I Failed Miserably

"Give me Your eyes for just one second, give me Your eyes so I can see, everything that I keep missing.  Give me Your love for humanity.  Give me Your arms or the broken-hearted, the ones that are far beyond my reach.  Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten.  Give me your eyes so I can see."  ~Brandon Heath

It was a country road at 10:30 in the morning.  I was busy.  I'd already been up for about 5 hours, given a 2 hour long presentation, now it was time to hit the road for a 3.5 hour drive and then 3 hours of a bar study video.  And, of course, I ended up behind an old Lincoln town car going about 20 miles an hour under the speed limit.  I got annoyed.  I had things to do, places to be, important stuff happening here while this lady was just out for a Sunday stroll.  I rolled my eyes.  Muttered under my breath.  Felt my blood pressure increase a level or five.

Then she FINALLY put her blinker on and slowly turned left.

That's when I saw it.  The sign over the driveway into which she was turning.  The one that read "Cemetery."  And I realized that the little old lady in the Lincoln was on her way put flowers on someone's grave.  She was there to mourn and remember and honor someone...a husband or a child or a parent or a friend.

And I felt terrible.  How dare I think only about what I had to do that day.  How dare I get annoyed and impatient.  How dare I think that all of the things on my to do list mattered more.

I had no idea where she was going.  I had no idea of the burdens she was carrying.  We never know what battles someone else is facing.  We never know the losses that they are mourning or the struggles that they are overcoming or the scars that they are wearing.

But you know what?  We shouldn't need to know those things.  It should not have mattered if that little old lady was going to the cemetery or the dentist or the bar.  I should have just been kind regardless.  I should have thought less of myself regardless.  I should have loved my neighbor regardless.

But, instead, I failed miserably on that country road at 10:30 in the morning.

Next time, I'll do better.

Remember...

Girl Between The Lines: How Does It Compare?

Today's prompt:  We all imagined what our lives would be like when we were "grown up".. . how does that compare to what your life looks like now?? 

Hmm....I suppose I could honestly say that nothing looks the way that I thought it would.  I somehow managed to stumble into living in a sea of maroon in a place that frankly feels like a crock pot for about 3 months out of the year.  I'm not married.  I don't have a car seat or two to lug around.  I don't have a high paying job in San Francisco.  I'm not taking care of a bunch of cows whilst writing a book.  I'm not arguing cases in front of a judge.  I don't own a pair of Louies (not that I ever really thought that one would happen, but hey, a girl can dream!)  

But what it does look like?  It's so much better than the pictures I ever had in my head.

It looks like hour long phone calls every night with a boy that makes me smile.  And a job that I honestly might do for fun even if they didn't pay me.  It looks like a group of friends from all different phases of my life that make up the best support system you could imagine.  It looks like trips to Europe and baptizing God daughters and hanging out with the cutest nephew on the planet.  Like karaoke bars and eulogies and bachelorette parties.  It looks like 7 bridesmaid and 1 groomsma'am dresses hanging in a closet.  Like a family full of crazy fun people who support each other no matter what happens.  Ski trips and birthday parties and girls' weekends. It looks like rushing the field and football games and crossing half marathon finish lines and parasailing over the ocean.

It may not look like what I thought, this life of mine,....but that's because God knew better.  He knew bigger.  I am grateful for that.

Christmas and New Year

How is it that I managed to fail to blog about Christmas?  No idea.  I'll tell you this much, working for a university and getting 2 weeks off for Christmas?  Potentially the best present ever.  No lie, it was amazing!   Here's a little recap in pictures.

The traditional pre-church photos

By this point, my father was exhausted from so many pictures
and apparently needed to sit down.

This was Little Brother giving Little Cowboy the obligatory father's
"We have to do chores before we can open presents" speech.

The boys opening their toolboxes that my mom got for them.

 

Jenga Boom got pretty serious.

I wore my Tiffany's ring from Super Mom and ND Friend to bag check sheep.
Pretty sure that has never happened before....they should put me in an ad.

My mom comes out to ask if this dress looked okay for church.  Little Cowboy
responded, "Actually, you look just like the windows in the church."

At the airport, in line at the Mexican food restaurant, I randomly ran
into King of Capitol Hill!

I hung out with Little Cowboy and Katie Elder.

The Boy from Texas helped his nephew open presents.

Then Little Cowboy wore him out.

The Boy from Texas with his sisters and nephew.

Little Cowboy branded his first calf.

And we spent New Years Eve in the hot tub with our friend who has apparently
never been given a blog name (not sure that's possible) who shall now be called
Sweet Talker. 

 And I saved the best for last.  Since we went to Vegas for the NFR a few weeks earlier, The Boy from Texas and I agreed that we would only spend $30 on gifts for each other. 

So I, being a believer in keeping promises, stuck to that plan and tried to be creative.  I got him an NRA Christmas tree ornament to commemorate our first date at the NRA Banquet, which I really do need to blog about one day.  I also wrote him a box of "open when" letters.  I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was awesome.  You write like 10 cards for him to open at various times.  So for example, one was "open when you have just put me on an airplane" and another was "open when you are having a rough day."

 

 

And then it was time to open my present.  Out pops this baby.

 

 

Um.....SOMEONE cheated on the $30 limit.  He really didn't apologize much and I really didn't complain much.  According to TBFT, this is the only orange Dooney and Bourke bag you could buy in the Texas Panhandle.

 

The Boy from Texas  1.  Tiffany 0.