Go Baby Go!

My little girl is kicking butt on the tball field. Is it horrible that I'm thrilled about that? Tough. You need to understand the history of my athletic endeavours. In summary, I suck. Not "kind of bad". I totally suck. My mother used to sit in the bleachers watching my softball games and yell out to me "OPEN YOUR EYES!". Thanks Mom.

But now there's Jess. She was my easy baby. She never did much to attract attention to herself. She never cried. She would (and still does) eat anything. Always a happy smile on her face. But that left her at a disadvantage in our house with her two sisters - who had definite, bold and demanding personalities. Until now that is........

Jess expressed an interest in joining a tball team and started playing a few months ago. The team's name is "The Fearless Fairies". (Can you tell the girls picked the name? Not exactly a monicker that strikes fear into the heart of their opponents).

We watched her run. She was FAST, but we sort of knew that. We started to notice that the coach always let her play pitcher which is a pivotal position on the tball field. We started watching her hustle and chase down balls. We were impressed that she picked up the rules of the game so quickly and would know where to throw the ball and try to tag out the runner. We cheered and screamed in our amazement at the talents of our little "quiet baby".

Last week Jess's team (made up of Kindergarteners) played a team made up mainly of second graders. They were getting trounced. I could tell Jess was getting frustrated but when she would go into the dugout I would try to emphasize that this was just for fun. (OK - I didn't really mean it but I was trying to be a good example.) The coaches moved her to the pitcher position. The first two batters belted the ball into the outfield and we watched them get runners on 2nd and 3rd base. I kept telling myself it was just a game. Yeah, right. Then the next batter hit the ball straight to her. Jess scooped it up. She started running to home base. I had no idea what she was doing. She got to home plate and stood there and tagged the 3rd base runner OUT! The crowd went wild! I shrieked "THAT'S MY BABY!!!" I was so loud I made the man sitting next to me jump. I couldn't believe she knew to do that! I was so proud of her I couldn't stand it.

GO BABY GO!

Desires

I had a conversation the other day with a friend about "desires". The unrequited love, the material possession - whatever. As I was talking to her and asking her questions, I found that I should be asking these questions of myself.

As we were discussing one object of desire I asked her to forget about the person/thing and asked her "What do you want?". It brought back a memory for me about a similar conversation I had years ago with my friend Karen. She asked me a much deeper question................... "How do you want to feel?"

With that said I've decided to answer that question for myself. Here goes.
1. I want to feel that I am looking forward to my day without waking up with the running list of "things to do" filling my head 30 seconds after I open my eyes.

2. I want to feel blessed to have a full and busy life.

3. I want to feel comfort in knowing that I will carve out a portion of the day just for myself. I want that time to be filled with something that nurtures just me whether it be exercise, meditation or just quiet.

4. I want to feel that I am bringing peace and harmony to my family and friends. I want to stop being so impatient with them and stop rushing them just because I have overscheduled my day.

5. I want to feel the release of "letting go of the struggle". When I stop controlling, managing and manipulating I know I am doing Alima's will not God's.

6. I want to feel gratitude for the abundance of what I have today rather than what I want tomorrow.