| 25 September 2006 |
| On a lighter note |
They say that laughter is the best medicine. This is a forward I received from a friend and former student, Megan. It made me laugh out loud. It truly is a gift from God that we are able to laugh in the midst of sorrow and cry in the midst of joy. I hope you find a smile in these, too. :)
Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual similes and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners:
1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a landmine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up Labels: kids, stupid stuff |
posted by Aimee @ 10:11 PM  |
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| Sorrow |
It hit me just a few minutes ago while I was standing in the line at Fitch’s IGA waiting to buy my hotdogs and marshmallows. It's hit me before, but it's very vivid right now for reasons I will talk about later in this post. Here's what it is: every person has a broken heart. We are broken people, living in a broken world. Every single one of us has pain that we have tucked away into the deepest parts of our soul. Some of us carry that pain on the outside, but many of us hide it away and keep it to ourselves. The woman who rang up my cookout food smiled and wished me a nice day. How has her day been? What has she been going through lately? How many times have I been unkind to people because they were too slow, or not very good at their job? How many times have I added to their personal sorrow? How many times have I made the world a darker place rather than a lighter place? I'm sure the number is much higher than I would care to admit.
 Here's a picture of my mom holding Eli just moments after he was born. It's my favorite picture of her. She, my mom, called about an hour ago. Her liver cancer is back. (Brief history: She had brain cancer about 3 years ago. The brain tumor was inoperable, but radiation cured it. She had liver cancer (unrelated to the brain cancer) about a year-and-a-half ago. They removed 2/3 of her liver and thought they got it all. As a result of these two cancers she has blood work and scans done every three months.) Her scans and blood work last week showed the liver cancer is back. It looks like there are 15-20 different spots on the scan. They are doing more tests, including a needle biopsy on Thursday of this week. She meets with her oncologist, Dr. Sarwar, on Friday and she might begin chemo on Friday as well.
I'm kind of in shock at this point. I would appreciate your prayers for my mom and my family. I just hate to see her go through all this again.
I'll post more as I know more.
joy & peace,
AimeeLabels: My Mom |
| posted by Aimee @ 5:55 PM |
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| 24 September 2006 |
| A Restful Period |
Wow, I'm a slacker blogger! Sorry. Life has been a swirl of business here, lately. Anyway, here is a great picture of Eli, taken by our neighbor, Aaron.
Elijah is such a sweet and wonderful boy. (Most of the time! lol!) He is 15 months old, now. He is climbing and running and generally making a mess everywhere he goes. We call this the “path-of-destruction” age. But, he is so happy and smiley and cute. He will do just about anything to get you to laugh. And he loves music. He dances anytime there is music. I use this to my advantage when he's upset. I will put on some good music and a lot of the time, he forgets that he's upset and starts dancing. But, Eli is also very strong-willed and sometimes, nothing—and I mean nothing—will make him forget that he's upset! He knows his mind and is not afraid to help you know his mind, too. :)
Well, thanks to Eli, I went over two years without a period. (Another perk for moms who breastfeed!) My body is now back into that cycle and I realized something with this latest period. It truly is a gift from God. Not just the ability to conceive and bear children (although, the wonderment and amazingness of that cannot be overstated,) but what I realized last week was that during my period, I give myself permission to be pampered. Most women I know go at breakneck speed all the time. We are constantly striving to be perfect spouses and mothers and friends. Those who work for money, do so with a passion. We feel guilty when we aren't productive, when the house isn't clean, when we haven't fixed a “real” dinner in several nights. I could go on and on...
But, during our period—it's a whole different story! It's OK to let things go. “I'm on my period, the house can wait.” It's OK to indulge, “I'm on my period, I'm going to eat that chocolate!” and we don't feel guilty. We give ourselves permission to take naps and long, hot baths. We, in short, pamper ourselves. This, my friends, is a gift from God. He wants us to rest. He wants us to take care of ourselves and have margin & balance in our lives.
So, count it as blessing, girlfriends. Consider it a gift from God. Slow down, relax. And enjoy.
Labels: girl stuff, kids, life of a mom |
| posted by Aimee @ 8:02 AM |
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| 03 September 2006 |
| ふれあい切符—Fureai kippu |
I had never heard of “community currencies” until earlier today. But, what a great idea! I especially like fureai kippu, a community currency used in Japan for elderly people. Fureai Kippu is roughly translated “Caring Relationship Tickets.” It is designed to encourage people to help one another—especially for the younger citizens to help the older citizens. Each person has an account. If you help an older person, say you run errands for them, help clean their home, do some yardwork, etc... then for each hour you get one ticket. Now, you can save up your tickets for when you are older or disabled, or you can transfer your tickets to another account, like your parents or grandparents.
“A surprising part of the project has been that the elderly tend to prefer the services provided by people paid in Fureai Kippu over those paid in yen. This may be due to the personal connection developed between users of the currency.”
“Fureai Kippu expert Masako Kubota notes that perhaps its most positive impact is in ‘bringing old and young together to help each other in ways they never imagined.’” Interesting way to think about currency. Here are some other articles: Fureai kippu Time Bucks Complementary Currencies Labels: interesting concepts |
| posted by Aimee @ 11:01 AM |
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| About Me |
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Name: Aimee
Home: Lima, Ohio, United States
About Me: I own and run 123 Design Studio, a custom web and graphic design studio. I am mother to four wonderful boys: Max, age 10, Xavier, age 7, Eli, age 3, and Toby, age 1. Bryan & I have been married for 18 (mostly wonderful LOL) years. I eat excessive amounts of sugar and laugh inappropriately.
See my complete profile
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