Adjusting My Perspective in Fry's Parkinglot

We made a nice little trek down to Austin yesterday to go to the farmers market and celebrate the 3rd birthday of my cousin's twins. Great morning. I had a couple of days over the last few weeks where I was just in a funk. I missed the challenge of working (not the mess of working, just the fun, invigorating, challenging part), I felt pretty isolated and a bit lonely in our new surroundings, lacked a sense of purpose, and just needed to be more content.

I have a blessed life in so many ways, but I feel so grumbly when I get in a funk like that. I truly hate to feel that way. Yesterday, it took just a few seconds for me to refocus my thoughts and be more content. Just a few seconds for me to have more gratitude for the life I have.

We pulled into the Fry's Electronics parkinglot to kill some time before the party. Who can't leave Fry's without finding something? We got out of the car, and the sight before us stopped us in our tracks. It was a rundown, shabby, dented, worn little car. All windows were down and a chipper little dog smiled and greeted us from its perch inside. His sidekick, another tiny mutt of a dog, nuzzled his way up obviously straight from a nap. Cute little things, absolutely filthy car. With each twitch of my eye, the scene became more and more clear. On the dash: among so much other *stuff* was an open (for definitely a few days) can of dog food, partially eaten fast food, a broken hand mirror, rolled up socks, a dingy brush, and a stick of deoderant. The back held a mostly crushed box of cereal, some beat up boxes of what looked to be clothes, a dirty blanket balled up, and countless mounds of things that I couldn't really identify in such a short glance. On top of the mounds was an old, worn out doggy bed.

Someone lived in that little, super compact car.

So many things came to mind. How could I even think about feeling a little bit of discontent? Where is this person tonight? What choices did he make or what circumstances had to happen to ultimately get that person to live in his little car? Is there someone out there who cares about that person that doesn't even know about his homelessness? Why was he parked at Fry's?

Yes, Nick and I have worked hard for the life we have. But, we are so fortunate. So fortunate.

September 11, 2001: Something I Hadn't Really Thought About

When it was September 11, 2001, I was barely making sense of the world as an adult. In the years since then, there have been many events associated with the aftermath of 9/11. Sacrifice, adjustments, travel interruptions, close-calls with threats, and events that seemed to keep opening America’s wound again and again. I can only imagine the sacrifice of American families—from the heavy losses of that day to the sacrifices made by families of soldiers who have carried out the offensive and defensive missions ever since. Not to mention the loss, vulnerability, and lingering anger that we all probably feel.

I recently found out that one of my former students is a US Marine. I was proud of him before, and I’m incredibly proud of him now. He is now the age I was when he was in my class. I guess I knew this, but it hadn’t really occurred to me until now that many of the young soldiers defending our country NOW were just children when our country was attacked in 2001. Half or more of their lives have existed during these years of war. They WERE the children whose teachers, like me, had to tell them of the surprise attack that morning—and try to make sense of it so that they could grasp some sort of concept of what was happening. The young soldiers of today have gone from innocent children hearing that terrible news to courageous defenders of our country. During the years in between then and now, these children have grown up. They’ve studied, they’ve learned, they’ve trained, and they’ve become our bravest men and women.

When I told my school children about the attacks that day, I never really considered that at least one of those children would be a Marine that would continue that fight ten years later. I didn’t really know what to expect. There was so much uncertainty and fright, and I just had a sucker-punch feeling of our country being so violated. But, somewhere in that room, a young boy sat there whose destiny was directly linked with the military response to those attacks. I’m really humbled by that and humbled by his service to our country.