by Heather Plett | Jul 29, 2005 | Uncategorized
One of the things that I’ve discovered in the last few years is that I love to facilitate workshops. I love getting up in front of a group of people and either helping them discover/learn something new or helping them brainstorm new ideas that will make their work more meaningful or effective.
Yesterday I had such an opportunity. We’re undergoing a fairly lengthy and involved strategic planning exercise, and my boss has tasked me with getting us (staff, board of directors, stakeholders) through the process. That means lots of opportunity to brainstorm, facilitate workshops, and basically do what I enjoy doing. In between, there’ll be a whole lot of grunt work (writing reports and workplans, setting up schedules, etc., etc.), but I’m rather excited about the possibilities.
Yesterday, as I cycled home after the session, I felt that old thrill of victory – the feeling and energy you get when you’ve just done something you enjoy, you know you’ve done it well, and you relish the increased insight into what makes you tick. I love discovering my giftedness, and I particularly love it when it surprises me. I love the fact that, at almost 40, I’m still finding out new things about myself. I hope that self-discovery never quits. I hope that, on my death bed, I have one last (or perhaps not last, if the after-life is what I imagine) grand “a-ha” moment.
Makes me think of a Bible verse… “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14
by Heather Plett | Jul 28, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’ve got a few backyard bird pics of my own… (do you know how HARD it is to focus on a hummingbird?)
(Disclaimer – no, this is not in my backyard, but my in-laws.)
by Heather Plett | Jul 27, 2005 | Uncategorized
Sometimes, the most ordinary evenings are the very best there is. Last night was one of those evenings – hardly anything worth writing about, yet about as close to perfect as you can get.
After supper, we set up the tent in the backyard. We hadn’t used it in awhile (since we got the camper a few years ago) and are planning to use it this weekend, so we wanted to make sure it’s still in good shape. The girls had fun playing in the tent, and were determined they were going to sleep in the backyard last night, but we couldn’t find the pump to fill the air mattresses.
At some point, I remembered that I was supposed to visit my Mom’s apartment while she’s away to check her mail and water her plants. It was a beautiful evening, so I convinced the family to bike there with me. Again – nothing out of the ordinary – just a quiet family moment doing ordinary things.
Here are some of the extraordinary, ordinary moments:
– listening to Maddie have conversations with herself in the buggie behind my bike
– watching Julie and her Daddy race for the stop sign
– seeing the Red River and all its glory at dusk
– giggling with Nikki and Julie when we “stole” a coke from Mom’s fridge
– watching the teenagers goof around on their mini-motorcycle (I think they’re called “pocket bikes” – wacky and uncomfortable looking, but Nikki was rather fond of it)
– riding over the bridge, looking back and seeing my kids following me
– just plain old riding with my family – it doesn’t get much better than that!
This sappy moment brought to you by Heather.
by Heather Plett | Jul 26, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’m borrowing a page from Judy’s book and writing some Random Summer Thoughts. Because in the middle of summer, sometimes that’s the only way that thoughts come out.
1. We hung out at the library last night. It was rather funny to watch the three children. True to form, Julie soon had a stack of books and was asking if she could take home more than her usual limit. (Sure enough, she’d finished the first one before she fell asleep last night.) Also true to form, Nikki gravitated toward the magazines and was soon checking out the latest fashion and exploits of the rich and famous. (Anything that screams “pop culture” draws that kid in.) And not to be outdone, Maddie followed her heart, and gravitated to where the people were. First it was the teenagers on the computer – they decided they wanted her to be their little sister. Then it was the girl watching Arthur on the kids computer. Before we left, at least 3 separate people wanted to take her home.
2. Every once in awhile you see something that renews your faith in humanity. On the news last night was a documentary about a man named Chandrasekhar Sankurathri. His wife and 2 children were killed in the Air India bombing 20 years ago. Instead of letting bitterness control his life, he turned his energy to something good, returned to a very poor region of India where his wife grew up (they’d been living in Canada), and built a school and treatment centre for the blind. Amazing story. He named the school after his daughter and the treatment centre after his son. In that way, they still live on. Seems to me, if you have a little extra money that you’d like to put to something good, you wouldn’t go wrong sending it to his foundation.
3. But then there are some things on the news that have the opposite effect. They’ve made a movie of the life of Karla Homolka. What is it about sick and twisted criminals that makes people want to watch them on the big screen? Why would I want to sit through two hours of a movie watching this sad, pathetic, wretched woman join her husband as they rape and murder a bunch of young girls – INCLUDING HER OWN SISTER? My last post was about celebrating only the victor in a great race, but sometimes we do the opposite and celebrate the most depraved. What’s that about? I feel for the family members of the victims – knowing that thousands of people are watching a re-enactment of their daughter/sister/niece/granddaughter get brutally raped and murdered.
4. We put the camper up for sale yesterday. I’ll be sorry to see it go. We had some great memories in that camper. Like the first weekend we used it and we announced to our family that Maddie was going to born. But it’s time to let go. I’m trying not to let myself get too attached to possessions. I read on a blog yesterday that “every part of the soul that is filled by a possession is a part that is unable to love freely.” A camper is JUST a camper (even though I DID spend hours sewing curtains and cushion covers, painting walls and re-doing the floor. Sigh.)
5. This weekend we’re going to the Austin Thresherman’s Reunion. It may not sound like too much excitement to the average reader, but it holds a lot of memories for our family, so I’m looking forward to it. It was one of the only summer outing we’d go to when we were kids, and almost every year, we got to watch our Dad kick butt in the stooking contest. I think he won every time he entered, and each year he brought home a silver dollar as his prize. That silver dollar collection was one of the most prized possessions in Mom’s china cabinet.
6. One of the other things we’ll probably do this weekend is visit Spirit Sands – Manitoba’s “desert-like” region. When we told the girls we were visiting a desert, they looked at us incredulously and asked “are there starving people there? will we see lots of dead animals?” Hmmm… guess that’s what they picked up from TV.
7. I’m looking forward to hanging out with my family (brothers, sister, in-laws, mom, nieces, nephews – you get the picture) this weekend. We’ll relive old memories, have a few good laughs, share food, play with each other’s kids, probably mock each other a bit, and talk about Dad. We can’t help but talk about Dad when we’re in a place that holds so much of the best of him.
by Heather Plett | Jul 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
Congratulations on a race well run! You fought to the finish, you faced the mountains you had to face, you pushed yourself to the edge and beyond – you finished well.
You may never wear the yellow jersey, you may never be Lance Armstrong (hard to imagine there could be more than one!) but you DID IT!
All those other people who accomplished such an incredible feat, and the only name we know is Lance. Too bad. But I guess life’s like that – we don’t celebrate the “ordinary”, we only celebrate the “victor”.
Today, my fellow bloggers, let’s look beyond the victor and celebrate those who run well, cycle with heart, and live with grace and integrity.
I celebrate my children who cycled to church today. No, they’re not little Lances, but they did well and I’m proud of them.
by Heather Plett | Jul 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
My mom’s husband is in the hospital. Again. It’s the second time since they met in February. Something’s wrong with his lungs this time.
I want so badly for my mom to be happy. I want life to be easy for her. It’s her turn, I figure. Life was rarely easy when she was married to my dad. It was happy sometimes, but rarely easy. Now I want it to be easy AND happy.
I’m not sure what happiness looks like for my mom. We’re very different, her and I, so for each of us, happiness has a different face. But there’s one thing I DO know, happiness is not sleeping alone in the bed where her new husband spent over 40 years with his first wife while her husband is in a hospital more than 40 kilometres away and her children and grandchildren are hundreds of kilometres away.
I’m a little pissed off that God wouldn’t make it easy this time around. Doesn’t seem like too much to ask for a woman who has given up so much for so many people. Too much. Her whole life has been a sacrifice, now I want it to be sweet. God, if you’re out there, just give her this. Please…
