Just do it ...

"I don't want any pretense about how safe I am.  I'm not.  We have made an agreement which I can't enforce.  I want you to know I understand my position fully.  If you intend to keep your word, don't talk about it, just do it."  Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged

A long time ago in a country far far away, ... okay it was Greece and since time and distance are both relative, I'll just leave it at that.  A fellow named Solon is reputed to have bequeathed to us the bit of wisdom that says the best measure of happiness is whether one dies happy.  You may think you are happy now because you have health, wealth, fame, or whatever, but tomorrow you may wake up sick, broke, and ugly.  All your happiness is circumstantial and it could change at ay moment.

It's a rather depressing view of happiness that denies the fact that one may be happy in the moment regardless of how long that moment lasts.  But I like that illustration for the purpose of discussing promises.  How can I know whether you are trustworthy?  Whether you will keep your promise?  I don't.  

It seems to me that the best way to know whether someone is trustworthy is not whether they say they will do something, but in the end whether they've done it. 

I particularly dislike promises.  I don't like to give them because I'm aware that there are circumstances outside my control that might interfere with my intention to do what I've promised.  I don't like receiving promises for the same reason.  I don't assume that a person is untrustworthy, but I know that trusting someone based on their word alone is a risky business.  If you intend to be there for me, don't tell me so, do it. 

Just do it. 

A Day Off

It's coming, it's not here yet so lets not get all excited or anything, but I have a day off coming.  Not that I'm obsessed or anything, but when I got my schedule for next week and saw that I was ONLY scheduled for 5 days, I started wondering if that meant that they didn't like me anymore.  After I had a couple hours to sleep on that notion, I realized it was ... whacked.  So in conversation with my manager I mentioned it.  She rolled her eyes, put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Terri, NORMAL people take off two days per week as a matter of habit."

I had my evaluation this afternoon. 

I know that I'm "just a server" in a restaurant.  But I take some pride in the fact that I do the best job I can possibly do no matter what the job is, so I was looking forward to my evaluation as much to find out where I can improve as to see whether I'd get a raise.  Okay, I wasn't really all that impressed by the possibility of a raise since even a large percentage of nothing ... is still nothing ... but it's the principle of the thing. 

So according to my manager I'm about six months away from walking on water if I keep up the good work.  I feel pretty good about that.

I promised the photos from the Air Force Academy tour.  I wish that I had a different camera or a different lens or was shooting from further away or something because there is just no way to capture the impact of the architecture at the Air Force Academy chapel with my little Sony.  But I tried.

The Air Force Academy sits just north of Colorado Springs at the base of the Rampart Range.  The centerpiece of the campus is the Cadet Chapel which features three chapels under one roof.  The Chapel Structure was designed by Walter A Netsch, Jr of the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architectural firm, Chicago, IL which is the firm currently designing the "Freedom Tower" to be built on the World Trade Center site.  Contractor Robert E McKee, Inc of Santa Fe, New Mexico began construction on August 28, 1959 and the Chapel was completed in the Summer of 1963 (the same summer I was born ...)

The exterior of the chapel is in the shape of a phalanx of fighter jets.  The interior uses space and light to achieve a remarkable sense of transcendence.  The building's unique design features have stood the test of time and it was awarded the 25 year award by the American Institute of Architects in 1996. 

     One of the effects that is impossible to capture (though I felt compelled to try) is the way that the stained glass is arranged from dark at the back of the room to light at the front so that as you enter the space it is as though you are walking up into the sky visible through the specially treated glass that makes the wall behind the main altar area of the Protestant Chapel.

     Do you see the "Soaring Cross"?  One of the interesting effects is the way that the cross appears and disappears in the light according to the angle from which you view it. 

     In addition to the Protestant Chapel, there is a Catholic Chapel, a Jewish Chapel and two All Faith's meeting rooms which contain no religious accouterments or symbolism to make them acceptable to a variety of faith groups.

     Outside the Jewish Chapel this Holocaust Scroll is on beautiful display.  This over 200 year old Torah Scroll survived the destruction of the Nazi regime in Germany and was donated to the Cadet Chapel in honor and memory of those Jewish members of the American Air Force who have served and given their lives.

Tour of Colorado Springs

The day after my parents brought my kids home we did the tour of Colorado Springs.  The photos of Glen Eyrie are from that day and I have a few more.  Right next door and adjoining the Glen Eyrie estate is the Garden of the Gods. 

     This is my Aunt Pat and Uncle Carlon standing at the entrance.  They joined my parents on the vacation trip and after they arrived in Colorado my uncle mentioned that once they'd spent that night here it would mark the first time in their 40 year marriage they had spent more than three nights away from their home.  I haven't talked to them since they got back home to Arkansas, but since they travelled almost another week and a half after leaving here, I'm sure they have stories to tell.  I'd love to hear what it was like for them to do a real road trip.

     Tucker, Me, and Michael standing just below the "balanced" rock.  Yes, we climbed up there.  And NO that's not a trick of arrangement, Michael got that much taller than me this summer. 

My parents

I have a few more photos from the Air Force Academy, I'll post those next time. 

Queen of Glen Eyrie

     General William Jackson Palmer was the second youngest (beside George Custer) Brigadier General of the Civil War.  He began life in a quiet Quaker home in Pennsylvania where he developed values that he carried through to the end.  Although passionately opposed to war and violence, he was even more passionately opposed to slavery and so joined the battle and rose through the ranks.

     His first love though was railroading.  So after the war he laid aside the military career and went back to work building railroads. 

     (I just finished Atlas Shrugged and I can't help drawing comparisons between General Palmer and Nat Taggart ...)

     When General Palmer was scouting Colorado he discovered a valley just north of the Garden of the Gods and was enchanted.  He puchased 10,000 acres of land (at $1.25 per acre) which became not only the estate of his home, but also the original land base of Colorado Springs. 

     One of his business associates had a beautiful daughter who caught his eye.  As a child she had been nicknamed "Queen" by an Aunt.  Palmer said that fit as she was born to be Queen of his heart.  They married and he promised her a home suitable to a Queen. 

     Queen was a well-read well-educated woman and delighted her husband with her mind.  General Palmer gave her the task of naming the streets of the new citiy and she entered the game with a sense of herself, so we have the French "Bijou" and the Greek "Uintah" scattered into the mix of Cascades and Unions. 

     Their story has a sad note though, before the completion of their home, Queen suffered a mild heart attack and was advised that she would never survive the altitude.  She left Colorado with their children, first for the East Coast and eventually for England.  General Palmer commuted from Colorado to England spending as much time with his family as possible while contuning to build his railroad and his home.  Then when she was just about the age I am now, Queen suffered a second, this time fatal heart attack.  The grieving husband brought her remains back to Colorado for burial and brought his daughters home to the Castle she never saw. 

    General Palmer lived and "ruled" from Glen Eyrie as the much loved benefactor of the city.  He designed parks, endowed schools, personally purchased toys for every child in town every Christmas ...

     The home today is a conference center owned and operated by the Navigators.  Visitors are able to tour the grounds and enter the main level of the home.  A magnificient tea room has been the location of hundreds of fairy tale parties for little girls of all ages who sip tea and gaze out onto the rugged Colorado landscape.

    Wanna see?

Glen Eyrie was named by a Scottish contractor for the eagles' nests nearby.  Eagles still nest on the property.

My Dad looking out over the Castle's front lawn with the driveway from which that first photo was taken visible in the background.

On the night before the first day of school ...

We've had a busy day.  Errands and playing and walking OH MY.  I stopped by the school this morning to ask a question and discovered in the subsequent conversation that there is a "green path" through the neighborhood between our apartment and the school which doesn' cross any streets and includes tunnels beneath the ones that can't be avoided.  SO the boys and I went exploring this afternoon.

It took us 45 minutes and a half dozen wrong turns to figure out that the school is maybe 3.5 blocks from our apartment.  After we finally found it, we were able to walk home in a little less than fifteen minutes. 

Momi is a tired Momi.  Even though I cut back on my hours, I had a full work week and then a full week of parenting.  The boys have been on mostly excellent behavior since they've been home, and obviously missed me this summer as much as I missed them.  We are still having a lot of cuddle and snuggle time.  Tucker has slept in my bed a couple nights after I fell asleep in the big blue chair.  He thoughtfully covered me up with a blanket and then crawled in the middle of the king-sized bed.  The first time, I thought it was an accident.  But the second time, he picked Dr. Seuss' "Sleep Book" and did these fake yawns one after the other until I couldn't resist anymore. 

Tonight, I'm fooling him, we're gonna curl up on my bed to read so if I drift off, he's out of luck. 

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 we'll be walking to school.  I'm optimistic that this will be a good year.  The school personnel seem friendly and helpful.  I'm not overly impressed with the actual facility because it was one of those experimental schools without walls - cutting edge 25 years ago.  But there's a reason that newer schools have walls and doors.  Buildings like this tend to be very LOUD when they are full of kids and I'm concerned that putting tow little guys who have problems with being overstimulated in a building like this is not to their best advantage.  Still - it might work very well and I'm willing to withhold judgment until I see. 

Wish us luck ...

Two and a Half Months Later ...

My circumstances from last Spring have undergone a huge improvement.  I have babysitters!!!  Many many babysitters.  I was having a bit of a scramble because we are short staffed right now so I was scheduled to work this weekend.  I had a sitter for today but no one for tomorrow so I was trying hard to give away my shift at the restaurant.  I figured that someone would pick it up because traditionally Sunday is a day you can work longer hours and make a bit more money.  (People tip better on Saturday but they don't keep as many servers on so your chances of getting sent home early are far better and well, no one makes anything if they are sitting at home in front of the television . . .)  But, due to that short-staffed thing I mentioned above that got me scheduled to start with, all the other people who would ordinarily jump at the chance to pick it up, are also already scheduled.

So I was looking kind of desperate.  One of the hostesses asked me what the problem was and I explained it to her that I NEED to be off because I don't have anyone to watch my kids.  She said, "Oh, I wish I were a server because I'm off that day and I could pick up your shift ..."  Long story short - she's coming to watch the boys tomorrow and she'll even take them to church.  How cool is that!

Many many thanks to Michelle, Sarah and Jessica for helping me out. 

Didn't We Already ...

The Boys Are Back in Town ...