Golden Girl
In my yoga class tonight, some words Mary (my yoga instructor) was saying really struck me. They are also some of the same words that stood out to me a few days ago in Vespers... Liquid gold. From the yoga perspective, we were to turn our faces and bodies to liquid gold as the attainment of perfect relaxation in our poses. In God's word, we are also challenged to become like liquid gold - tried by fire to attain union with God to the fullest extent. Each challenge, each proverbial mountain that comes before us on our journey through our lives is our hearts and our souls being prepared for God's love and fulfilling joy. For me, that challenge is my body and my health, constantly throwing wrenches in my plans (note - my plans, not God's). So, to be told tonight to turn my body into liquid gold had a deeper meaning - through my body and through my illnesses, I can become closer to God and each trial makes me a little bit more in tune to God's will for me and my body and pulls me further from the belief that I can make it on my own. By any means, this is not the first time I have come across this message for me. But each time I do hear it again, it is a good reminder that I am not in control and that is ok. :) We all have to work on that in our own little ways.
Knitting tidbits
So this is the long awaited first result of Laurie's spinning abilities. She took her first session of spinning class on Saturday, where this lovely little skein was created. She also claims that it is not finished yet - she will learn to ply it in the next class. I wonder if I should start counting down the days before we get a spinning wheel for home (I say this only because she said that she wished she could go home and practice more and of course not because I am thinking of her as a personal source of wonderful homespun yarn)! We'll see how practicing goes in the store - which reminds me that I should plug Tempe Yarn and Fiber, our little yarn store, for allowing students to use their wheels. I can't wait for her to take the next session of the class.
I thought I would post these new little stitch markers that I made last night at my mom's house before and a little bit during the rocking out to the Rock & Roll song (refer to previous post - my theme song... which by the way is sung by Eric Hutchinson), since there is no way to post stuff like this to Ravelry. I think they are lovely and I needed some more little stitch markers because I seem to be doing many more projects with smaller needles that I started out doing. I have a project coming up that uses size 11 needles and I'm sure it's going to feel like I'm knitting with telephone poles (side note - at SMoCA right now they have an exhibit on radical lace and subversive knitting where a guy actually knitted an american flag with needles the size of telephone poles and used multiple cranes to craft it, only men would do that sort of thing.).
If she wants to roll she rolls...
'Cause if she wants to rock she rocks
If she wants to roll she rolls
She can roll with the punches
Long as she feels like she's in control
If she wants to stay she stays
If she wants to go she goes
She doesn't care how she gets there
Long as she gets somewhere she knows
In other news, Laurie took her first spinning class and has a little tiny ball of her first homespun! Will post pictures tomorrow definitely on Ravelry but here as well. All is also well on the shawl front, it's getting big fast and I'm about half-way through as far as the repeats go but as it gets bigger it will go slower... (if you can follow that)
Lovely new yarn and a not-so-surprise birthday gift
A few days ago I got some lovely new yarn. This yarn was supposed to be for a surprise birthday gift for my best friend, care-giver, spiritual sister, Laurie. She deserves it! It's 50% baby alpaca and 50% tencel... 100% amazing yarn that is soooo soft and is knitting beautifully into the shawl pattern that I chose: shawl pattern. Unfortunately, she found out about the surprise, which was mostly my fault but I wouldn't have slipped if she hadn't been snooping around my ravelry page... (btw - if you are ever interested in my knitting further you can see me on ravelry - livelaughloveknit) Oh well, it would have been a hard secret to keep anyways and she loves the yarn and the pattern so I guess I did ok :)! I'm an even luckier girl, when the yarn came, it just happened to match a very dressy skirt that I have that I am making a sweater/wrap for to wear to the multiple weddings that are coming up and it matched perfectly! So I got to order more for myself and get to experience the loveliness of this yarn too! I am worried that it is too light of a weight for what the pattern calls for but the pattern is in the mail so I won't know for a little bit... We'll see.
Name calling
What do you say to your doctor as you are wheeling down the hallway of her office building and she comes out of her office to call you an Evil Brat? I'm not even talking quiet playful banter, I mean shout across everyone to tease you about how you just can't even go the normal month to our next appt, but in fact, a week and a half later, I just couldn't wait to see her. This little comment is not the first (and I truly hope that it is not the last) in line with other comments, like "if you want, I'll take you out back and shoot you" and other such silliness. The truth of the matter is that I have a hilarious relationship with the doctor that I work most closely with, my PCP. She's great - not only is she the most capable doctor I've ever seen (she's taken her own time to research my health issues), she's also the most sardonic. She gets as much fun as we do by freaking out nurses (like when my heart is going about 120+ and they can't count it because of the murmur and hastily give me a confused look and jot down 60) - oh the fun :)! I definitely believe that when you are dealing with multiple rare or complicated health issues (which fits me to a t) humor is one of the best ways of dealing. Even in the most anxious medical moments you should always have time for a smile.
The first post
I'm following in many people's footsteps in writing this blog and inspired by many other wonderful "chronicbabe" bloggers that have come before me. Why I did I choose the title of my blog? The reference is more that to that of Eleanor Roosevelt who said "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams", but it is also a reference to the fact that in the nearly 5 1/2 years that I became chronically ill and eventually determined permanently disabled, I have only twice dreamed that I was in the wheelchair. I can't explain it - in my dreams, I am a whole, beautiful, gifted girl and I am always thankful for those dreams that make me forget some of the reality of everyday. Now, I'm not saying that I don't think of myself as all of those things in my waking hours, but there is something magical about floating out of that wheelchair at night and living in a whole new world. I am also not saying that I don't think that God has really gifted me with the life that I have :). I am so loved by God and my little family that every little set back is just that - a minor obstacle to living the life that I love. I'm sure that there will be many posts about how much I love my best friend, how much I have found a home in my Benedictine Oblate group, how crazy my family is, and how my body is on a mission to become as overrun as possible with rare, chronic illnesses. But, I wanted to start with how precious the little things are to me right now and how wonderful life can be if you let go of all the crazy stuff and let God take care of it all... peaceful dreams to all of you...
