Today provided a number of opportunities to learn as I journeyed through the minutes and hours of my day. My day began bright and early as I planned on trekking to church in St. Hilaire. I have been doing some supply preaching for them, and the best part, I get to work with Pastor Frank who is my mentor and my friend. I have learned so much from him that I can scarcely articulate the expanse of knowledge that he has imparted to me.
I got up early and worked out. I decided today that I would watch my myself in the window reflection as I have now been doing this workout for several weeks and thought I would probably have some pretty good moves by now. However, what I learned is that it is best NOT to look at the reflection. I sat and watched and picked myself apart. I noticed my chubby spots that still need a lot of work. I noticed how awkward I still look. And tomorrow when I work out, I am closing the blinds. After all, I am doing it and that is more than I could say a few weeks ago. Lesson learned!
I had a few extra minutes before I had to leave and wanted to read Rah's blog from last night as I went to bed before she was finished. What should have taken just a couple of minutes, actually took several. I looked at the clock and discovered I was going to be pushing it to get to church by 8:30! Oh no! I headed outside and there was thick FOG! Grrrrrrrrrrrr, stupid Sheila! I should have known better. I hate being late. I did not speed, but I am not gonna lie, I wanted to! Then I hit TRF. I am literally the only one driving through town, but each and every stoplight was RED! I would make it through one, see the green one ahead of me, and by the time I got there, red AGAIN! When I finally made it through town, I knew I was going to be late for church. Lesson learned there too! UGHHHHHH!
Throughout the day I learned that the person you see on the outside is not always what is reflected inside. If there is one thing this blog does, it makes me pay closer attention. I heard heartache and pain as one shared difficulties in their relationship. I watched a man and woman have an all out altercation in a public place where he verbally berated her for for parking in the wrong spot. She eventually walked away and my heart ached for her. I know that some are struggling with depression and you would never guess it. I learned that it is hard to differentiate when what you see is what you get and when what you see is quite different than reality. That made me think that sometimes we as human beings are caught in the heavy fog like I was this morning, and for some reason we cannot see our way through, to find the road or path we are supposed to be on. Maybe if we can remember who and whose we are, our paths can become somewhat clearer, and the fog lifts a bit.
Blessings from the Fog,
Sheila
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Sarah Day 18
Today I went to a benefit for a girl that I met when I was in college at MSUM. Her name is Roni. Roni is the only person that I met in college that I talked to more than just at class. She was an Art major, and I was an Art minor. We had almost all of our classes together for a full year. Roni is one of the few friends from MSUM that I am currently Facebook friends with. Although we haven't had a whole lot of contact over the last few years, it has still been fun to check out her Facebook and Instagram to see what she has been up to.
On June 21st, Roni was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. It broke my heart to know that such a sweet and kind hearted person was given this really terrible news. We ask ourselves this all the time, but why do bad things happen to such good people? It's just not fair. Anyway, since that day, I have been keeping up with Roni and her story via social media and Caringbridge.
Jesse came with me to the benefit today. On the way there he was asking me a little more about Roni and her story. I told him what I knew about her journey, but that really wasn't very much information. I told him that Roni has always been such a positive and happy girl and that I that I think that's why I don't know more than I do. She embraces life and lives every day to the best of her ability. She isn't letting cancer bring her down.
When we pulled into the parking lot, we couldn't believe how many cars were there. The lot was completely full, and there wasn't an empty space on the street. We had to wait almost 10 minutes to snatch up a parking spot. When we walked inside, we were astounded by the number of people there to support Roni. It was packed! There were people mingling, eating, having some drinks, and checking out the silent auction. There must have been nearly 200 donated items for the silent auction. You name it, it was there. Amazing gift baskets, homemade bird houses, gift cards, spa days, etc. So much good stuff! And Roni looked beautiful! I took my opportunity to give her a hug and chat with her for a minute before she got snagged by someone else. We talked a a bit about the wonderful turnout at the benefit, all the donated items, her chemo, and then we agreed to get together sometime soon when she was feeling alright. It was beyond beautiful to see the support system that she had surrounding her. I can't imagine going through something like cancer alone, and I hope that no one ever has to.
I have learned today that having a good support system is incredibly important. My family has always been my number one support system. I know that I can always count on them and they can always count on me. And then I have my friends. They know how to pick me up when I'm down, and they can always tell if I need them, even if I don't say anything. Now I am blessed with my classmates and professors as another support system. They push me to be the best humane educator I can be. They believe in me and I believe in them in a way that no one else would understand. How lucky am I to have so many groups of incredible people in my life? It cannot possibly get much better than this.
Sarah
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