Gladi-Thursday! Easy Like Sunday Morning.

Glad for Sudoku.

A little aside about me...I can be bright in some areas of my life, but have always, always, always felt dumb with regard to mathematics and logical reasoning. My grad school entrance exams didn't help this feeling, when essentially, they noted that my analytical skills were in the snot-for-brains category (if you know me, you know I edited myself--i'm in ugly language recovery).  However, somehow I muddled through, and got into grad school for speech pathology.  And guess what?  As a speech therapist I had to work with folks who had lost much of their analytical thought, reasoning, problem solving and pathfinding skills due to a neurological event (e.g. traumatic brain njury, stroke, brain tumor).  So...I believe that among other things, God used my chosen career as a Mulligan. Through having to teach others, I learned that which had always eluded me.  I might've even had a dose of empathy for my patients.  Who knows?  

Do I now excel at giving directions or taking them?  Do I complete complex algebraic equations in a single bound?  Do I crack syllogisms like Jimmy cracks corn? Nope.  BUT.  I'm better at solving them. 

Lean in, and I'll tell you a secret.  I have been afraid to try a Sudoku puzzle for years.  I have.  Don't laugh. Logical, if a-then-b thinking is not within my comfortable scope of daily practice or ability.  So I have no idea why I bought a silly book full of Sudoku puzzles to take on our European trip.  I almost didn't try them.  I didn't think I could possibly even fill in one of those squares.  Not even on the "easy" puzzle (who determines what EASY is, anyway???)

Defying all gravity logic, around 1/2way over the Atlantic Ocean, I cracked open the book and started working my first puzzle. 

And now, I'm hooked.  They only take me 525,600 minutes per puzzle, and I've been known to cross out a puzzle if "it" just doesn't cooperate (ahem), but for the most part...I'm having fun.  And creating new neurological processes which will, hopefully, stave off dementia for as long as possible.  And I'm giving God thanks for the simple things.  Because He uses even those to teach us.

That we are worthy.

That we shouldn't give up or give in to defeated thinking

That He is with us always.

Top 10 Mental Floss Traveling Tips (for the UK)

1. You might want a wash-n-wear style. Or a hat.  I shall henceforth be known as the American with frizzy, humidified, not flat-ironed, virtually unkempt hair because Big and I don't want to risk trying to see if our connectors will work w/o blowing a fuse in our B&Bs or Aparthotels.  Might not be this gun-shy if that "blowing the power out completely" in Lucerne, Switzerland 15 years ago in our B&B incident hadn't occured. (smooth) .
2. While blowing dry your hair, it will be impossible to do so in the bathroom.  And I don't know why--each place we've been to has only allowed shavers in the bathroom.  Mmm.
3. In London, you must walk as if in a hurry, with someplace signficant to be.  And if a cop tells you to evacuate Green Park or St. James' Park, please do so.  With nary a backwards glance for a picture, if you please.
4. You might be thankful for an ensuite washer/dryer unit which cleans approximately 3 items of your clothing (2 items, if we're talking the man child's and man's clothing) at a time.  In a 2 hour cycle.
5. You might be craving ice water.  And 2nds on beverages (unless you go to the overpriced Hard Rock Cafe in Edinburgh, where we might've celebrated Big's b'day).
6. You may need just a day or 1/2 a day to just do nothing whilst your significant other tromps around the British Open.  Well, not nothing really...reading an entire novel isn't NOTHING.
7. You may wish to lose weight or become shorter, not for fashion reasons; but because size matters.  Ahem. The accommodations are excellent space savers/users; however, you might trip over other family members in the tight quarters.
8. It's coffee with MILK, not cream.  Got it. 
9. Just close your eyes when your husband drives in the UK.  He's doing a brilliant job--but I still feel like we're about to die, simply b/c it feels so wrong.
10. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  He provides the job, which provided the means to come and to recreate in a gorgeous setting. 

GladiTuesday Two-Word Meme

Okey dokey...Time to put away all the wordation and embrace brevitation.  Please play along if you so desire.  I'm ever-so gladdy mcglad for the following:

• Oxyclean spray
• Deviled eggs
• First John
• Sewing machine
• Knitting needles
• DVR'd shows
• Independence Day
• Vaca planning
• Warmer weather
• Bald eagles
• Beach walks
• Family dinners
• Growing kids
• Forever friendships
• Awesome husband
• Reading novels
• Saving Grace

SDG!  Gretchen

4th of July Weekend...It's alllll gooood.

We are blessed enough to have some forever friends.  These friends have been in our lives since our children were 1 and 3, respectively (and their girls were those ages, too).  The dad and bonus mom live locally, and the children live in Santa Fe with their mom--except during two amazing times:  Christmas/NewYear and & a few weeks during the summer (including the 4th of July).  The winter and summer holidays are especially magical for my dtr, because her closeness with "the girls" borders on obsessive, and is a sisterhood of the heart at a minimum.  The rest of us, during our traditional New Year's Eve and July 4th sleepovers, love and enjoy each other and play games and tease and feast together, but for J and "the girls" the time is too loud, too giggly, and far too short.  As I write this, Big is on the way to the ferry with J, dropping our friends off--and bidding farewell to "the girls" until late December.  With a lump in my throat as I waved good-bye, I mustered as much cheer in my voice as possible and said, "Remember guys, this is the shorter time...we'll be together before you know it!"  Of course I wasn't convinced, so I know J wasn't, either. 

She'll cry for the greater part of the afternoon.  Of that, I am sure.  I'll be stroking hair, cooing, and cuddling.

But...it's all good. 

The pain of missing someone means that we have loved them well.  And those 3 love each other well. 

And I have some friends for whom I hold those same gut-wrenching feelings when we part.  And, perhaps more hard to believe, I have some friends whom I've met ONLY in the blogosphere, but we've shared our hearts on the phone, via email, and really...they're such heart friends that I miss them, too when we don't have a chance to connnect. 

Again, I say...it's alllll goood.  Tears and yearning, melancholy and quiet.  Good friends and loved ones are worth these feelings.  And once again, thru my earthly relationships, I'm reminded of a Father who loves me well, who seeks me always, and who will yearn for me and prepare a place for me when it's my turn for the best MIRL of my life.