encouraged to continue using generic drugs even though there were some manufacturing problems with certain of them; from the way this story was read it sounded as if generic drugs were a relative new thing.  The Soviet Union still existed but was soon to fall.  By the end of 1991 it no longer existed.  Now for those who think prices have gotten out of control....The Red Lobster ShimpFest was being advertised for $10.95.  Frank Herzog was also still doing sports on ABC here in Washington DC.  Oh and the movies were recorded from the ABC Monday Night Movie.  Ah yes those were the good old days!  I never thought I would say I wish I could go back, but I think I maybe do wish I could go back and do a few things differently.

ANOTHER VACATION???

Yes I said another vacation.  I've already had two this year and I am ready for another one.  I was ready the day I got home from my last. I've done a lot of thinking as to why this is.  Vacations are fun but being at home should be also fun and one does need to work AND I do enjoy my various jobs.  So why do I want so leave again.  Is it just running away?  In a way yes it is, but it also is running to something.  What I like so much about being on vacation is that when I go to bed at night there is someone to say good night too and when I get up in the morning I just need to walk out of the bedroom to find someone to say good morning to.  In other words on vacations I'm not alone when at "home". 
Even when I cruised to the Bahamas in a cabin by myself I just got dressed in the morning and headed to the dining room where I had a table full of people to great the day with.  On vacation meals are eaten with people not in front of the TV or in a chair by myself. 
So yes I've already had more vacations than most people at this point of the year, but I am ready for another. 

A PEAK AT A WONDERFUL WEEK AT SEA!

ACCEPTANCE

The word for yesterday and today seems to be "acceptance".  It is showing up everywhere in my reading of devotions, magazines and books.  Two quotes that pertain to is are from Paul Tournier.

• Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices.
• At the heart of personality is the need to feel a sense of being lovable without having to qualify for that acceptance.

These two quotes approach acceptance from two different sources. 

The first is a self acceptance of  what life throws at you. It comes from with-in.  I'm glad to have found this because I think that I have struggled with acceptance of circumstances that I don't want or like as being a form of resignation. I was thinking of that a lot yesterday when my devotional reading had the quote "It is as it is".  The devotion was talking about dealing with unexpected and nasty things life throws at us.  When negative thoughts about the unwanted life event come the writer suggested repeating "it is what it is"  and then with God's help moving on, but he also stressed that acceptance and resignation are not one and the same.  He went on to say yesterday is history and it can not be rewritten.  By praying "it is what it is" the author suggests our heart can be opened to tomorrow's hope.  So from Paul Tournier and the devotion I learn acceptance does not equal resignation, but that acceptance can lead to hope.

The second Tournier quote deals with an acceptance that comes to us from outside sources.  The feeling of being lovable without having to do something to qualify for that love.  The I'm OK.  It is true we need to accept, love, and be OK with ourselves; but equally it is important to be accepted by another outside of our self.  That acceptance is I think critical to who we are and who we become. I think Paul Tournier would agree.