Day 159 - Sunny Saturday!

Good morning All!

Happy to be alive and well and warm. It is supposed to be 66 degrees today!

Have a great Saturday and Be nTouch!

Sunny Saturday

Day 158 - Twenty five years after the Challenger tragedy

I found the video below, archived by CNN. Here are the words US NEWS SOURCE used to describe this tragic event in our space history:

NASA’s most visible failure marks its 25th anniversary today. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded seventy-three seconds after its launch. A special ceremony is taking place at Kennedy Space Center to remember the seven astronauts – Commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialist Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist Judy Resnik, mission specialist Ron McNair, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis and teacher Christa McAuliffe – who lost their lives on that fateful day.

NASA officials and family members of the deceased astronauts will gather in front of the Space Mirror Memorial to honor the seven crew members. June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of the Challenger’s commander will be speaking as a special guest.

Everything looked perfect on that beautiful blue morning at Kennedy Space Center for another space shuttle launch. For the first time, a teacher was accompanying a team of astronauts. NASA was looking for an educator, an ‘ordinary person’ who could teach while in orbit. 37-year-old social studies teacher Christa McAuliffe was selected from over 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project. She wrote in her application: “I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies.” Her task was to conduct a number of experiments and teach two lessons from the Challenger.

CNN was the only network to broadcast the launch live. It took a while before CNN correspondent Tom Mintier realized a disaster was taking place in front of his eyes. The explosion ocurred due to a rubber ‘O-ring’ seal failing on one of the rocket boosters because of low temperatures. This failure caused a leak of very explosive gases.

Be nTouch

Day 157 - Peanut

I think our dog has Alzheimer's Disease. I mean absolutely NO disrespect to anyone suffering from this debilitating disease. But I honestly don't know what else to call the obvious disorder that has transformed our dog Peanut. OMG as Wyatt would say!

Look at that face, although it is thinner and younger than our girl is now . . . look at that face . . .

She can't remember anything we have taught or enforced. She has become a five year old puppy with no sense of right and wrong. She is certainly not nSync lately! Maybe she isn't getting enough fiber. Do they make Activia for dogs?

Be nTouch

Day 154 - God and the Universe

I'M FINALLY LISTENING!!!

Today, following yesterday's lesson, God and the Universe is speaking LOUD AND CLEAR . . . what am I doing, each and every day, in this dead-end, miserable, integrity-less (I know that isn't a word, bare with me please . . . ),  just plain WRONG, J O B ?????   What happened today?  Ironically, nothing unexpected or unusual; just more of the same nonsense that has been woven into the fabric of every day for the last few years, sadly!

Today, I decided, NO MORE! I will make my little company work. I will be successful. I will be able to pay my bills, provide for my child and continue to help my grownup children, and I will do all of these things without compromising myself anymore. I can't just quit this stupid job that current keeps us off the street, for all the obvious reasons someone doesn't just quit. But mark this day, January 24th, 2011 . . . TODAY is the turning point for something big!

Two weeks ago, we ordered Chinese. My fortune cookie said: "You will take a chance in the near future, and win." Imagine that . . .


Be nTouch

Day 153 - Cancer . . .

So,  I'm sitting in church this morning, nJoying the sound of all the children around me (our church is the most relaxed Episcopal church I have ever been to), proud that I have made it two Sundays in a row, feeling everything I feel when I sit in this welcoming old Nave, and it is time in the service for the Peace. Generally,  you stand at this point,  turn to your neighbor, family, friend or total stranger, reach out for their hand and say "Peace" or "Peace be with you" . . . hopefully you get the picture. So,  here I am, reveling in myself, and I turn to greet the parishioner behind me, only to find that one of my friends (at least I have always thought of her as a friend but we had not been in contact for a long time) is that parishioner and she quite obviously has cancer. Her head is covered with a decorative cloth (I'm sure it has a name), she is much thinner than the last time I saw her and she is smiling with a confidence and courage that is radiant. The first thing I say is "how are you?" in a ridiculously cheerful tone. UGH! She replies that she is okay with a kind of grace befitting this holy room. I turn back around feeling awkward and clumsy and sit down with a thud.

The rest of the service is a bit of a blur. I participated mindlessly, with all my years of practice getting me through. All I could see when I closed my eyes to pray, was Cindy's smiling face, under that wrap, that I don't know what to call (kind of bugging me now . . . ) Before communion, I turned around to ask if we could talk after the service. She graciously accepted.

I am ashamed, and grateful at the same time, that Cindy did her best to comfort me as she shared her saga with me. She was diagnosed last summer and had literally been battling through chemo and radiation. She showed me the angry radiation burn on her left collar bone and continued to try to lessen my anxiety as she revealed snapshots of the last six months. Her beautiful teenage daughter, Kate, stood silent, but smiling, in tow. She listened patiently and nodded or smiled when I would glance in her direction. All in all, the conversation only lasted a few minutes. We said our goodbyes, made promises to see each other and stay in contact (Promises I nTend to keep!) and I left. As today has progressed, I can't stop thinking of either of them, standing there in that peaceful place. We were surrounded by Gods love. I still feel it.

I plan to reach out in a few days with a note to both and perhaps some nGage bracelets. I am once again reminded that this journey is full of messages and lessons of loss and love, of pain and purpose. I have not been nTouch with Cindy. I have not been the kind of friend I think I usually am. I did not notice that someone I know, that lives a few blocks away, was fighting for her life. This isn't about me . . . it is about what I choose to do each and every day. It is about why I started this BLOG. I'm grateful for the reminder.

Be nTouch EVERYDAY!

Thinking Pink for Cindy

Day 152 - Finally getting caught up . . . who am I kidding?

When I was in my 20's, all I had to do on Saturday mornings was wake up. It didn't matter what time. I would make my coffee, piddle around my apartment, make a list of things I needed to do (always short . . . clean my spotless, not cluttered, tiny space I called home) and relax. Yes, relax. I used to know how to just do nothing once upon a time. When did that skill set evaporate? Was it in my 30's, when I got married, had children, adopted animals? I'm not entirely sure, I just know it is gone. My hope is that I will realize, just like Dorothy did, that it is still somewhere within, I just have to find it, remember how, focus on what it used to be like. Clearly, today isn't The Day!

Don't misunderstand. I have no serious regrets. My life is largely how I would have chosen it (minus losing my husband of course). But I long to get caught up, to have NO more lingering items that get bumped further down the list, that is already so long that I need a new notebook. That would be a dream come true. That is what I would wish for if I had a Genie appear this very moment: "Finish ALL outstanding projects, cross off every item on The List!" Then, it would be up to me to not let myself fall behind . . . that, of course, is the problem . . . ME! Oh well, there you have it; somehow owning it doesn't make me feel much better.

Now that I am approaching the BIG 50, I would like to think I could, at the very least, create a system to help me manage being behind. So, nTouch fans (yes, there are a couple of you out there) I promise to figure something realistic out, sometime in the next 213 days. Starting today . . .

Just love this picture of the Lonely Tree
No clutter there . . .

Be nTouch

Day 144 - Done with the cold . . .

I live in Alabama for a reason. I HATE to be cold. A little snow, no school, sleep in . . . that's all good! But 15 degrees, are you kidding me. That is ridiculous. I'll take the heat over this any day. Today was the first day in a week that the temperature has risen above 32 degrees. Crazy arctic blast has me longing for the beach.

Be nTouch and stay WARM . . . Brrrrrrr

Day 141 - All In

All in . . . The Auburn family is ALL IN. Last night the AU football team made history. National champions for the first time in 53 years. All In . . . I'm sure proud to be an Auburn Tiger!

Day 140 - War Eagle

Congratulations Auburn Tigers on your BCS National Championship!
War Damn Eagle

Be nTouch!!!