Tuesday 11 November 2008

Remembrance Day

I was just talking with my mom and she told me that today is her least favourite day of the year. She said it brings back too many painful memories and feelings. Mom was in London during WWII. She was there for the bombings. She related a story to me about one of the bombings in 1940. She was just about 4. Her brother John was in a school that had just finished building bomb shelters and they hadn't even had a practice. The school was completely levelled. By the Grace of God, the warning sirens sounded with enough time to get all souls out of the school and into the shelters. Mom remembers the fear in her mother and other mothers. The streets around the school were flooded because water mains had broken in the bombing. Firefighters were grabbing the children from the school yard and carrying them across the street to waiting parents. John wasn't there. He had decided that he would go his own way and went uphill to find a place he could cross the street himself. 68 years later and that memory and the feelings that went with it are very vivid to Mom.

Thursday 21 August 2008

To Run or Not to Run

Apparently, there is no question. I was instructed by my doctor this morning not to run or cycle but I can walk. I'm so unhappy about this. :( I've worked really hard to get to where I am in my running. My right eye bled again and she can't do the laser treatments with blood in my eye.
Vacation starts tomorrow. :)

Sunday 17 August 2008

Running

Yesterday, I ran my first 5 km race. I am proud that I finished it. It has been a long road for me to be able to run that much. I have to say that it was hard. My leg cramped up in the second km so I walked for 5 minutes. Does that mean I didn't actually complete the race. Somewhere around 4 km my left foot started to fall asleep so I stopped and loosened my shoelace. I feel a bit disappointed it didn't go better but I finished sooner than I anticipated. It would have been nice to have a cheering section at the start/finish line. I think I'll arrange for that next time. Next 5 km race in October, I hope.

Tuesday 5 August 2008

4 days later

Apparently, things do get better. My eyes are doing okay. Still a little red and sore but definitely better than Friday. And Hyundai spent the day trying to figure out why the car wouldn't start and got done just before 5. The crank sensor was out of time with the timing belt. Go figure! They didn't charge us for today and we got VIP prices on all the parts. Yay! Still expensive....

Feeling a bit restless, I'm not supposed to run this week (on account of my eyes). I hope I can start again without trouble on Saturday.

I could endlessly rant about my summer student but I won't. Only 16 more days...6 of which are my holidays. :)

Friday 1 August 2008

Today

What a crappy day. On the way to my eye appointment, the car broke down. :( I got a ride from our good friend Jim to my appointment and John went with the towtruck and car. It was estimated that it would be $1100 to fix it. At the end of today, they phoned and said they had changed all the parts and the car wouldn't start and they would look at it again on Tuesday. :(

My eye appointment went okay but I really wish John could have been there with me. It didn't hurt and I couldn't see the needle that went in my eye. The doctor and nurse were very good and nice. My eyes hurt like crazy right now though and they haven't stopped watering. And I can't see very well probably mostly due to all the watering. It's always fun having random tears running down your face. Light seems to be a bit of an irritant, John went out and got me some sunglasses that I am wearing in the house. Beats keeping my eyes closed. I'm not sure if this is normal but I can't phone to find out because the office is closed and won't be open until Tuesday. And AB Health doesn't cover this proceedure so I had to fork out $225. I hope things improve tomorrow.

Friday 13 June 2008

Postscript or prescript to "My friend"

My friend had been trying to get the County to give her parttime or contract work but they were not willing to go there. She had decided that she was going to quit on Monday but got fired instead. With the firing she got a substantial severance package, that equates to a huge blessing for her. She got out of a job she didn't want to be in and is financially taken care of for a good period of time. I see that as a great work of God and the grace involved is incredible. I actually feel a bit jealous.

My friend

My friend got fired on Monday. I feel kind of relieved. She complained a lot about the job which she wasn't doing and how she couldn't get a handle on her life. Outside of work she's a good friend, at work she was really annoying. But I feel bad for feeling relieved.

I had some interesting discussion with her. She didn't like organized religion because she didn't like that the people in the didn't behave better or more appropriately to whatever standard she was using. I countered with "that's the problem with organized religion - it's full of people". I think that is a pretty lame excuse for not liking the church. Gee, it's full of people who aren't perfect, go figure.

The other day she walked into my office asking, "what's the meaning of life, what's our purpose" and then said "nobody really knows". I said I knew. She said what is it then. I said "you won't like my answer" but she wanted to hear it anyway. I tried to find a way to say our purpose is to bring glory to God in a way she would understand and actually express what I meant. I failed miserably. Her response was "well, I don't believe in that". I feel I failed God in an opportunity to express something that would impact her life. Thankfully, God is bigger than me and can make things work whether I was brilliant or not.

Tuesday 29 January 2008

Pointy heels

As I walked to the office this morning from the parking lot, about 1 block, there in the snow were little prints from a pointy heel, maybe 1 cm square. I was greatly amused. Why with this cold and snow would you be wearing shoes with a pointy heel? Why not wear something more appropriate and change when you got to your desk? What some people do in the name of fashion!

I love cold, sunshiny days. They make me feel alive.