Archive for the 'Friends' Category
March 2, 2009 @ 11:06 am | Filed under: Friends, The Solid Rock, Uniquely Me
Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that low’r'd upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.-Shakespeare
“The way we live our lives is a measure of our contentment toward God.” - borrowed from Jody @ Nitty Gritty
It was twenty years ago when a couple of friends and I attended our very first weekend ladies retreat. We packed our overnight bags, left our small children in capable, caring hands, and hit the highway for what we felt was some long-overdue, much-needed TLC for over-worked, under-paid, and (only slightly) out-dated moms.
The next three days were full of laughter, good food, new friends…I’m sure. But - to be honest - those are not the memories that have hung around the halls of my mind all these years.
Instead it is the resonating trills of one lone message that has withstood the test of time. Circumstances have changed. The toddlers of twenty years ago are now young men and women with lives of their own, and yet this message is one that shifts with changing times.
BE YE CONTENT.
Over and over and over, throughout this sermon, the message was clear. God’s plan for our lives is for us to find ourselves in Him, not wrapped up in things, or even in people. It is only in the shelter of His great arms and in the presence of His mighty strength that we are at our best.
BE YE CONTENT.
I remember the three of us chafing a bit as we squirmed in our seats and finally gave in to the tears that stung the back of our eyelids. We reached for wadded up Kleenex and dabbed at our eyes, realizing that our weekend was taking an unexpected turn.
We’d come for consolation, but were met face-to-face with conviction. It turned out to be a defining moment in each of our lives; one that changed each of us forever.
It seems like there’s a lot of talk these days about contentment. If there’s any good that has come, or will come, from the state of the economy, I believe it’s causing us to truly examine our priorities and values.
I’m finding that most folks are discovering the same thing that I am: I already have all that I need to live a rich and productive and fulfilling life.
What about you?
Are you finding this to be the winter of YOUR contentment?
February 28, 2009 @ 7:49 am | Filed under: Friends, School Stuff, Uniquely Me
“Mathematics is not a careful march down a well-cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost.”
—W.S. Anglin
THANK. YOU, Mr. Anglin.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
For me math is, at best, a grand test of patience, endurance, and that gnarly feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know (you just…know) that things are about to get very, very bad.
Math and I go way back. All the way back to first grade, in fact.
The relationship started off well, with grainy, purple-ish mimeographed pages (remember these predecessors of color copies and laser-printed sheets?) of neatly printed addition and subtraction problems.
“Staci, meet the plus sign. Plus would like to add two apples to your pile of four oranges. How many pieces of fruit do you have now?”
As long as I could equate math with fruit or cookies, or even pencils or pennies, it was all good. Dare I say, even a tad bit…fun?
It all began to go awry mid-semester of my freshman year in high school. One word says it all, seven little letters. A-L-G-E-B-R-A.
I went into the class a little cocky (because I’d never had to work very hard to make good grades before) and more than a little naive (who knew that polynomials and variables could BE so obstinate?)
By the time I’d managed to crawl through Algebra I by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, I walked into Mrs. Payne’s sophomore geometry class with my tail tucked between my legs.
I was cautiously hopeful that isosceles triangles and terms like area, volume, and perimeter would be kinder and gentler in nature - but I was not holding my breath.
Good thing.
It became a joke in the class that I would treat myself to a banana split at Braums if somehow - by the grace of God or osmosis or whatever worked - I managed to pass the increasingly difficult tests.
Mrs. Payne had the very annoying habit of reading the test grades aloud before handing them back. As if the humilation of a failing grade wasn’t enough on its own, now we had the added bonus of wanting to crawl beneath our desks whenever our name was called.
“Rogers,” she would peer over her half-rimmed, silver reading glasses and make direct eye contact.
With bated breath, I would wait like a defendant on trial to hear my fate.
“Looks like you’re going to Braums today,” she’d nod and give me the barest of grins. “You got a C.”
I still remember the cheers of my classmates and that afternoon, about four o’clock, found a large group of my friends and fellow geometry cellmates clustered around a white Formica table at our local neighborhood Braums.
Some things in life just need to be celebrated, you know?
When (NOT if) I manage to bag the three credit hours of college Algebra that I need in my degree plan, I will celebrate large!
Anybody want in?
___________________________
TODAY - February 2009
___________________________
Staci
TEN MORE WEEKS and math will FOREVER be behind me. It’s been three semesters of pure and total torture but, thanks to some friends who are truly gifted in math and who truly love my mathless goofy self, I’m beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel.
And there WILL be an ice cream party when we emerge from this tunnel. Just wanted to let you know so you can get your spoons ready.
TEN MORE WEEKS!
July 4, 2008 @ 11:13 am | Filed under: Friends, Summer at the ballpark
We met Mandy and David at the game tonight. Since it was the July 4th game, the entire ballpark was a sea of red, white, and blue. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Each of the armed forces was recognized and properly commended. It was touching to see the amount of game attendees that had either served our country in the past, or are serving now.
Hearing the national anthem always gets to me, but on this night - as thousands of fellow Americans joined in together - it was a moment I’ll remember for quite a while.
This is a photo of the guys posing with The New Andrews Sisters. They were the night’s entertainment. An acapella group, they were AMAZING! They were dressed in wartime 1940s dress and were absolutely beautiful. It was a great night!
Andrew Sisters, ballpark, July 4th
June 1, 2008 @ 3:43 pm | Filed under: Friends, Summer at the ballpark
These are our wonderful friends with whom we share Rough Rider half-season tickets. On this night, we had traded in our normal seats for the chance to have four tickets together. It was a great game (I’m pretty sure) but the best part was having Mandy to chat with for two whole hours!
baseball, Friends, Rough Riders
May 26, 2008 @ 3:55 pm | Filed under: Friends
still totally rocks!
Thank you, Rochelle, for remembering your diet Coke-lovin’ friend in your travels!
You brought me several really cool things, but this - THIS is my favorite! My Israeli diet Coke now holds a place of prominence in my office - right next to my Moroccan diet Coke!
Could you maybe go to Italy and Japan next…?
May 19, 2008 @ 7:15 pm | Filed under: 3 Day Walk, Friends, It's a Girl Thing, Uniquely Me
I have taken on an incredible challenge. On November 7th - 9th I’ll be walking 60 miles over the course of three days, camping out at night with thousands of other women and men taking this journey with me.
It’s for an event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day, which benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. Every advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Komen for the Cure grant. They are working hard to build a future without breast cancer, and I plan on raising $2200 to help bring us closer to that goal.
Please consider making a donation to this great cause. If you can’t give a certain amount all at once, you can spread it out over four months, using the payment plan option, if you donate online at http://www.the3day.org/. Please also ask your employer if they will double your donation with a matching gift.
This year I am walking in honor of the women in my own life who have battled breast cancer and have lived to celebrate beyond it. For those of you who know me well, you know that raising breast cancer awareness is one of the passions that I’ve taken into my heart.
Finding Faith is my novel set to release the end of this year and it chronicles one woman’s journey through this difficult and - too often - deadly disease. But there IS hope. There IS help. There IS healing. I am honored and excited to be taking part in this amazing walk for life.
Without a cure, one in eight women in the U.S. will continue to be diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s why I’m walking in the 3-Day. Because everyone deserves a lifetime.
To make a donation, go to http://www.the3day.org/. Click on Donate Now and search for my personal fundraising page. If you don’t want to donate online, please fill out the enclosed donation form and mail it to the address on the form. Or you can call 800.996.3DAY to donate over the phone. I would like to reach my fundraising goal by October 1st so please don’t delay!
breast cancer, Susan G. Komen, the 3 day walk
May 12, 2008 @ 5:14 pm | Filed under: Family, Friends, It's a Girl Thing
Several of you have emailed or called, wanting to know how it was to turn forty. So here you go - a photo journey through one very memorable - very special - week in my life!
May 10, 2008 @ 9:13 pm | Filed under: Friends
One of my best friends graduated Magna Cum Laude from UT Dallas this morning! We (her friends) were immensely proud and I think the entire commencement audience might have had a clue when - in unison and…loudly - we chanted: “Rochelle! Go! Four point-o!” as she walked across the stage to claim her hard-earned diploma!
Enjoy this recap from our very special day!
Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com
May 8, 2008 @ 3:00 pm | Filed under: Friends
On the list of all the things that I treasure most, the friendships in my life are certainly at the top of that list.
I love to meet new people, and make new friends, because that’s a sign of growth and of expanding the borders of our lives. As we grow older, we gradually learn that we share bits and pieces of ourselves with many different people, and in many different ways.
But I also greatly treasure the friendships that go back…way back.
One of these special relationships is my friendship with Kathy. Even though we live several hundred miles apart now, the friendship we shared as little girls has only deepened and matured with the passing of time. I had the opportunity to catch up with her this past week when I accompanied Mike to Houston for the OTC Conference. While he worked and walked the tradeshow at the Reliant Center, I relished this unexpected time with a dear friend.
Kathy had suggested we meet at a restaurant in Uptown Park. As I drove into the exclusive shopping area, I thought about how on any ordinary day these shops would have provided a mecca of retail therapy to wile away the afternoon. Today, they still looked intriguing but that wasn’t where my head was. I didn’t want to shop. I only looked forward to sharing good food and great conversation with an old friend.
I arrived first and spotted her the minute she walked up the sidewalk and to the front door of the restaurant. The first thing I noticed was how fantastic she looked. Expecting her first child, she is co-owner of a great little coffee shop and works there herself about ten hours a week while working her (day) job in the financial offices of a large Houston pediatric cancer hospital. I’m pretty sure she’s in the running for Wonder Woman of the Year.
We began to talk as we were led to our table and we didn’t stop talking for over two hours. Long after we’d finished our salads and tea, we continued to sit and chat and catch up on one another’s lives.
I’ve known Kathy since we were both five or six years old and in kindergarten. Even though we never went to school together (she attended parochial schools, I went to public school) we spent many of our available waking minutes together during our growing up years.
We lived just down the street from one another on Bayshore until we were both about eighteen. Through the years, we’ve talked through just about every major life decision with the other and have always found a true confidante in one another. We can go for weeks and - many times - months without so much as an email or phone call and then dive right back into conversation as though we’d never had a lull.
Having these couple of days to catch up and spend time with Kathy was an unexpected oasis in my busy life, and a much needed one. And if you live in the Houston area, or the next time you’re through there on a visit, make sure you stop in at Fill Your Cup. It is an amazing coffee shop where the coffee is great, the employees are warm and welcoming, and the owner is an exceptional person.
And…my friend.
April 26, 2008 @ 6:47 pm | Filed under: Friends, Summer at the ballpark
“Shall we get a babysitter?”
Denise and I were on the phone, finalizing our plans for the next night’s game. Mike and I had invited the three of them to be our guests.
“Uh…not.” I laughed. “If the girl (our nickname for ‘our girl’) doesn’t come, then the deal is OFF.”
She laughed too. “That’s what we figured.”
Now, obviously we would have still welcomed them even if they had felt the need for a night out without the baby but - Uncle Mike and Aunt Staci certainly loved seeing her reaction to her very first baseball game!
She also strolled away from the game with a brand new pink Roughrider’s cap and a matching tot-size pink bat! From start to finish, she was totally into people watching and acted as though she’d been to zillions of games!
(As you can tell, we need to convert her mommy to the Rangers/Roughriders part of the league!)
