...you're STILL a Rabbi!

There are good days, and there are bad days.  Yesterday was one of the bad days.

It was nothing huge; just a bunch of little annoyances that piled up and left me feeling very frustrated, angry, and inferior.  I went to bed feeling defeated.  While today started out great, a couple of things quickly occurred which brought me right back to where I was last night.  Not lovely, I admit.  

It's at this point that I'm going to switch gears on you.  You see, I'm not writing this post to solicit a pity-party for myself, but rather to celebrate encouragement and timely reminders.  I'm going to share a couple of things that made a difference in my morning.  My hope is that you, my friends, will be encouraged next time your day isn't perfect and wonderful.

• I had friends who were praying for me this morning, it was immensely helpful.  Don't be afraid to reach out and ask for prayer and support when you need it!

• I spent some time praising God for His gifts in my life; it's hard to focus on the negative when you're counting your blessings!  

• I actually paused and remembered what we've been learning in Home Group.  We're studying Paul, for crying out loud.  If he could be filled with joy in his circumstances, I could certainly seek joy in my silly little issues.  

• I started singing songs that would lift my spirits.  I was all over the place:  "I Am" (Mark Schultz), "I Will Praise You" (Aaron Gayden), "King of the Jungle" (Steven Curtis Chapman)... you get the idea.  Music is so wonderful.

With my attitude significantly less focused on myself and much more uplifted, I started about the business of the day.  I had to pause and chuckle though, when one final, delightful reference came to mind.

Not many people have heard of the movie, The Frisco Kid; most people who have seen it didn't love it.  It has, however, been one of our family favorites for as long as I can remember.   In it, a Polish Rabbi (played brilliantly by Gene Wilder) named Avram wanders through the Old West in the 1850's on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco.  He teams up with a bank robbing cowboy, Tommy (played by the wonderful Harrison Ford), and together they encounter all kinds of trials on their journey.  

At one point, Avram is very discouraged; he's done some things that he isn't proud of and he doesn't feel worthy to continue on and lead the synagogue.  Tommy grabs Avram, looks him square in the eye and says,

"You are a Rabbi. You can fall in the mud, you can slip on your ass, you can travel in the wrong direction. But even on your ass, even in the mud, even if you go in the wrong direction for a little while, you're STILL a Rabbi! 

THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!"

I've always loved that quote and today it seemed especially true.  No matter what craziness goes on around me, no matter how up or down I happen to be at any given moment, no matter what life deals me...nothing can change what (who) I am.  I am a Child of God.  I am a wife to a phenomenal husband; a mother to two amazing young men.  I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for.  

I am truly and continually blessed. 

Say My Name

While I'm going to forever insist that the following story comes as a result of the concussion, I fear that in reality a bit of my blonde-ness reared it's ugly head.

Matthew's chemistry teacher for this trimester was my high school chemistry teacher. He was also my swim coach for about three days; it was too cold..I gave up. Since my friends were on the team though, I was a regular fixture at the pool and at all of the meets. Anyhow, Mr. B. taught me, he taught John during his freshman year and now he's teaching Matthew. He still remembers me and today he said to Matthew, "If you ever want to hear some great stories about your Mom when she was a girl, just let me know!" Oh dear.

All I can really do to get back at him is to show Matthew pictures of Jeff (Mr. B) from my high school yearbooks. When we arrived home from school, I dug them out and showed Matthew all of the pictures that I could find; he laughed appropriately and then went inside.

As I was flipping through the pages, remembering old faces, I looked myself up in the index. You know, to see which pages I was on. Oddly, I didn't see my name on the list. "Wait. That can't be right, I must have missed myself." I looked again; no luck. "Sheesh, I know that I'm in here. Why the heck don't they have me listed? I'd better slow down and look one more time."

"...Clark..."

"...Clements..."

"...Coast..."

"...Cox..."

"What the..? Oh...yeah...right. My last name wasn't Coffman back then."

Not Your Typical Tuesday

Yesterday didn't quite unfold as I had planned. It seemed simple enough - drop the kids off at school and then run to Staples. Easy! I had no idea that I would be rear-ended and find myself at the hospital with a concussion.

My initial thought is to complain. I hate to say it, but that's how my brain works. Because let's face it, when you get in an accident, there are lots of things that are negative: the vehicle and the hassle repairing it, the completely irritating and inconsiderate staff at Sharp Memorial (that could be a whole blog by itself!), the state of my body today....I could go on for a while!

However, last night as I was reflecting on how I'd write it all, it struck me that there are actually more things to be thankful for. So, while I do ask for prayer in this next day or two, because I really do feel terrible, I decided that my blog today should be about thankfulness. God's provision and protection were evident all day long; that is what I should be focused on. So here you go...some Wednesday thankfulness for you....

I Drive a Beast
My Sequoia did it's job; it handled the brunt of the collision with only bumper damage. The other guy's van, not so much. I'm so thankful that I don't have a crumpled up car right now.

No One Was Coming
When the guy hit me, he knocked me forward into an intersection. Thankfully, there was a lull in traffic and no one was coming; if there had been, I could have easily taken a direct hit to where I was sitting.

Delayed Symptoms
While I felt pain in my head immediately, I didn't lose consciousness at all. In fact, although I was hurting and was very shaky, I was able to speak clearly and handle all of the "info swapping" with the other people, pull off to a safe parking lot and call my insurance company. It was only after completing all of that, about 15 minutes, that the full effects of the concussion set in and I realized that I needed help. It made things so much easier that I was able to function and get that taken care of.

Not Only Help, But Perfect Help
Obviously my first calls for help went out to my mister; but unfortunately, he was unavailable. I then called my bestie and found out that two certain someones (with a super cute, sleeping baby in the back seat) were about five minutes away and able to come and get me. Never have I been so relieved to see their wonderful faces! I'm so thankful that they just happened to be in town (on vacation from New Mexico) at that moment and that they were right where I needed them to be. God's timing, to be sure. They packed me up and drove me to Urgent Care, where Andy met us.

Andy Is Fabulous and So Are His Bosses
Andy had taken some time off on Monday, so I felt terrible calling him away from work yesterday. In between, well, let's just call them "concussion symptoms," I kept apologizing to him for inconveniencing him. He, of course, was a rock and was all kinds of wonderful. He even received a text from his boss telling him that "..family is much more important than anything going on here...stay with your wife." I am so appreciative of that.

My CAT Was Scanned
After spending several hours at Urgent Care with continued "concussion symptoms," I was sent to the hospital for a CAT Scan. I'm so thankful that they did that. While it was a pain in the rear and the staff there wasn't great, as Andy said, "I don't want you to go all Natasha Richardson on me." We were both very relieved to know that everything looks good on the inside.

Potato Cheese Soup
After a total of seven hours with "concussion symptoms," things finally settled down enough for me to handle Gatorade. Then, when Andy went to pick up the Sequoia from the parking lot that I'd left it in, he went to Marie Calendar's and picked up some soup for me. I wolfed it down, hoping for good results. Seriously, a bowl of soup has never tasted so good! So thankful that Andy got it for me, and that my body cooperated!

I'm sure that I could work up some more things to be thankful for, but you get the idea: I was loved and cared for all day long. I need to rest today, perhaps for a couple of days, but my body should recover soon.

Like Bing said, I've got plenty to be thankful for.

Five

I know what you're thinking, "What? A post from Michelle in March?" Crazy, right? Never, in the history of Snow Comes Up, have I blogged in the month of March. Truly this is a momentous occasion.

So the title...Five. Not only is The Five a delightfully entertaining news show that 3 out of 4 Coffmans find fabulous, it is also the number of thoughts/observations that I'm going to share with you. Lately, I've had occasion to feel rather, well, old. Here are five signs that I just might be aging a bit:

1. Oh, Honey

Andy and I recently watched the first six seasons of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. I can't believe that we didn't jump on board years ago and I'm so glad that we're caught up. Well, as caught up as we can be. Anyhow, they have this bit where this girl named Honey is guest starring and she is totally naive; they spend most of the show saying, "Oh, Honey." I find myself doing that more and more these days. Whether it's someone being naive like Honey, or it's just a poor decision that someone happens to be making, I have quite a few "Oh, Honey" moments.

2. My Kids Are Growing Up

Few things mark the passage of time like the growth of our children. In thirteen weeks, I will have a senior and a sophomore. My youngest child now has a chemistry teacher that I had in high school. How is this possible? It's because I'm getting old.

3. My Movie Selections

If you know me at all, you know that the number of chick flicks that I actually like can be tallied on my ten fingers. It should come as no surprise that our Netflix queue is full of drama and action movies with the occasional comedy, sci-fi or foreign movie thrown in. Two nights ago, we received a movie that we'd never seen but had heard a lot about. It's a classic, but somehow we'd missed it. On Wednesday evening, with a glass of wine and a glass of scotch in hand (I had wine, he had scotch; I didn't have both!), we watched The Godfather. Yes folks, we finally saw it. And somehow, I felt a little bit more grown-up when we were done.

4. Gym Trips Are More Work

A wise friend told me a while ago that I should get myself in shape before I turn 40. Having become quite disgusted at the general state that my body has become, I decided in December that 2012 would be the year that I reclaim a more decent Michelle. After years of starting diets only to fail days later and setting unrealistic expectations, I finally came up with what I think is a reachable goal. I started walking and eating better on January 2nd and at the end of January, I joined a fabulous gym. I am happy to say that I am now 11 pounds down and I have no desire to stop at any time soon. That being said...it's so hard!!!! Ten years ago, I could have joined a gym and thought nothing of it. Now my body frequently yells at me. Ice this, heat that, tape this, stretch that. At least twice a week I have a Roger Murtaugh moment and think, "I'm getting to old for this..."

5. My Coffee Order

I used to drink Mochas. A couple of years ago, I switched to Vanilla Lattes. Last month, I changed it up and started getting Americanos that were sweetened and had a splash of whole milk. I am happy to say that while my Americanos must still be sweetened, I no longer add any milk to them. It's odd, but I've always wanted to like black coffee and beer. Not together or anything funky like that, but it's a goal of mine to one day be able to go into a restaurant and order, "Coffee." Or to sit down at a bar and simply ask for a beer. Will I get there? No idea. But I do believe that the absence of anything creamy in my coffee is a step in that direction, and therefore, a sign of growing up.

Yep. I'm getting definitely getting older.

My Complete Lack of Self-Control

I shouldn't go to Target by myself, especially this time of year. There are too many fun things so I always over spend. It would be better if I gave a more responsible person my list and let them shop for me. At the very least, I should take a buddy with me. Left on my own, I always come home with something extra.

Today, I purchased these:
























I had to. They were completely necessary.

A Final Word

Wow...November is almost over! One final post and I'll be done blogging! Whew!

As I was playing Farkle with Andy tonight, I was trying to think about what to write today.

One idea was to write about pepper and how none of use it. I used a pinch of it tonight, that's what brought it to mind. Really though, I only cook with it on the bluest of moons. I buy a new container of it every now and then because I feel like I should, but I'm certain that in almost seventeen years of marriage, we haven't used the accumulated total of one container. We're just not black pepper people.

Another thought was to write about how The Fellowship of the Ring is my favorite LOTR movie. The Two Towers was on tonight and it really is a fairly close second; I do like the Battle of Helm's Deep. Helm's? Or Helms? Is Helm a person who has a deep? Or is the deep made of Helms? Don't know, never read the book. At any rate, nothing compares to Fellowship.

I considered writing about the Rock 'n' Roll Head Bob. You've seen it, I'm sure you have. Andy had his iPod on shuffle for a while this evening and Sad But True (Metallica) came on. I looked up and realized that Andy, Matt, and I were all bobbing. Not head banging, but bobbing. It was kind of funny. Love Metallica's sound.

I could have written about any number of things, but instead I think I'll offer a simple thank you. You, my few but faithful readers, have followed, commented, and supported me as I made my 2011 NaBloPoMo journey. While I'm not the best of writers, I do look forward to the challenge each year and I thoroughly enjoy trying to be creative.

So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for hanging with me. You're the best!

Ten on Tuesday

Since this is the last Tuesday of the month and my time with NaBloPoMo is almost over, I thought that I would end this series with a note of thankfulness. I've listed five people and five things (totaling ten, see how I did that?) for which I am very, very thankful.

The People:

1. Andy. He's been my everything for almost eighteen years now; I simply can't imagine life without him.

2. My kiddos. They're keepers. They probably think I nag them too much; I hope that one day they realize that I really have their best interest at heart and that I am incredibly proud of the young men they're becoming. I couldn't ask for better sons.

3. Parents. Mine and Andy's. Both of us have such amazing, loving, and supportive parents. I guess in all fairness, I should have called this one "family," because I am equally thankful for all of the brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews that I inherited when I married Andy. Especially the sisters. They fill a void that I never really knew existed. What a blessing.

4. Wives. Specifically, Wives Club. This is a very small and select group of friends that I have been close to for many years. We used to meet once a month for iced tea and french fries; we'd share how our lives, marriages, jobs, and families were going. There was no subject off limits, and nothing that was said ever left the table. It's the best group of ladies ever. While we don't all live in the same city anymore and are unable to meet regularly, thanks to this lovely invention called the Internet, we can still share things and "get together" at the drop of a hat. I don't know what I'd do without these ladies. Seriously.

5. Old Friends. The last few years have given me the opportunity to reconnect with some old friends, much of it is aided by Facebook. These friends are amazing. They encourage me, challenge me, they make me laugh, we can pray for each other, it's wonderful. I'm glad to be a part of their lives again.

The Things:

6. God's Provision. We always have a roof over our head, clothes on our back, and food on the table. He continues to supply our needs. I am continually humbled and grateful.

7. Cell Phones. They really are fabulous. Especially when they sit on a pillow next to an amazing woman so that I can "be there" as she brings a wonderful new little guy into the world. It meant the world to me.

8. My Kitchen-Aid Mixer. I made 425 cookies yesterday...you bet I am thankful for my mixer!

9. Cold/Rainy/Cool Weather. I know, I know...I live in the wrong state. I'm sure I'm one of the only people in San Diego who doesn't like the weather. I am quite thankful that this is the time of year when "my weather" starts. It gets cold, it stays overcast and cloudy, and if we're lucky enough...it rains! You wouldn't know it today, sunny and blech. But I'm glad that my time is coming.

10. The sounds and smells of Christmas. I love how everywhere you go this time of year, you hear Christmas songs and things smell like cinnamon and/or pine trees. I kind of didn't want to leave Ralph's this morning - it was great!