Clock Exchange

For the first time in decades - hey, at least the first time since I've been alive - Indiana will be on Daylight Saving Time. My part of the Hoosier state moves an hour ahead at 2:00 a.m. this Sunday.

I'm all for progress. And I'm really glad that this happens on a weekend, when I'd normally get more sleep, and not a week night when I'm good to get 6 hours. I'm just going to miss seeing the sky start the amber glow of day at 5:15 a.m. when I'm driving to work. And then there's the going to bed in broad daylight part at 8:30 or 9 at night. It'll be an adjustment. I suppose it'll cause me to have more sympathy for my 3rd-shift-working friends.

I think I may win the prize for setting a home's clocks ahead an hour the earliest this year. I'm going to change them all Saturday morning before I take off for the weekend to visit family.

Take my inhibition, please

I've finally conquered a small portion of my fear of breaking into the arts community here in Bloomington. Last Friday, I packed up a few poems, called a friend to force me to go, and downed a Steak-n-Shake sippable sundae before heading to an open-mic poetry night at a local cafe. Several published poets read first. I had forgotten how much I love to hear people read. Almost soothed me into a kind sleepiness before nerves would have kicked in.

So here's one that I ended up reading...

Holiness

What happens to a soul
after it detects holiness in a peeled egg?
In grinding tomorrow's coffee? Chopping vegetables,
stacking soap suds and clean dishes?
An ordinary soul dancing in stocking feet
through the drips
on the kitchen floor.

How can it possibly be prepared - how
could it even survive -
the Revealing to Come?

Try to understand,
no moment is unsacred.
Lighting a match
will echo into eternity. Now
stare into the flame.
The match burns shorter as eternity arrives.
Take care not to burn your fingertips.

Snow in My Socks

One thing about driving to work at 5 a.m., no one had to fall vicitm to my slip-sliding around Prospect Hill. Ah, the exhilleration of pressure on the breaks and the ABS vibrating up your leg while the vehicle continues to move forward. Almost missed it.

That and snow in my socks while pushing snow off my windshield.

Happy Spring! Honestly, though, having 50-plus-degree weather just a few days ago sure did make this short dance with Winter a little sweeter. Like a familiar friend visiting breifly. Then I'll hang him on my laundry rack to dry. No regrets. I'm ready for tulips.

A Year Still Green

Somehow I got to work today with out a stich of green on. Thankfuly I was handed some sparkly twisty-tie type shamrock garland, which I promptly put in a button hole. How festive, I think to myself.

I must share a major accomplishment. As of today, I have officially kept a plant alive for one whole year. A shamrock plant I was given last St. Patty's Day is thriving on my end table - even blooming! I wasn't aware shamrocks were more than green, but between the white flowers and red undersides, I find it is quite captivating.

And I have to say my Easter violets are fairing quite well, too. It's never to late to change one's perseption of oneself. Perhaps my thumb isn't brown and wilted. Soon I'll be cooking and singing arias.

Like a Band-aid

It's really been three weeks? My many apologies to my friends that had been so great about checking in on me. I'm finding I can slow down a bit now. So this will very much be a newsy entry.

WORK:
Last week was our big radio-thon for the non-profit Crisis Pregnancy Center and Hannah House Maternity Home. Twelve hours of live radio, in the middle of which my cat gets sick and has to be taken to the vet (praise be to God, she's healed up nicely). And of course I had been in super-woman mode planning for the day for two solid weeks.

Today was "Joey Day." Nothing to do with baby kangaroos. I have a new co-host named Joey and his on-air debut was today, so we've been training this week. I'm so exicted about this new chapter.

HOME:
My brother David and I now know where we will live this summer. I had been praying for the solid "This is the ONE" feeling. So... there's this cute duplex with hardwood floors, fabulous color scheme, a yard, and WASHER/DRYER in a quiet neighborhood. We called the landlord back half an hour after seeing it.

CHURCH:
Overnighter for the girls in our kids' program this Friday night - and they've each invited all the girls in their class. After running around screaming "AAAHHAHH! WHAT WERE WE THINKING!" we got really excited about reaching all these little girls. But in other words, don't expect to hear from me again till next week. I'll be sleeping.

VBS is on the horizon. Fiesta! Catcus, sombreros and pinatas as far as the eye can see. I'm singing in my sleep, "Yooooooooh tengo un amigo que me ama!" [Though this does partially explain a dream I had this weekend about ball room dancing flaminco style in a big gymnasium.]


So. It is painful to get back into this habit. But I just had to bear my teeth, reach inside and make myself... SHARE... Just had to do it quick before I changed my mind.