This post comes during a “life time-out”, or as it shall be known by me from this point on. A time when the daily life routine is interrupted for an important news flash. I’d be remiss not to follow the pattern and take a time out from my daily routine to write about it.

My heart is as full as my eyes at the moment, which just happen to be overflowing with emotion. I just hung up the phone with a friend. While content is personal, the feeling is universal. This dear friend isn’t someone I can put a tally of years next to, our time together was relatively short. It’s been several months since we had interaction, I’m chagrinned to reflect on the probability that I didn’t even get a Christmas card to her (I so hope I did!!). But here’s the magic, none of that matters because frankly, none of that matters. It’s not how long you know someone - it’s how well. It’s not the things you don’t do - it’s the things you do. Some people you get to know because you work with them, others because you serve with them, others because you share similar life experiences or live next to them, and the list of reasons goes on and on. The bottom line is there is a list and its bottom line is the same: people, that’s what it it’s all about folks, people.

On a day when my mood has been a reflection of the continuous rain outside (for all those friends who endure many days of rain, I have a newfound respect for you!), I can sit here at my computer and reflect how moments of interaction with friends through the day have brought me intermittent rainbows. One doesn’t know this because she was simply sending me an email which brought on some discussion during my day, but it was a rainbow all the same. In fact, most of the people who do much for me probably don’t know it. I try to express my gratitude and love often, but I know I miss more than I catch. If my friends who read and comment on my posts here could see what they do for my heart, they might be surprised. It seems so little a thing, but it all comes back to those who take the time to make the time. The busy dad in Oregon, the friend I met in a chat room so many years ago when our daughters were babes and who bless her heart still finds ways to find me and reach out to me, the co-worker from years ago, and the list goes on and on. Or how about that sweet lady who smiled at me at the grocery store, or the nice man who offered to take my cart when I’d unloaded the bags? Yes, they added rainbow fragments to my day too. If I had but the immediate memory and time to write about each of them I could fill an entire page. If I could extend it to those who have touched my life it would turn into volumes. If I could wrap it all up I’d have a lifting power beyond imagination. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Trust in your heart. Trust in your feelings. When you find yourself thinking you should just call someone you should. It’s the someones in your life that make it worth living. It’s the calls you make that make the difference.

I’m taking a life time out to share my thoughts. To openly put out there how grateful I am for all the people that make my little world go round. You are many. You are amazing. You are what it’s all about.

This was Taylor in his Thomas Jefferson costume yesterday at school. He’s spent the last few weeks working on his biography for him. Yesterday, he had his interview in front of the class. My two favorite parts were his entry and his closing answer. I have to point out that he didn’t answer the question of whether or not he was a perfectionist with a mere yes. It was, “Yes, I am.” How perfectly fitting for this little lad!

I was so proud of him! Here’s a little video clip of his interview.

The wise advice to be prepared is timeless. Yet, I’m continually surprised at the depth of it. There was a time when it meant being ready to take a test or turn in an assignment; a time when it was about hitting a work deadline, and eventually a time when it was about taking steps of independence and starting my own family. That brought an onslaught of new applications to the principle and they moved through my life in perfect harmony with the winds of growth and progress which defined each season. On this note, I must express gratitude for this passing of time and progress. While some elements are those of which you desire an end to never come, there are plenty counterparts that keep you praying for a new day NOW.

Another interesting spin on this preparedness concept runs parallel to daily life. The wisdom of preparation steps in your life to help in times of scarcity make the difference between weathering a storm and being beaten by it. It’s better to be the industrious ant or squirrel than starving in winter. At the time, you may store up reserves thinking it’s for a big calamity or natural disaster, but it’s far more likely to be a personal winter; a lost job, wayward child, etc. And when you go through a few of these you can’t help but understand preparedness in a new light. It’s not about having a year’s supply of food or a garage full of emergency equipment, it’s about being able and willing to step up when the call comes. It means being emotionally and psychologically open to options and solutions as much as being physically able and willing to perform them. It may be a call to move for employment, to make changes impacting your children’s lives and ability to flourish or it could be as simple as being able to give your neighbor that egg or cup of sugar they just ran out of. The size and scope of arising needs is a colorful rainbow of opportunities, and they often intersect with the lives of others.

When my husband and I made the decision to move a few months ago, a key element of our decision was to prepare ourselves for the future. Although we couldn’t define why, we both felt a strong need to free ourselves from objects limiting our capacity to accept potential opportunities. (Like moving to Spain for example.) This move has been key in that process, in cutting financial strings. Surprisingly, it has also enabled us to consider things we wouldn’t have before.

Some things you can’t prepare for. You can’t even predict them. But I’m learning that when you’re doing your best to be prepared, that very process can be your strongest ally in the world of unknowns.

Our time here in California looks to be short. There are needs on the home front with my parents, there are needs within my growing family that being in our hometown can fill. We are now in a position and mindset to consider and deal with both. We couldn’t have seen or predicted these events, and yet here we are evaluating them. The stars seem to be lining up in a way that points to every step we’ve taken to this point having been to that end. Crazy how you can start out climbing one ladder only to realize when you get to the top that it’s pointing to one across the room. So on to the process of building a bridge between them.