Learn: Spring 2020

Linking up with Emily P. Freeman and others, sharing some ups and downs of what I’ve learned throughout this unprecedented Spring of quarantine.

Walking has likely saved my sanity

Amid all that has been so stressful and unknown over the past 2+ months, the ability to walk in our neighborhood has been comforting, calming, restoring, and inspiring. This sunrise on Friday morning was one that made me literally pause, take out my headphones, and say an audible prayer of thanks to the Lord for witnessing this moment of beauty. The other photos in this post are also ones I’ve snapped over the past couple of months. Enjoy, friends.

Good enough is sometimes good enough

Early on during quarantine I heard an interview with Tsh Oxenreider, where she mentioned this phrase, and also wrote about it on her blog. As a Type A perfectionist, this reminder was a breath of fresh air for me to extend grace to myself, knowing there was no longer any need to push so hard and aim for perfection when the world had stopped and everyone’s expectations turned to taking care of oneself. My, how I hope this continues in the future.

George has soaked up ALL the attention

When we adopted George at the end of December from our elderly neighbor Nancy up the street, we didn’t realize what purr-fect timing it would be to have months at home to build trust and get to know one another better. This probably would have still happened, but would have taken a lot longer. Having another living being in the house with us has been comforting and a lot of fun.

Bad guys in movies don’t use iPhones

When I heard this story on NPR, it made me stop and think about these occurrences and I realized it was true! We are a house divided – I’m Apple and The Optometrist is Android – so we found this to be a fun point of conversation.

Sara Groves Natural Habitat concerts

Sara Groves’ music has been the soundtrack of decades of my life and when I discovered her weekly live concerts from home, tuning in on Thursday afternoons, or after the fact, often brought tears to my eyes as these familiar lyrics took on new depth and meaning in our collective times of hope amid stress and struggle. (Her mentioning us all being onboard the SS Anxiety? Yes!) Thankfully, these sessions are recorded and can still be watched via her Facebook and Instagram.

Plenty vs. scarcity

There have been times it’s been so easy to lapse and give into living in fear, with a scarcity mentality (i.e. not enough food and supplies at the grocery store). It’s taken divine intervention and mental fortitude to replace these worries and set my thoughts on promises and reminders like,
“Your love never fails,
it never gives up,
it never runs out on me”
~ “One Thing Remains” by Jesus Culture

“Really we don’t need much
Just strength to believe
There’s honey in the rock,
There’s more than we see
In these patches of joy
These stretches of sorrow
There’s enough for today
There will be enough tomorrow”
~ “Enough” by Sara Groves

Maybe you’ve seen this graphic, too? Honestly, quarantine has revealed a lot about how unhealthily hard I push myself and how I could do a much better job practicing better work/life balance. I’ve learned so much about how to manage my stress, hold the future more loosely, loosen my grip on micromanaging my calendar, and look for small mercies in unexpected places. I’m so extremely grateful for the way life has given us all a bit of a reset button to reevaluate and reprioritize what truly matters moving forward.

Yes, and amen.

---

What lessons have you learned during quarantine this Spring? Please feel free to share in the comments below.

 

 

Summer Travels: St. Louis

Over Spring Break last year The Optometrist and I journeyed to St. Louis, an area where I lived for many years, love fiercely, and a location of my continued personal identity. The opportunity to return with him for a summer conference was too good to pass up, so while he was in a series of lengthy meetings, I explored my favorite Midwestern city during some of the hottest days of the summer!

In spite of his busy schedule we were able to revisit our favorite coffee shop, Kaldi’s Coffee on DeMun, to both enjoy an iced rooibos chai latte and also spent part of an evening window shopping at IKEA.

Since we stayed at the Parkway Hotel once again, and my husband’s conference was in the medical complex around the corner, this conveniently afforded me the opportunity to drive around the city to some favorite and newfound destinations.

Together we enjoyed meals at:

Anthonino’s Taverna on The Hill – featured on a past episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Taste of Lebanon – fresh, flavorful ingredients – hands down our favorite meal of the trip. The next time we are in St. Louis, we’re definitely eating here again!

Southwest Diner – the breakfast burrito and huevos rancheros we ate for brunch with a mutual St. Louis friend on our way out of town was the perfect finale to our trip.

Some personal favorites:

I popped by Fitz’s on The Loop to grab The Optometrist some fancy sodas one afternoon, picked up a used copy of One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson at Left Bank Books (complete with a little interaction with Spike, the store cat), enjoyed pizza and salad for lunch one day Imo’s in downtown Webster Groves, and spent a blessed few hours with one of my dearest friends, her mother, and son outside the city one afternoon. Since the Central West End is very walk-able I parked my car and got in a few steps to eat a delicious lunch at India Rasoi and a fresh fruit smoothie on a different triple digit day from Coffee Cartel.

The rest of my free time was spent enjoying the air conditioning in our room, knitting, watching shows on the Food Network and episodes of American Ninja Warrior. Since we don’t have TV, watching any sort of network and cable shows are always a special hotel treat.

New solo experiences:

Missouri Botanical Gardens – During this trip I decided I would visit a few places I never have before and the Shaw Gardens were at the very top. It’s a shame I never experienced this lovely space when we lived in the area years ago, but I’m so glad I finally did.

Located in Tower Grove Park, this is an absolute gem of well-maintained flowers, plants, and vegetables. The paths are meandering, perfect for a quiet morning of contemplation and picture taking.

The Novel Neighbor – I heard about this independent book store in Webster Groves, MO, thanks to Anne Bogel interviewing store owner Holland Saltsman on the What Should I Read Next? podcast. Holland was in the store the day I visited and was so welcoming! I picked up the book of poetry Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver and a lovely tin of book darts.

Scott Joplin House – this is another location I’ve wanted to visit for years. Decades, really. During my junior year of high school I wrote a report on Scott Joplin for my advanced English class, so visiting in the late 90s would have been to my benefit, but my report turned out all right, if memory serves me correctly.

Located downtown St. Louis, the Scott Joplin House is the only known, still standing location where he once lived (compared to dwellings in Texarkana, Sedalia, and New York City). None of the artifacts are original, but the restoration of the period is well done, the tour guide was very knowledgeable, and I loved that you could buy copies of his music in the gift shop area.

And St. Louis wasn’t our only trip of the summer! Stay tuned for a summer update from our second road trip to Nashville, TN.

The Unexpected Blessing of Teaching a Friend how to Knit

It’s been years since I’ve attempted to share my passionate hobby of knitting, but last week I brought a friend into the fold. Earlier this winter she saw me knitting in public and expressed interest in learning how to knit, to which I promptly replied, “Why, I’ll be happy to teach you how!”

First, let me tell you a little bit more about my friend. A few years ago The Optometrist and I sat through a Dave Ramsey course with her at church, and then last fall she attended one of the ladies Bible study classes I taught, allowing our spiritual connection to deepen. Since this friend knows us both and had never been to our home before, I thought inviting her over would be a more comfortable and inviting option to learn how to knit around our kitchen table. (She’s also an animal lover, so she was quite taken with our affectionate kitty Sylvester.) Like I mentioned, it’s been a while since I’ve taught someone to knit, and she’s old enough to be my mom, so I wanted to be patient, concise, and encouraging. But I was still a little bit nervous.

You see, my friend’s husband has a very important, high profile job. He’s the president of our University, ultimately my boss.

He’s a busy man, and therefore, she’s a busy lady. They have notoriety in our community, simply because of his academic position, and we both hold them in high regard as individuals and leaders.

And yet, my friend doesn’t “put on airs,” as we say in the Ozarks. She’s genuine, gracious, and open with those she meets, when she has every right to be snobby, elitist, and disconnected from people. While I’ve never asked her, I get the impression that she and her husband are totally fine with her being who she is – someone who doesn’t pretend to appear perfect and whose bubbly personality draws people to her naturally.

So because of her lack of pretense, I felt I could comfortably teach her how to knit, not as the president’s wife, but as my friend.

She has crocheted in the past, which is always helpful when picking up knitting, but I hoped I could convey the basics in a way that she would understand. I instructed her to purchase size US 8 needles and some 100% cotton yarn so we could make a dishcloth; a great beginner project. We worked together for about 2 hours and during this time I was so proud of her ability to understand and execute the long tail cast on, the knit stitch, and was getting the hang of the purl stitch by the end of our evening together. As we wrapped up our session she thanked me, gave me a hug, and we walked her outside. For the past few days I kept thinking I needed to check in with her about her progress, then today, this arrived at work.

It’s a dainty flower arrangement, with pale pink roses, in a tea cup with a saucer! It couldn’t be more me.

I thought The Optometrist had sent me belated Valentine’s Day flowers, but then I read the card and was almost moved to tears.

While she’s the thankful one, I am the one who has received the blessing. When you share something you love, that’s a gift in and of itself. And the fact that she’s enjoying knitting and wants to learn more? Pure joy!

But more importantly, I am reminded from my friend’s thoughtful demonstration of how it’s always good to be open to learning new things from others; how being generous, authentic, and kind never goes out of style. As I look to her example, I not only want to be more like that when I grow up, but want to be more like that right now.