This week has been extraordinary. It was one of those weeks that you start off by taking a big breath and wondering if you'll make it back to the surface as you plunge in. Well, I made it back to the surface--perhaps frantically gasping for air, but make it I did. It's funny though, when I look back on my week, it's not the huge accomplished deadlines or the main events that stand out in my mind; my week was full of gorgeous little every day discoveries that shine brighter than the big things, like tiny simple jewels amidst a hodgepodge of bright blaring colors and noise. Here are some things I discovered this week:
1) I really do think it's unnatural to wake up before the sun. While walking to campus in the dark for a group meeting at 6:50 am I found myself thinking, "this feels so unnatural!" There was a certain quietness and serenity to that time of the day that my mind enjoyed, but my body itself felt funny and naked walking around outside before the sun had woken up...like it was breaking the rules or something.
2) I ADORE the color mustard. And as I walked out of a building on campus and watched 3 girls walk by in it, I said a little thank you prayer that it's in fashion right now. It just makes me happy to see it...I just want to hug anyone I see wearing it.
3) I love babies eating my face.
4) There are some awful, AWFUL Christmas songs out there. Ones that make me laugh HARD, nigh unto wetting my pants. I guess I hadn't fully realized the amazing capabilities of mankind until now. WOW.
5) The word "rigidify" is a word. While grading students' papers at 2 am in the library, I came across this word and chuckled to myself, shaking my head slightly for my poor student who was making up words in a college paper. I mean, I make up words, but at least it's in Scrabble with my family. Just to make sure though, I refer to the old trusty Dictionary.com which puts me in my place: rigidify--to make or become rigid. Who would have known? Now I had to shake my head and chuckle for the poor little TA who was so burned out and tired that she couldn't even recognize a real word when she saw it.
6) I like the cold. This was a significant discovery for me. I think I've always mixed up my feelings for the cold with my feelings for the snow. Snow=bad. Cold=cozy. Think of all the wonderful things the cold allows you to do! Wear cute scarves, drink hot chocolate, use the bum warmers in your car, cuddle up in blankets, wear slippers, blow puffs of air like a dragon when walking outside, use the words "biting," "frigid," and "nippy." What more could anyone want?
So, yes, I did go into my week seeing it as something to survive. But it ended up having sufficient beauty so as to render the ugly insignificant. Now I just want to sit down with George Bailey over a cup of hot cocoa (he preferably wearing a mustard-colored sweater) and talk about just how wonderful my life really is and the beauty that's all around us, all the time...even if it is found in a horrendous Christmas song.
--Heather
Okay, here's a question for you all: what is THE worst Christmas song out there? And what's something beautiful you've noticed in your life lately?
