Sunday Sixteen Minutes Freewrite

Sixteen minutes, starting now is what the Alexa just said. So, my fingers will do the walking across the keyboard.

I have started doing the Spiritual Exercises again. I might be leading someone through the 18th annotation (a shorter version of the 19th annotation which usually lasts about 34 weeks), and I realize that I need to adapt the version that I wrote to fit that. I have two women going through the 19th with me right now. I am wondering if they are feeling overwhelmed. I am wondering if I even need to make the 19th annotation that I wrote a little bit more streamlined too. I have loved doing it for the third time though. This week will be that wonderful looking at Creation around me and doing so we gratitude and thanksgiving. Perfect for this glorious week of Thanksgiving that is coming up. Tonight, we go to Calvary to host a table for the International Thanksgiving celebration. George is feeling sick, and I would prefer not to go alone, but I will go if he is still not better.

Actually, last week was such a good week for appreciating the beauty of nature too. The Rhine River and the fall leaves of the grape vineyards sloping up the steep hills, the towns we visited with fall leaves (Cologne and Amsterdam come to mind), Philosophers' Way forest. Oh, it was just beautiful, and I could take it all in and breathe it in ever so deeply! I am so excited to do this in my hometown. For the past two years, this week usually fell during the peak of the fall, and I would ride my bike two times a week through Corvallis and the gorgeous OSU campus to feast my eyes upon the colors of fall. So, I am a little past that peak, and I am not riding my bike, but I will get out and look up and about. Maybe I will see if Katherine wants to go for a walk or Sandy. I need to get back into the swing of life in Corvallis now that I am recovered from my injury and not planning to go on the epic trip we just returned from. 

Now I am getting a crazy notion to call that family member that is "intimidated" by me to see if we could maybe sit down and have coffee/tea and come to some agreement. I don't see how the person could be intimidated. I stay out of their way, and I have for years. I try my best to just be positive and encouraging. I know it is not about me, but maybe I am ready to just sit down and try to see if we can come to understand each other. That was a crazy idea. I don't know where that has come from. I think this 30+ year standoff (because I really believe that this person IS intimidated by me, but not because I am intimidating but because they do not know me and knows more OF me because of the people who know both of us and what they say about us - long story).

This morning was so good in Psalm 104, 8 and others. I decided to just listen to them being read to me and let them pour over me. Then I felt inspired to just listen to the words in Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." I know I go back to that song over and over again, but I want to have eyes wide open to the wonderful world out there this week. That is the grace that I am seeking in the Exercises. 

I am also listening to the book Growing Up because it is on my 1000 Books to Read Before You Die list, and it is delightful. It is Russell Baker's memoir. He was the host of Masterpiece Theatre, and I am enthralled already. I love audiobooks to listen to as I putter around the house doing various things.

Today I will also be doing my CEU units for my Personal Training recertify. It is a resistance training class, and I am inspired to get back to it. I don't know if I am ready for the class I was in last year at OSU, but I might be ready for an easy version of the FIRM for the next month or so. I need to get back to stabilization in my kinetic chain. I am hoping the exam for this course can be done quickly and easily. 

Also, I was able to sleep until 4 am. So I think I am well on the way to adjusting to the new time zone. I have liked getting up early and spending time with God.

The most life-giving thing I have done since we got back is to do ALL the laundry from our trip and Paul's too (because he did none while we were gone). I really do love going around the house and puttering. I need to do more of that than just using my head when I am not leading my Pilates classes. 

I must also get an appointment system going for my spiritual direction and get a website up and running for my 2020 launch. I am excited about this. I don't know how to do it though. I have looked at different things, and I don't know what I am doing. I need someone to help me.

Well, that was sixteen minutes.