In my attempt to get back to putting things into words I'll just list things that have happened in the last few weeks and some thoughts.
1) Paris (8/26-9/3)
This is a trip we knew would be happening because I coerced David into buying the plane tickets a year ago. I fell in love with Paris back in 2006 when I first visited it. It's funny how you can fail to remember the particulars of something but you just know you had a happy time. Since it's David's first time in Europe, I thought Paris would be a safe bet.
And in many ways, it was. Going to Paris for a 3rd anniversary is an absolute luxury. No doubt about it. We've collected a new set of memories and experiences that we can think back to and smile about. But I also came to an interesting realization of how I've changed during and after the trip. I surprised myself and realized that I am no longer as in love with traveling as I was used to. And I realized that the happiest place for me is our little home in Mountain View.
2) Things are impossible until they are done
We attended a wedding last weekend and the bride, my friend, asked if I can make her wedding slideshow. I have to admit, I probably shouldn't have agreed just because I've never made a wedding slideshow before and I'm not someone people would go to to make such things. But I agreed purely on friendship alone.
Then things got interesting. I got all the pictures 3rd week of August. I had the time to load them all into iMovie but that was about it because I was busy working on the RE Year End presentations that Saturday. Then we jetted off to Paris on Sunday returning the following Monday. I did not anticipate on being super sick afterwards but I was.
I remember laying in bed after work, stressed out. I knew I had to finish the slideshow that week because the following week my in-laws are visiting and then it's the wedding. I was so stressed out that I was even thinking I should email my friend and perhaps she can find someone else to do it. But thankfully, I didn't do that to her. Later a friend called me and I told her how stressed out I was because I also have RE to prepare for and with me sleeping at 6pm every night (jetlag + sickness) I really don't have the time. She told me to just take it one thing at a time. And so I did.
I decided to focus on RE prep during the week and then focus on the slideshow during the weekend. I also prayed to God to give me the strength to do what I have to do. I really believed God answered my prayers because I basically did the entire slideshow on Sunday. And I didn't even have to make that many tweaks to line up the photos to the music! Praise God!
3. Perspective
I've been working on perspective for a while. Many times, the one who screams loudest gets the attention. And it's perfectly natural and logical for that to happen and that's why I find that I have to make the effort to really think about what I'm paying attention to and spending time on.
When David told me his parents are visiting us for a week we decided to take a few days off so we can spend more time with them. I don't think anyone would've blamed us or think we're super unfilial if we said we had to work and blamed the lack of vacation days.
But at the same time I was thinking to myself. They're visiting us one week out of the entire year. They're taking the time to fly over from Taiwan and I'm sure they're not here to tour Mountain View. They're here to visit us. Work is not always an immovable thing that we always think it is. So it was perfectly clear to me that the thing to do is take a few more days off even after our trip to Paris. I rather have our bosses understand why we need to take the time off than our parents understand why we can't take the time off. After all, parents > bosses.
4. Cheerful Giver
So I've been working on this Cheerful Giver thing this year as inspired by 2 Cor 9:7. At first I was thinking I don't have to go to Cerritos church on the Saturday before the wedding because there should be plenty of people helping out. But later I realized the bride actually expected me to be there to help out.
I'm usually a person who hates it when people sort of expects me to do something I wasn't expecting myself to do, but then I thought to myself: be a cheerful giver. So I asked David if we can go to Cerritos after church to help out. Thankfully I have a husband who is a rather cheerful giver/helper so it helps. But it's quite interesting how a mindset can be so powerful. I smiled a lot to maintain a cheery attitude and also asked people a lot for their opinions because hey, it's a quick death to cheerfulness when people feel like slaves to a taskmaster. So I learned an interesting lesson that day. Cheerfulness starts with love, of course. But it's also something that can be practiced.
5. A Return to Normalcy
I know, I'm a bit bold to be quoting Harding's campaign slogan for post WWI America. My encounters are definitely on a different scale compared to the WW. But how wonderful it is to return back to a state of routine and normalcy! We came back from the wedding on Sunday night. We took Monday off to recoup. And like magic, I was half healed of my sickness on Monday. It's been kind of a crazy past couple of weeks, which thankfully is filled with good crazy. But oh am I glad things are back to normal. Although I do miss my jet lag just a smidge because I can't seem to get out of bed in the mornings. Oh well. You win some and you lose some.