Yesterday a topic sprang to my mind as to what I was to write in today's blog, as apposed to what I originally started. When I made it home exhaustion hit like a tornado and I didn't begin to write as I had hoped. This morning I was running and looking at the beauty of the sky and thought, "Didn't I have a blog idea for today?" Thankfully by the time I arrived back at the house the Good Lord reminded me.
Yesterday, I heard a song that I have heard countless times over the past couple of years. "Rude," by Magic! came out in 2013. I remember when it came out. I thought it was quite catchy. In the summer months it was a constant song. Then I began to not care for it due to the lyrics. Maybe it was because I was now becoming a mother of a girl, but I think there is more to it. Let's take a trip down memory lane to my childhood. I can remember sitting on the green carpet of the living room in our apartment. Friday night was ABC's family night line up. Some of the greatest shows of ABC came out on those Friday nights including "Full House." (If you aren't familiar with the show, feel free to stop reading, find and episode or three and enjoy so that you can understand the concept. Also, we may not be friends if you do not know the show.) The middle child, Stephanie, had a few catch phrases. One of them was so disdainfully said, "Well pin a rose on your nose." The other, which ties in, was "How rude!" Now typically this phrase was used with other children. However, as the show went on, she began saying to adults. In particular, it was the uncle that received the attribute of being rude. Yes, the uncle that came to live with the family because his sister passed and he thought he would help out his brother in law. Man, how rude is that? When things didn't go according to Stephanie's liking, she would use her catch phrase. I can see my mother rolling her eyes at this. The scoff comes from my father's throat. It was my generation that these things became more prevalent. In my world, a child calling an adult rude was a quick way to butt beating. Who is a child to say that the adult is rude? And even if the adult were rude, it is not the place of the child to say so. No, in my house you could stick to Michelle's catch phrase of "You got it, dude." Or even Joey's terrible, "Cut it out," catch phrase with visual. But to buck against authority? Nope, not in my house. Fast forward to 2014 and "Rude" is being played all summer long. Stephanie's generation is now adults and we hear this song and something inside us says it's okay. He's in love with this girl and wants to be with her. That's admirable.
0 Comments
You see that picture? I've put up four pictures of me in a scarf on Facebook in my CJ Creations page. This is the only one that hasn't sold of those four. And from these pictures I've even received custom orders again. Maybe it's the excitement for fall. Maybe people are just in love with them. Either way, I'm just excited to be selling some handmade items again. I'm sure that sounds a little weird. When you ask me where I want to be in 10 - 15 years, I'd answer that I would want to be a well known author and speaker traveling the states bringing a message of life and truth to those who need it. So why am I so excited about scarves? When I get locked in to one field- writing, training, creating- for too long, I feel the life getting drained out of me. I love all three aspects of my business life. I don't want to lose any of them. So I've been sitting around the house knitting lately because it calms me. I've been working on hats and scarves. It's a great activity for relaxing my mind while I watch something on Netflix with my husband. Lately, I've had some focus and shifts in my training career. People in. People out. A running booklet. A conditioning packet. Because of the last two, the training and writing have been merging. That is something I didn't want to do a year ago. Everyone who knew me as a trainer would say, "Oh do you write fitness books?" I'd roll my eyes and sigh because that is the only thing people thought I was good at. Exercise. Yay. So now that I am finally combining the two, my creative side was wanting to come out and play. There is something incredible when a person recognizes me as an author. Kids know the character names and this feeling wells up within me that I can barely control. I feel accomplished. My calling is being reinforced. Being a personal trainer can be difficult for me. I get involved in people's lives. I care about them. And I look at their health in ways others around them don't. I'm invested. There are great highs and terrible lows. However, being recognized for training is also a great validation. It's a part of me I love. Having someone tell me they want something I made. I'm always a little shocked and truly excited. I've made things I thought were ugly as sin, but I made it for someone that would love it immensely. I've made custom orders that I didn't care for, but they wanted it. So now, to be sitting in my chair knitting away at something that I like and have people want it to? Oh, that's thrilling. It all comes down to a feeling of validation and affirmation. We all have these different areas of life that make us who we are. Over and over again I know that I am a mother. I know that I am a homeschool mama. I know that I am married. I know that I work at the farmer's market on Saturdays to sell my books, and I know that I will be outside sweating with clients during workouts. When we lose a part of ourselves, like closing the doors to my shop, we lose that affirmation. It's hard to let go of something that makes us who we are. Honestly, I am just so thankful to be back into each area of my life. I'm grateful for the chance to combine parts of me like the running manual. The body will always struggle when it is missing a part. The soul does too. I hope that you are doing things in your life that fill each role and aspect of you. I love the picture above. I love where I found that sweet butterfly. I long for the day to go back to those flowers, the mountains, everything that was there. That picture, though, is so much better in color. Color brings the beauty of the flower out.
Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to some authors. One of these authors spoke on her two books about racism in America. Look, I'm no dummy. I am more than aware of racist humans in this country. I am more than aware of the terrible tragedies that have occurred both past and present. To ignore these issues is ignorant. Still, listening to this woman was a mixture of emotions. She experienced first hand the desegregation of schools in a deep southern state. She watched tragedy, and felt the pain, fear, anger, confusion, frustration, and so much more. Her story, and her family's story, is quite remarkable. I was proud to be close to such a strong woman. Then as she continued, she read passages that displayed more hurt and pain. Her point is to open the eyes of people and get them to both question and discuss. I greatly enjoyed the process. Well, until I began to realize how deeply she discriminated against me. We are still battling the on the lines of discrimination in this country. When it has come to race discrimination, I am not your girl. I don't care what your skin tone is, I care what your heart, mind, and actions are about. Yet, I have been lumped in with the crowd. "You're white, therefore you..." People have asked me if I was a racist and I reply, "No, I ended up marrying Charlie. He's quite white." I dated black guys growing up. Trust me, I'm still surprised my children are white. So I become hurt when I get thrown into the group of a-white-person-in-the-south. This isn't a whiny pity party, but look, I've had discrimination thrown at me in a variety of ways. Jock= dumb and only cares about sports. Band= nerd alert. Honors/AP classes= more nerdom. Christian= bigot, ignorant, careless. White=easy life, racist, doesn't understand. Female= less reliable than a man. Youth= not experienced enough to do a good job. Diagnosed with Fibro=looking for attention. People - WAKE UP AND SHUT UP. We all have things that we have been discriminated for. We all treat each other horribly!! We are a nation, no, a world, of hurtful words and actions against people groups just because we aren't them or we don't understand them. Holy crap. Can we please for one second just stop thinking about the way we have been hurt and start looking at the way we have hurt people. Maybe we could just apologize for stupid crap we've said. Oh, wait, that requires a humble attitude. Humble - putting others above yourself. People are different. People will have things you like and don't like about them. Instead of lumping them into a group, look at the person. Talk to a person, not a people group. I'm not saying we make judgments on them, but that will happen on a minor level. The people you have chosen to be your friends or not, were based on judgments of character, lifestyle, things we have in common or not. Just because they don't fall into our friends list, doesn't mean we have to hate them. When did things become so black and white. I don't want you to be my friend, therefore, I must hate you. I have no words for this idiocrocy. That picture above is still pretty in black and white, but I only see the butterfly. I isolate that butterfly in the black and white. I'm missing out on beautiful yellow wild flowers. I'm missing out on the green leaves and stems. I'm missing out on everything else that picture has to offer me when I only look at black and white. Have I made my point? Do I need to dissect this analogy for you? I will say this. The devil is out to kill, seek, and destroy. Destroy relationships. Destroy nations. Destroy communities. Separation of people from each other and God is his main goal. Why do we keep letting him win? I will never understand racism. I'm sorry. I'm not ignorant of it, or deny it. I just can't comprehend it. I can't understand why someone doesn't choose to like someone based on their nationality. I wish to find more people like me that just don't see what the big deal is. Things aren't just black and white. Life is filled with an array of colors that only the God above could have designed himself. I don't want to miss a single shade. |
AuthorI have a lot to say about a lot of things. Archives
May 2023
Categories |