WMS's blog |
Greg's promotion went into effect today. I'm so proud of him. |
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Yesterday a strong thunderstorm hit our area. It was a beautiful storm to watch from my office window, lots of thunder, lightning, and rain against a dark afternoon sky. It brought with it a brief period of cooler, less humid weather in the sweltering swamp that is DC. Anyway, as I discovered on my way home from work, the storm also managed to knock down trees and branches in our area thus knocking out power to our entire neighborhood including the traffic light on our street. Thankfully it was only the last three lights on a not horribly busy street that were out and the lights at all the major intersections were up and running. Arlington county did a fantastic job of clearing branches from major streets as quickly as possible in spite of more storms and rain on the way, so thankfully again, I didn't face any issues with those on my way home either. (Go Arlington safety, maintenance, and emergency personnel! Your Rock!) However, I did arrive home to a pitch black parking garage. I was thinking wow, that's kind of cool as I drove into the deep, dark, pitch black cave, but was glad that I had my Mom phone, so that as I walked to the stairs and climbed them in the dark by the light of my headlights and my cell phone. I think my comment to her was, "If you hear me scream, hang up and call Greg." She and I then proceed to discuss whether her best action would be to call Greg or 911, and we decided that Greg could call local people faster, so I was probably right, but either course would work. Yeah, we went there, but thankfully it was all theoretical, and I walked up the stairs safely, saying bye to my Mom in preparation for greeting a very not happy kitty cat. Our apartment was still cool and was dim thanks to blinds and curtains being closed. Freyja was sitting right behind the door ready to be picked up and held. While our brave little cat thankfully no longer hides under the bed when the thunder rumbles, she still doesn't like thunderstorms much. After I calmed her down and realized that we had no power, I called Greg and gave him a heads up. Then, as Greg was on his way home, Freyja and I went out on the balcony to watch the storm and to wait for Greg. It was beautiful to watch the lightning and listen to the thunder. Freyja trembled a little but didn't want to go inside when I put her down with that option. Rather, she sat on the table the Greg's Great Uncle Jerry had built and looked out. When she had enough of that she wanted held up on my shoulder where she could still see out until she calmed down and was ready to explore again. We went through a few cycles of this in the fifteen minutes we were out on our balcony, but at the end of that time when Greg's shuttle arrived, she was so intent on exploring that I had to chase her around our plants to be able to pick her up for Greg to see her waiting for him. After Greg got inside and dried off from the rain, he did a double check that he didn't need to log in again for work, and we decided to go out for dinner. It was our date night for the week. I had planned that we would cook together, making a lovely pasta dinner with fresh broccoli and ending with fresh blueberries and sweet cream. Instead, we went to TGI Friday's for burgers as it's hard to cook on an electric stove without electricity. Friday's was packed due to a Pirate themed festival they were hosting as well as all the other like us who were seeking a warm meal somewhere with working AC. We enjoyed ourselves, especially sitting at that table with a life-sized Spock cutout looking over us, and talked. Then we headed back home. Our neighborhood still didn't have power, so we debated going out again to see a movie or finding something to do in that didn't require a lot of bright light. So being the responsible married couple we are, we decided to play at home by candlelight. Now for those of you who bemoan our lack of romantic date nights, I give you the candle light, including four lanterns from our wedding reception.  For those of you with dirty minds, I'll point out that we decided to save money by staying home and playing cards, specifically Cribbage. It was fun. I won, which is only fair as Greg kicked my tushie at Risk the last 5 times we played.  We even thought to take pictures of the beautiful candle reflections to share. (Don't forget that you need to log in to view our photo galleries.) In the end, we had a nice though slightly warm evening. We woke up this morning when the battery back-up on our alarm clock went off a hour before our usually set alarm. We still didn't have power, but couldn't get back to sleep, so we took our time getting ready in the dark of our windowless bathroom and headed to work. Poor Greg even experienced how to shave by candlelight. Greg and I are getting pretty good at this date night off the cuff thing. =) |
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Ever do something stupid, lose your temper, do something that five minutes later you wish you could take back. I've learned that no matter what I do and how hard I try, occasionally I'll do such things. That's not to say that I don't try to avoid them, but rather to say that as an infallible and passionate human being, I will screw up on occasion. That said, I'm also learning that sometimes it's really easy to go back and apologize, and other times I feel as if gnawing off my own arm might be easier and possibly preferable. I've discovered that the difference between the two and the shades between often comes from my relationship with the person to whom I need to apologize and from the way that individual generally accepts such mistakes/apologies. The first one is pretty easy to explain, for the most part the closer I am to a person the easier it is to go back to them and say, "Sorry. I screwed up. Can you forgive me?" On the other hand, there are occasions when you'll never see a person again. In this case it is sometimes very easy to apologize and walk away knowing that it doesn't matter for your spiritual, emotional, or mental well being if they forgive you or not, because they're never going to affect your life again as you honestly have acknowledged your own transgression. These occasions, however, are truly rare. The second aspect between easy to approach and rationalizing to ones self why not to apologize is much harder to quantify. Another individual's personality is something that you cannot change no matter how much you may want to or try to. It is something that one must determine to do for oneself and no outside attempts will matter. It can only come from self reflection, experience, and personal growth. This is important to point out as that same personality that you cannot change is the thing that sometimes must be overcome. I know that I have a much easier time admitting I'm wrong when I know that the person will not only accept such an admission, but when they will also genuinely accept my apology as sincere and acknowledge that they themselves are not perfect. That's not to say that they acknowledge personal wrong doing in my actions, but rather that they will share at other points mistakes they've made and have learned from or even possibly admit a misunderstanding or similar wrongdoing in a situation I am approaching them about. Simple example, if Greg and I get into a no holds barred argument it is much easier to apologize to him for my own arrogance when he acknowledges if and when he's being prideful or stubborn as well. That's not say that one should apologize to seek contrition but rather that an attitude of self reflection makes a person more approachable. On the other hand I know that I struggle to apologize to seemingly perfect people and people lacking the ability to reflect upon the outside consequences of their own actions. The first is simple; it is very hard to admit fault to people who will readily admit that you are/were wrong but who have no ability or maturity to acknowledge any weakness in their own character. The second most often accompanies the first or the two feed off of each other, I'm not certain; but it means simply that the person sees no possible problem with their own actions in how their words or actions might affect others. An exaggerated example of this might be the person who punches another in the face and expects the punched individual to neither feel pain nor retaliate with further violence. Unfortunately, this lack of reflection happens more often in regard to emotion and respect than in the physical realms, meaning that it can do more damage unseen. One of my favorite examples of this is the 'oversensitive' come back. When asking someone to stop talking about something that you find personally distasteful or insulting, rather than acknowledge your right to feel that way, the clueless individual defensively mutters "You're just being oversensitive, I didn't mean anything by it" or some variant and then continues the insulting diatribe. Now, there are a few truly oversensitive people in the world, but in my general experience, this example generally occurs when someone is truly unable or unwilling to see themselves as doing anything hurtful, even if inadvertently. That's not to say people can't express their own opinions or even disagree, but rather that disagreement without self reflection can not lead to any growth or learning for that individual and is therefore pointless. In cases of seeking forgiveness, it means that it is hard to know if your apology will be accepted as genuine or if it will later be used to once again prove the non-reflective person's correctness and further superiority. As I said, these are the people I find it hardest to apologize to not knowing if or how it will be received. That said sometimes one must suck it up and apologize. I'm still working on learning how better to approach the later cases so that bitterness doesn't invade my own spirit. In trying, I’m learning that it is better to be realistic about the fact that I make mistakes and try to learn from them. I’m also working to remain approachable not only for apologies but for general conversation about love, life, lessons learned the hard way, and other facts of life. I don't always succeed but I keep trying. |
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I'd hoped to post about this once I got pictures online, but as that hasn't happened yet, here we go... The weekend of July 24th, Greg and I headed down I-81 Friday night for Abingdon, Virginia to visit with his grandparents. We got in just before midnight and immediately headed for bed. The next morning we got up and had breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Presley, and then head to a local air and car show. It was a lot of fun and Greg got some great picture of some of the planes. I hope to have those up before too much longer. We walked around for about an hour and a half or so before we all decided that it was getting far too hot and we headed back to their house for a lazy afternoon. That evening we went to the Barter to see the show, Blue Sky Boys which was a show about the designers/engineers, and the fictionalized thought process behind how the US was able to launch the first manned flight to the moon. It was a really fun show, and we enjoyed being able to see it with Grandpa while Grandma ushered. Sunday morning brought church and lunch with Grandma, Grandpa, and two gentleman from their church, Tim and Rob. We talked about their college plans, goals, and enjoyed a good breakfast food lunch before grandpa stocked us up on fresh tomatoes and we hit the road back to Arlington. We had a great time visiting and seeing the airshow. And, as usual, the Barter did not disappoint. This past week we met friends for dinner, ran errands, and caught up on sleep in general, while making sure that kitty got lots of extra love and attention to make up for our leaving her alone for the weekend. Then this past weekend, I went to a wedding shower, Greg had his game, and we helped a friend move on Sunday afternoon. So there you have it...the run down in the interim. |
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As I walked through the hallways at work this morning, I heard a tune that always manages to catch in my head each time I hear it and that always manages to encourage and cheer me. The song is Standing on the Promises by Russell K. Carter. I remember singing it in church as a girl and hearing it many times at home and other places as well. The words speak plainly of a confidence that all Christians should have, all should strive for, and many often find themselves struggling to hold. And I love that the lyrics address that discouragement and struggle as well, in fact, it's quite possibly my favorite verse: Standing on the promises that cannot fail, The image of storms bringing darkness and cloudiness, fear and doubt, is a powerful one to me. It's ironic in a sense as I love thunderstorms. However, as my mom reminded me a few weeks ago, I just might love them because I was fascinated by them and scared by them as a child, constantly asking why God needed to make such noise. My parents reply was simply to remind us that He's there. So maybe in the dark and in the cloudiness we can hear him the loudest. That would certainly make the next part of this verse shine even brighter in that only through the "Word of God" can we overcome such gloom. I love that the hymn doesn't neglect that we're flawed humans who struggle even to trust our Savior, but also remembers that we can overcome and trust in full even in the darkest and most trying hours. So for those of you not humming it yet... Standing, standing, |
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