Ringing Out the Old

Wow, December 31, 2009. I keep thinking back to where we were 10 years ago: Ann Arbor, Michigan and awaiting the arrival of Sophie. We had moved to Ann Arbor only 4 months before and there was so much that was still so new. I never, never, never (can I stress that enough!) thought I would be bringing in the new decade in Logan, Utah!

The past 10 years have included: the birth of Sophie (January 25, 2000), living in Family Housing at the University of Michigan (1999-2005) and working at the preschool in the community; saying hello and good-bye to many friends who studied at the U of M or were married to someone studying there; moving to San Antonio, TX in 2005 and working at Trinity University; moving back to Logan, Utah after realizing we wanted a home, not to keep moving around and grasped for something...anything that we could cling to for awhile; practicing many religions; adopting a cat; adopting a dog (pregnant, didn't know...now we have 3 dogs); some traveling with lots of museum visits; joining 2 non-profit boards; getting my first bachelor's degree and working on another; making many batches of playdough for Sophie; celebrating many birthdays and anniversaries; taking a yoga class; studying Japanese; protesting at the University of Michigan; reading Jane Austen, finally; taking piano lessons after a 27-year hiatus; blogging...

I thought today about my goals for this decade: getting my teaching certificate; losing 30 pounds (or more!); traveling outside of North America; fixing our home; reading more Jane Austen; and all of these are worthy and hopeful endeavors, but most of all, I want to live mindfully and with purpose! If I do those 2 things, the rest will follow.

Servings of Religion

I often tell people that I look at religion as a big buffet, and I take a little bit from each of which I learn. This past week has been about dipping my ladle into 2 religions whose services I had not previously attended.

Last week I went to my first Mormon service. I've been to blessings before and even a baptism, but had never gone to a regular Sunday service. I purposely went to a Fast and Testimony Service because I heard that people spoke spontaneously and that is what I like! Prepared talks are good too, but I wanted to see what really moved people.

I felt at peace at the church, it's physically very similar to the churches I attended as a youth (Methodist and Presbyterian) minus the crosses. I was surprised how noisy it was during the service, and as I glanced around, I often felt people were not really paying attention to the speakers. Maybe they'd heard a lot of the same type of talks before, maybe they were distracted by their children, or because it's a service during fasting, maybe they were all just hungry! Anyway, the speakers got up without much pause between them, and most spoke of their belief in the Mormon Church being the true church, their gratefulness for the temples and their families. All good things and all similar to what members of other religions would say, I believe.

I appreciated the bishop, my friend's husband, speaking to me both before and after the service and I felt his welcome was genuine and without an agenda. Most people know I've lived in Utah long enough that if I wanted to convert to the dominant religion, I probably would have done so by now. I appreciate those friends I have who will answer questions, discuss their viewpoints and listen to mine without feeling they need to show me the way.

I was surprised by how content I felt at the service. I realized that all religions have the same intent, to lead their members to a better life and existence. The differences are in the details and really, those details are so insignificant when one looks at the source of each religion.

The second service I visited this week was at the Islamic Center in Logan. A friend invited me and I went to Friday's prayer at 1:45 p.m. I met another friend there and she helped me with the formalities of the service. I didn't learn a lot about the religion, but was invited back for the potluck the next night.

So, yesterday I went to the potluck at the Islamic Center and what a good time I had! The women (men and women are in separate rooms) were so willing to share their beliefs and practices and did so without any pressure to conform. I was able to watch the women pray and I admired their diligence and dedication...they pray 5 times a day! The food was not just shared, but rapidly passed to me and put before me and the genuine warmth I felt was so uplifting, I didn't want to leave.

I am so glad I visited both services, as I feel it gives me an opportunity to learn more about the religions by seeing how it really affects the members. I know I have not even scraped the surface of either religion, but I feel I have opened doors that I felt were closed and locked to me, an outsider.

I encourage all people to take the opportunity to visit a place of worship other than the one they normally visit, or if you are like me and don't have one you normally visit, then even better, because you really have no excuse!!

Dog Days of Summer

Today I feel great about having 3 dogs, but a lot of times I feel completely overwhelmed. I went back to work this week, Soph is back in school and Steve has been back for over a week. I was nervous about how the dogs would handle it, but they're only home for about 3 hours on their own and they seem just fine.

Just like when Sophie was little, I'm learning I don't have to entertain the dogs every moment, they will be just fine, probably do even better, if I'm not constantly trying to stimulate their doggie brains.

A Bit of Fall in August

It feels like fall today and it makes me excited for Halloween, cooler days and walking through the leaves. It does not make me excited about the fact that in 2.5 weeks we'll all have to get up earlier and figure out how to get 3 dogs worn out before we head out the door.

This morning I took Lucy for a 3-mile walk, up to USU and through the cemetery a few times, in the rain and when we got home, she had more energy than when we left! Alyssa, the dog trainer, did say the other day that for dogs, walking isn't a great way to get out their energy. She recommended playing tug-of-war, which I'd resisted because I'd read it encouraged aggressiveness. Alas, it appears that raising dogs is like raising children, you hear many different ways of doing it right and sometimes they are completely contradictory! Also, as with raising Sophie, Steve and I have different opinions about things and sometimes that can cause a bit of strife. So, the stress of the dogs got to us today and I ended up in tears, and Lucy put her head on my lap and the puppies cuddled with me. As I pointed out to Soph, how can a person be sad with this much joy...but again, it's like with our children. We love them to no end, and yet it is in raising them that we often become so stressed, so frustrated and so blinded that we miss the mark.

I often ask Sophie, "What did Emily say?" which is her cue to quote Emily from Our Town, "People just don't look at each other anymore," and I don't think those are the exact words Thornton Wilder used, but it's how I remember it. Life is so crazy and full of extraneous stuff and it is that stuff that usually makes us miss out on what is most important. And having said that, now I can plug my latest cause...Don't Text and Drive!! Live in the moment. Be the Buddha!

P.S. As Sophie tries to find humor in my sentimental moments, as in the Emily quoting above, she usually responds with something like, "People just don't yell at their moms anymore..." or "People just don't wear green diapers anymore..." which makes me laugh.

12.5 Weeks

Percy and Winston are now 12.5 weeks old and they are such great puppies. We've had a dog trainer, Alyssa Walker, come to the house twice, and she's commented on how mellow they are. This could be because they try to emulate Lucy, or because they play with each other so much they're worn out, or just their personalities. They are really great dogs and can already sit on command.

As the parent of only one human child, I now realize, a little bit, how difficult it must be to parent more than one child. Trying to spend time with each one, interfering between them when needed and giving attention to more than one at the same time, wow. I also see how different each can be even when raised somewhat the same and born of the same parents. And yes, I'm comparing humans to dogs. Winston is a people pleaser, loves to get cuddles, wags his tail enthusiastically and chases toys. Percy is so laid back, loves to greet people or just sit under a tree and watch others do their thing. Their mom, Lucy, is a great mix of the two.

I still feel overwhelmed from time to time, but try to enjoy all this love we got going on. I'm reading "The Loved Dog" by Tamar Geller and it helps me appreciate our canine family members a bit more.

Puppies

Long story a little less long: We adopted a dog from the Cache Humane Society on April 13. Her name at the shelter was Precious, but we quickly renamed her Lucy. Lucy seemed like the ideal dog, quiet, mellow, and very sweet. We kept wondering why her owners would have surrendered her (which is what we were told they did). It could be because of what we found out 3 weeks after adopting Lucy, she was pregnant!

Yes, Lucy was not spayed at the time of adoption and when we took her to the vet on April 15, we were told we had to wait to have her spayed due to the kennel cough she had. We noticed her gaining weight and sure enough, on May 4 when I took her back to the vet, they saw 7 little puppy bodies and gave us an estimate of 5 days until they were born.

On Monday, May 11, Lucy showed signs of being in labor, digging and not eating, so I waited and waited and waited... Finally, I just had to run an errand and when I returned an hour later, there was a squealing puppy and sorry, but also a placenta, on our living room floor. Lucy was in her kennel looking like, "What are you going to do about THAT?!" By 8:00 p.m. Monday we had 8 puppies, 7 black and 1 brown. Crazy!

I wish I had chronicled the next 47 days, which consisted of a lot of trips outside, introducing the puppies to mush, later feeding them every 4 hours and the countless visits from neighbors and passers-by who wanted to play with the puppies.

The puppies are now 11 weeks and 1 day old and we kept 2, Percy (the brown one) and Winston and of course we have Lucy! I started out saying we would not keep ANY puppies, gave in with Percy pretty quickly, but Winston was the one Steve really wanted and when his family had to change their minds about adopting him, he became ours.

So we went from no dogs to 3 in less than 3 months. And of course, we still have Jada, the cat, who has quickly learned to show them all that she is the queen!

Time's Been Flyin'!

I have no photos to post, because I cannot find our camera! Yesterday we took Sophie ice skating, only her second time ever, and I wish I had some pics. She did great and even let go of the wall a few times to skate all on her own. We're finally comfortable enough in our parenting to let Sophie fall and realize she'll be fine, so she fell quite a few times, got right back up and even laughed at herself. The first time Sophie went ice skating I believe she was only 2 or 3 and I ended up nearly carrying her halfway around the rink. They now have these great walker things that kids can hold on to and scoot around the rink.

We're almost to Sophie's birthday, 9 years, and it's hitting me hard, because she'll be halfway to 18. I remember bringing her home and as most people know, I had pretty severe postpartum depression. I had no idea how I was going to take care of a child and wondered what I'd gotten into. Now I wonder where the time has gone!

Sophie and I went to Salt Lake City Friday for an MLK luncheon and it was good. My favorite part was the energy and excitement regarding Tuesday's inauguration. I am so grateful to be a witness to such a historical event and to feel like my daughter is growing up in a world that is getting better in some ways.

Accentuate the Positive

Happy 2009! One really great thing about living in Utah is the lack of humidity and the result if a bag of chips is left open.

Often, Logan also reminds me so much of the small town in which I grew up, Oconto Falls, Wisconsin. Today was gray, much like many of the winter days in Oconto Falls and the sights and scents send me back to that time of comfort and youthful innocence.

We had a fabulous time in Colorado with Steve's parents. We played a lot of Wii with Grandpa and I got in a few walks in their area, which is beautiful.

Only two more days until we're back into the routine: school, work, school.... I'm going back to USU to work toward a degree in education. I haven't signed up for classes yet, but I have been officially accepted. I'm not enthusiastic about it yet, but I feel it's a step in the right direction. Sophie's almost 9, we're settled, it's time to put some focus on my goals and even though they shift from day to day, heading in one direction is a good idea.

Here's to a great year!