Waaahhh?

[Stage Notes:: Watching TV, procrastinating the work that needs to be done]
[TV:: M.A.S.H.]

Today was a day quite unlike any other. It started off pretty miserable. I was tired and did not really have anything planned for the day other than doing what I did not finish on Friday. When I arrived at school things did not get much better. As it was, I had 4 sets of lesson plans, 2 tests, a reflection, and a few other things to get done by tomorrow. I was hoping to use some free periods to get started since I was far too tired last night to do it. While I was preparing for the first class, I was informed that I was substituting for the Religion teacher during one of my two free periods! Then I checked my e-mail and found out about 4 additional things I need to get done for tomorrow. You can imagine how my early classes went...

By the time lunch rolled around I was officially not having a good day. As I was walking back from eating my abbreviated lunch, I discovered that there was a student in my classroom working on an assignment that he hadn't done. From there it was on to the Religion class. When I went in, I assumed I would find a sub folder that would allow me to just give them some work and then they could use the rest of the class as study hall...I assumed....I was wrong. The folder had been relocated. Once I tracked it down, I discovered they had already done all of the work that was in the folder!! Naturally I was ecstatic. I had the kids start reading out of Ephesians and planned to have them summarize what they read and explain what Paul was writing. Then came to the startling conclusion they had no idea what they were reading. From that point on I launched into a 30 minute theology lesson on the start of nation of Israel and the Law. That ones that tuned in were riveted. It was very apparent that they had never heard most of these things before and they were astonished that some things were in the bible.

That was a kind of turning point in the day. My last class did not exactly go fantastic, but it did not go badly either. I was able to get some lesson planning done after class and even was asked to tutor a teacher who wants to go back for her Phd. I worked a little after class and then decided to come home. I talked with Elizabeth for a bit before leaving and then got in the car and started the path home. This is when things really got interesting.

I couldn't help noticing that the clouds were a little funny. There were several big white fluffy clouds and an almost equal number of weighty grey ones. Perhaps not all that strange to begin with, but there were also large patches of big blue sky. It was like the weather did not know what to do with itself so it was having a little of everything. By this time I had made it onto the freeway which was flooded with sunlight despite the odd assortment of cloud formations. Then out of the corner of my eyes I saw something that looked like the rays of sun that sometimes break their way throught the clouds. There were only two problems. First of all, they were rather grey in color against the bluish sky that was their background instead of a startling bright color. The second, and perhaps even stranger was that they appeared to be perfectly vertical...that is perfectly perpendicular to the ground. They did not angle their way back towards the sun.

Unfortunately I could not really tell if they were actually there or if they were a figment of my imagination. They were the sort of thing that you could not look directly at to see. Like a well camouflaged creature that you can only see when it moves. When looking straight at it, the colors just blended into the sky, but from the side, it was like looking closely at a pair of pants. At first you only see the color, then you see the threads that actually make the pants. This section of sky was the same way. There almost appeared to be hundreds of barely visible threads hanging in the sky. The thing is, I couldn't see where they started, and every time I tried to look closely, they would disappear altogether. Of course it didn't help that I was on the freeway.

I soon changed freeways and started to drive towards the gossamer threads that from my peripheral vision seemed to stretch clear to the sky. Now, up to this point, I started to have a hunch of what it could have been but at the same time I was not exactly sure it was possible. It would just be too darn cartoonish. It would be if it weren't exactly what it was. As I drove a little further, I saw the sure sign that it was exactly what I thought it was. I could see in the midst of the greyish, vertical, strands, the faintest rainbow. That's right, a rainbow!

I was watching rain fall the entire way from a grey cloud to the earth. It was unbelievable!!! I wish I could have pulled off an taken a picture, but my camera was at home. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Alive for the Moment

[Stage Notes:: Cool breeze drifting through the open window]
[iTunes:: Beneath the Surface | Souljahz]

When I was coming back from class half an hour ago, my neighbor noticed me and asked how I was doing. My response was that I am alive, for the moment. He followed up by asking what I meant by that so I explained the massive amount of work I have to do by tomorrow and hinted at the possibility of it killing me before the night is through.

We all have times like this in life when we feel like it is just One of those days. One of those days that you just might, completely hypothetically speaking, knock over both of your beverages in the cafeteria in a two minute time period...One of those Days. The days where we wish the mountain in front of us really was a mole hill, but we know the truth. The most frustrating part about these days is of course that everyone around you is inevitably having a fantastic day (or at least appear to be)

As I thought about all of this, I realized something that while it may not be particularly profound, definately hit me like a proverbial Ton of Bricks. I discovered that there is a huge difference between:

Alive, for the moment.
-and-
Alive for the moment.

Yes, I know there is a grammatical difference in that one has a comma and one does not. The realization is how dramatically the comma changes the meaning. Sound it out with me. The first one is Alive PAUSE for the moment. Very good. Now lets try the second one. Alive for the moment. Remember no comma = no pause.

Anyone else catching the difference yet? (Oh dear this is sounding to sound like I am teaching a lesson....)

Alive, for the moment, implies that soon I will not be. Alive for the moment, implies being alive for each and every moment, and that is exactly what I want to be. To feel alive in every moment and fully experience every moment. I loathe how often I miss out on moments because I am tired or just plain zoned out. From this moment on I am challenging myself to be Alive for the moment.

Are you willing to challenge yourself to do the same?

Well that's strange....

[Stage Notes:: Confuseled]
[iTunes:: Dead Wrong | The Fray]

At the moment, the Sheriff's department has blocked off both driveways into the work parking lot and are not letting anyone in...not even the shuttle that goes between the buildings. There are two sheriffs at one entrance, and three at the other. They are only letting people out of one entrance. Very peculiar.

** Update **
Apparently both of our buildings had been blocked off. The sheriffs just left, but we still do not know what that was all about. Here's to hoping that we find out soon...