The New Bed

Cal and I have become stars in our own info commercial.

We wear the glazed look of converts as we say things like "amazing", "incredible", "I never dreamed...," "isn't this wonderful?"

Yep, you've got it right. We have a new mattress. Not only do we have a new mattress, but it's one of those new fangled memory foam thingabobs. We haven't danced on the mattress balanced with a glass of Cal's latest homemade wine come - of - age. At least not yet. But we are inspired and who knows where that will lead.

Memory form is not for everyone. My sister-in-law Faith wonders what will happen when it loses its memory and turns into Alzhiemers foam. We'd heard many stories of people returning them to the manufacturers unable to get used to the sinking feeling of being trapped in foam. Cal and I tried them out in showrooms and noticed that turning over DID take extra effort as there is no spring in the mattress to help bounce you over. It kind of feels like fighting your way out of a snow drift. So we wondered if memory foam would be for us....

This is our first queen sized mattress. (What was good enough for our parents was good enough for us, right?) So now we can luxuriate in an extra foot or so of wiggle room. Not to mention that I bought a puffy pillow mattress cover and Egyptian cotton sheets that feel like silk....and a platform bed frame and new bedspread...and new window treatments... in honor of the new mattress. So our investment was substantial. We were rightfully nervous.

All is well. Two nights in our new bed have made believers of us. We are memory foam kind of people. Our money was well spent. Our dreams of support and comfort realized. We threw caution to the wind and gambled in the high stakes world of bedding and won.

Ah-h-h-h-h.

See you on late night cable.

The One Thing

I think one of the things I enjoyed most about being on the road last summer was that all of life seemed to be part of a whole. Everything was geared to "the Ride." Ronald Rolheiser writes about that kind of focus in his book "The Holy Longing." He writes that Mother Theresa's incredible focus on the "one thing" made her a very powerful and compelling woman. That's how saints are made.

Curly in "City Slickers" agrees. The secret to life is "one thing." That's why we write vision statements and goals. To try to keep us focused on the "one thing."

Modern life doesn't allow us the luxury of living for one thing. (Unless we live in a monastery and even then!) Multi tasking is prized. Opportunities are rampant. Needs are clammering. The temptation is to do everything - or nothing. To be frantic or overwhelmed. Or both. I recognize the condition. I recognize how fragmented I live. And I don't have an answer.

I started receiving spiritual direction again. It is good to gather all my fragments under God's umbrella again for mending and sorting and being made again into a whole. As Christ Followers, the Bible asks us to return to our first love. (That image doesn't work for me. I found first love to be very fragmenting! Maybe I'm getting too old to enjoy the thought!) But to return to the "one thing." Yes. I get that. I need to redirect my heart to the "One Thing." And I'm finding that it takes an act of Will and Choice. Prayer keeps me focused on the "One thing" and slowly all the other things find their place. Duty to myself, duties to others, duties to God all slowly take their place. Did I say slowly?

But Gosh, I fight that. There must be some fun in being fragmented. Being pulled apart. Or the deception of it - that we are needed. Wanted. Important. Free. Immediate.

Lent starts next week. I wish you all a season of returning to the "One Thing."

Love,
Mary

Routine

In response to my daughter, Rae...no pressure. I love you all. I just have to remember to write what's in my head apart from what you might like to hear.

I miss being on the road and writing about each day's adventure because my life is really quite routine....although, I did read a book about a guy who walked across Spain on a pilgrimage...that gets my blood flowing again!

Hope you all are having adventures today, wherever you are.

Love,
Mary

RSL

Good Morning, Everyone! I like to pretend no one is out there when I write, but since I know Cher and Gretchen are keeping tabs, I greet you all.

And I do mean GOOD Morning! I wish you all the goodness this morning can hold.

Last week I started taking meds for restless leg syndrome which I knew I had, but had no idea of how much it was effecting my sleep. I knew I was a restless sleeper (and reader. Cal teases me about how I flop from one side to the other every time I turn a page... KerTHUMP) but I didn't realize that I wasn't sleeping like I should. I often marked the hours in bed and sometimes I would try to guess how long ago it was that I had last looked at a clock. If it was more than two hours, I would figure that I must have slept or "passed the time in a semi-unconscious state" - my definition of sleep. I count it a good night if I remembered only waking two or three times.

About 8:00 at night, my legs would start moving. I would swing them, kick them, jump from chair to couch, wiggle my feet, stretch my legs and rub them. Antsy. People who have this syndrome try to describe the sensation in all kinds of ways - tugging, tightening, crawling... the legs want to move to alleviate the sensation.

I remember the all night plane ride to Europe was hell. Since I couldn't move in those tiny seats, I became claustrophobic and I had to breathe deep and talk myself out of panic. Movie theaters are another place that occasionally become torture. I remember "Titanic" was especially unbearable. I never did like that movie - probably because they could move (even through they were drowning) and I couldn't. Other places, too...sometimes at the computer, in church, in the car....Cal can tell. He turns to me with a knowing look. "Restless Legs?"

It's so nice to finally be able to sit and lay quietly in one place without needing to dance around.
And to SLEEP.

I will never be a morning person, but when I am awake now, I really am awake. There's lots to be said for that.

Not only can I say "Good Morning" and mean it, I can also say "Good Night."

Love,
Mary