Going Back to My Office

Today I got to go into my office to collect some stuff. I did get some work stuff, though I was mostly interested in the crystals and toys I had left behind. My boss wanted us to take our computers home, but I will freely admit that I am a Luddite and would not be sure I could set it up correctly at home, and I can guarantee that the IT people don't do house calls. While I miss my mouse and dual monitors, at least my current setup works, so I am loathe to mess with it. It was very eerie going into my office building, because nobody was there, although there were a lot of random people wandering around on campus. The little sign on my door said I would be back at 7:45, just the way I had left it. So sad!

Then after work Travalon and I played tennis, and the neighbor I always walk with came home and offered to chase balls for us to get more steps. I think all three of us got quite a workout! It was so much fun. After dinner I prayed with a wooden rosary that looks very old, with corroded medals and crucifix, and I think it was well-loved, because it is missing some beads and looks like it was repaired. Maybe it's my imagination, but when I pray with these antique rosaries, as opposed to new rosaries I order off the internet, there is something very pleasurable about them, as if I can feel the prayers of their previous owners. If I had to guess, the previous owner of this rosary was a very unpretentious man. Only once did I encounter a rosary where there was actually a resistance when I prayed it, and I sensed that the previous owner was a young woman who was very angry about something. I prayed for the owner, and I prayed with the rosary again and felt like it was trying to tell me something: "Jesus always stands with the oppressed. Make sure you do too!" I continued to pray for the previous owner, then after a few weeks I prayed with that rosary again, and I felt such absolute joy and gratitude coming from the person who used to own it. It was like we were two little girls who joined hands and spun around together. That was amazing.

Speaking of gratitude, I was yesterday years old when I realized how lucky I am not to have been the favorite child. A relative of mine was, and since he always got everything he wanted growing up, now he can't understand why he can't get women, since they have free will. Once he wrote on social media about why he preferred to date women in their twenties over women in their thirties, which is kind of twisted because he's in his mid-forties. So he'd rather date a girl who could be his daughter than one who could only be his niece? Sure, some young women want much older men, but usually wealthy ones, and my relative has no money. You know the expression "Don't be a nickel out looking for a dime"? He's a penny out looking for a dollar bill. He actually wrote something on social media about how it was much more important for a woman to bring things to the table than for a man to do so. Sure, he can have this attitude, but then he will have no luck with women. I am so grateful that, as the non-favorite, I don't feel like the world owes me anything. Instead, I am incredibly grateful for everything I have. It's a much more joyful way to live.

Here is a picture of the Big Boy figurine (actually a bank) that Travalon got in Brodhead. Today when Travalon cooked the Big Boy cod recipe for dinner, the figurine looked on approvingly. 

And here again is the cloud Travalon said looked like the Big Boy character, so you can compare them.

This is the Texaco sign he got in Brodhead.

This is the Pete Alonzo bobble head we got when we went to the movie at the Duck Pond. He played for the Mallards and now plays for the Mets, where he hits with so much power that they call him the Polar Bear. He won all kinds of awards, like Rookie of the Year - an award first won by Jackie Robinson, by the way.

These are some flowers we saw when we took a walk on campus today. They are so purple that they just make me happy. They were outside of the Allen Centennial Gardens, but we couldn't go into the gardens, so we walked along the Lakeshore Path. I used to do that on my lunch break every workday.

Be grateful for the purple flowers, and the bobble heads, and the old rosaries in your life. You will be so much happier than if all you do is think about all the things you think you deserve but don't have.

Famous Hat