weekly gratitude

thank you semi-sturdy boots for keeping me from sliding to my death on the late-autumn frost this morning

This morning I woke up to a whitewashed world - no, not snow (yet) but a thick covering of frost shimmering across my front porch which sent me out into the day high-stepping like a dog wearing socks (you know what kind of walk I'm talking about - the "lift foot straight up, place foot straight down" walk that prevents you from planting your heel firmly onto what you thought was solid ground but was, in reality, an icy patch of death waiting to slick your feet right out from under you).

I actually made it almost all the way into church before biffing it on a mop of iced-over leaves, sending me gliding right big-toe first into the fire hydrant near the entrance.

Smooth Lairen, real smooth.

Don't think that setback had me forgetting what I'm thankful for this week though...

1. Thank you for John Mark being back teaching this morning at church! We have a few different guys at SR who sort of rotate through speaking each week and much as I know it's not good to play favorites, I do. John Mark, who has I think been speaking at the downtown location lately, was the first person I heard speak when I went to church with Jared for the first time and immediately I was like, "Yep, you've got my full attention!" The guy just has a way of talking to you, not at you. He presents the Bible in a way that takes a lot of the intimidation out of it; he just lays it out as it is and helps you understand it (often with humor, which I respond to). You know within an instant that he's a genuine human being and won't BS you on the gospel - he's honest, heartfelt and funny. Jared and I talked about how we just have an affinity for his style of teaching (as Jared put it, "It's nothing against the other guys, I'm just jonesing for some John Mark.") (he meant that of course in a totally non-creepy way). 

2. Thank you for the opportunity to work with Mark E. at the winery for the last year and a half! It only seemed appropriate to follow that up with the tale of another Mark (nice segue, huh?). Mark's been one of the heavy hitters at Erath and now the time has come for him to move on to a new challenge - tasting room manager at Panther Creek! It's a loss for us, that's for sure. I learned so much of what I know from Mark and have truly enjoyed working with him. His kindness, his humor, his intelligence - all of it made for a wonderful work environment. On the upside, Don's job just got a whole lot more awesome seeing as he's now going to be the only dude amongst the ladies (there are 8 women to just the one Don - best job in the valley, right?)!

3. Thank you for our weekend tradition of dinner at Red Hills Market! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this one before, but whereas it's usually just Jodi, Caitlyn and me noshing on the roast beef and/or bacon & egg sandwiches, Don joined us for a drink last night after work, too! And then once one gentleman left the table another joined when our buddy Bryce (one of the guys who works there who somehow manages to put up with our antics week after week) sat down for a quick bite on his break. The whole place is so cozy and conducive to friendship... How could I not be thankful?! It was also fun running into some of the cellar guys who invited us to a party at their place which meant we all got to see each other outside of work (I know, unheard of!) for once! Last night was just a fun night - enough said.

4. Thank you for a relaxing four days off! After my week-long stretches of work this summer, I am (momentarily) grateful for these consecutive days off. It's nice to come down off the marathon for a second. Of course after Thanksgiving, I'm going to be getting antsy and need some new projects to keep these idle hands from making movies with Devon Sawa and Seth Green. Hopefully that'll mean a combination of two things: getting myself together and starting an Etsy shop and infiltrating Jared's kitchen more often to make dinner for the boys (thus boosting my culinary ego which, let's face it, loves to hear the happy "yum-yum" sounds for hungry Indianians).

5 Thank you for Matthew 5 - again, pretty sure I've hit this one before, but I'm finding myself more and more thankful for it each week (it keeps popping up here because that's what we're focused on at church right now). I love it because it's not just a "Christian" thing that's being taught here - it's a human thing. It was so interesting to me today thinking about how when Jesus said to turn the other cheek when you enemy strikes you, He wasn't saying to just lay down and be attacked. He wasn't saying don't defend yourself. He was saying that when someone moves against you, you have the power to "fight back" with kindness... With LOVE. It catches people off-guard, it's makes them nervous. All of a sudden, your ability to be the bigger person and love them is making them nervous and shaming them for treating you badly in the first place. Pretty clever actually. I'm into it. I need to work on it because there's still this lingering anger just sort of simmering in me and I don't like it. It's not doing anyone any service, least of all me (least of all God, really). Not like in a "yay me!" sort of way, but I know I'm better than that; better than someone who lets anger dictate how life is lived. It's hard and it's incredibly frustrating, but I know I'm getting a better handle on this and learning how to move beyond the desire to be vindictive. It's taking time, but I'm grateful for the wherewithal to be conscious of this happening in my life.

There really is so much more I am thankful for but I admit that I'm losing steam when it comes to adequate expression of that. I think it's my body's way of saving the Thankful Juice (wow, that sounds gross) for Thursday's feast. 

So Thanksgiving is days away (that's days kids, not weeks - crikey!) and I'm getting myself all wound up for the monstrous meal The Camaraderie is about to descend upon. And then come Thursday around midnight (when Jared has already been at work for half an hour and Robin and I are bracing ourselves for the busy holiday weekend at our respective workplaces) I'll be the little girl with leftover turkey and cranberry sauce slathered across my face, swaying gently to the tune of Christmas music, sighing with the relief of "finally!" as Bing Crosby starts tap dancing with Danny Kaye.