Moment of the Day

Loyalty. First thing that pops up when I hear that word is a dog. Why? Because that’s what they are. Loyal.  They stay by your side, they love you unconditionally, even if you yell at them in a moment of frustration when they’ve chewed up your personal belongings and when you are sick or feeling down, they are thefor to comfort you.  At the beach while I was running I saw several dogs. One dog would walk ahead of his owner and then sit down and wait for him to catch up and another galloped into the ocean to fetch their ball. But all of these dogs stayed with their owner, listened and looked up to their owner. One dog even looked like his owner, the owner’s hair and the dog’s fur were the same shades of black and gray. All of these dogs that I have seen throughout the week represent loyalty. I only saw them for a moment of the day but it appeared that they adored their owners, and I turn we’re loyal to them.

Moment of the Day

My moment of the day is slightly different today. Usually it’s something I physically saw in front of me that stood out as something significant in some sort of way. Today it’s not something so physical. But more so a realization. One worthy of being significant and recognized, at least worthy to be recognized by me, as it pertains to myself. I was with a group of people I am not too familiar with, and I’ve met with this group a couple times now and everyone else knows each other, and have for years. Easily putting me as the outsider who has no idea what their inside jokes mean. Their not bad people, rude people or any of that sort. They seem nice. But that’s not exactly what I am focusing on. What stood out was the fact that they were able to speak openly and recall things that have happened in their lives in great detail. They were connected with the people around them, with their memories and their emotions. I on the other hand, sat there nervous for when I needed to speak, because I couldn’t recall such details about a certain time of my life. I have a few things that I remember, but other than that, it’s blurry. It’s almost as if I blacked out, or blocked out a good portion of my life experiences. I remember most of the rough times, but not a lot of the in between. I can’t describe a specific moment thoroughly and I certainly can’t tell you exactly what I felt at that moment, or even exactly how I feel today. That, I realized has set me apart from this group of people, I’m not connected.  And realizing this, has been significant because in this moment I’ve learned more about myself and what is at the root of some of the confusion I’ve had.

Moment of the Day

I haven’t done a moment of the day in a good amount of time. I haven’t forgotten, somethings have kept me crazy busy, work, organizing and the daily challenge posts. But here is today’s moment of the day: I was running outside in the ridiculously hot weather (because I’m insane, that’s the only reason I can give you for running outside when there’s an excessive heat warning) and as I was going down the street a red car headed in my direction stopped and a hand popped out of the passenger window, signaling for me to come here. Now, normally I wouldn’t listen to that and I’d run away fast because who knows who is trying to get me to come to them, but I had recognized them as a neighbor and that they were about to pull into their driveway right next to me. When I came up to the car the lady started to talk (I’m not as familiar with the wife as much as the husband because I always wave to him as I run by as he is always out washing his car or doing some kind of yard work). She asked me if I ever run in races that have you ask for pledges, since they see me out running nearly everyday. I told them that I don’t and she told me I should and if I do, to stop by their house. And  also that she is amazed at how much I run and that I am inspiring. I thought that was so sweet of her to say and to take the time out of her day to tell me. And the fact that she would have enough faith in me to make a pledge if I ran in such a race is sweet. Her kindness really made my day brighter and touched my heart.

Moment of the Day

Today’s moment of the day would be when I went to Wal-Mart to buy some more storage containers for my room. I was searching for a medium-sized container and this lady enters the aisle and picks up a couple containers, looks at me and says: 

I’ll be buying these the rest of my life, I buy five pairs of shoes a week and I have no where to store them. 

    in an annoyed tone of voice and then she walked away. Completely random, but perhaps at that time she needed someone to vent to about what was bothering her at the time. And even though she left before I could respond, maybe it helped to have someone to tell that to. Just like when I took my brother to the BMV to take his temps test and a lady sat down next to me and told me about how she wants to get a license so she can ride a three-wheeler, then told me all of the motorcycle accidents her friend had and that a third wheel should be safer. Even though she did invade my personal space (which I wasn’t so crazy about) by touching my leg, maybe she needed someone to talk to and maybe that made her feel better. Simple acts like listening can be helpful to others, I know I would appreciate it if someone would listen to me if I needed to be heard. Treat others how you would want to be treated. Cliche, but true. 

Moment of the Day

My memory for today is about a little girl in my a class I teach once a week, she is only two years old but has the sweetest heart. One of the boys in my class was upset because he missed his mom. He wasn’t crying or anything, just sad that they weren’t here yet to pick him up. This little girl, we’ll call her Leah, came up to him and tried to console him, and in her own way to him it was okay. She purposely went up to him to make sure he was okay and was genuinely concerned for him. She is always running up to the other kids when they are upset and will see if they are okay and rub their back and try to make them smile. A little two year old is ready to come to their rescue, something everyone can admire and look up to. She, I know, will grow up to be a great friend and mother who will put others well-being first, because it is in her nature to be nurturing. But it’s just great to see that even at that young age where many kids are in that phase of “mine, mine, mine,” while learning to share and get along with other kids their age, where they are adjusting to being around other kids who share the adults’ attention, can reach out to the boy’s needs and try to make their day a bit happier. A lesson to us all!

Moment of the Day

A few days ago I came home from a six day conference that I have staffed every summer for five years now. For four days they have a motivational speaker. One of them told us about how he logs a moment each day of just simple things that stand out and are significant in some way to him. He then encouraged everyone in the audience to do the same. And that is what I want to do, as often as I can I would like to log my very own moment.

My first moment was from just a couple hours ago. I was at the library finding children’s books to go along with a few lesson plans I am making and I heard a father and a daughter on the other side of the shelf discussing what books the daughter would like to check out. The little girl, probably no older than five years old pointed out all of the Curious George books that there were and wanted to get all of them, the father then told her she could pick out two. The girl did not agree with that at all and negotiated a third one and she excitedly pulled the books off the shelf, all excited about all the Curious George books she could bring home. I chose this moment because there is something about a little kid’s excitement about books that is just priceless and magnificent. At this moment in her life, books are full of adventure and mystery. They fuel the imagination and inspire creativity and inspiration. As I was standing there listening to this little girl gush over her books, all I could think was: I hope she loves books this much for the rest of her life. Unfortunately a lot of kids stray from books as they get older because they begin to associate reading with work and clump them together with school assignments that they dread. I am a book lover and know that books are much more than that and have given me hours and hours of enjoyment and can be a great source of knowledge and inspiration. I hope this girl realizes this and loves books as much as I do.