Monday Thoughts

It's Monday morning, and I am sitting in my office, wearing two of the three extra "outer" layers that I wear for the train and bus commute to and from the office.  It's freezing in here.

It's always cold in the morning, because the thermostat for my office is in the office next door, and he turns the heat off overnight.  Monday mornings are the worst, because the heat has been off for a few days in a row.

I'd turn it on, but there is a meeting in that office, and I can't interrupt at the moment.  And anyway, one of the people in the meeting next door overheats at the drop of a hat.  He's the bane of my coworker's existence, since she shares a thermostat with him, and when she turns the heat on, instead of coming to her when he gets to warm, goes and complains to our boss.

So I'll wait for an opportune moment to slide next door and turn up the heat.  And in the meantime I'll wear several layers.  Would it look unprofessional for me to put my toque back on?  Because really, it's my head that's the coldest part of me, and we lose the most heat through our heads, so maybe if I put my toque on, I'd be warm?

I listened to the end of one sermon and the beginning of another on the bus and train this morning.  The second sermon had a portion that made me giggle aloud.  I was thankful that the giggling portion came while I was making the solitary hike across a mall parking lot, empty at that time of day, and not while I was still on the bus or train.

We're having Chinook weather again.  That means that it will be warm, but in the meantime the winds are high, and not so warm yet.

And somehow in my head, the time change over the weekend had seemed to me to mean that it would be daylight instead of dawn when I left the house to catch the bus this morning.  Boy did I miscalculate that one.  It was dark.  All the streetlights still on, having a hard time negotiating across the blackness of the basement to the stairs and door dark.  I know, I know, it'll be light later into the evening now.  But I live in a basement, where natural light doesn't penetrate, so I was kind of hoping for that earlier morning light, for the light during that long first hour of the day that I'm outside.  Because light can make even the coldest and most exhausted mornings seem somehow just a little bit cheerier.  Instead, the last few streetlights just clicked off outside my office window, nearly a full two hours after I left the house.

So, I'm going to wrap my hands around a mug of hot tea, and remember to be grateful.  For daylight that is coming, and spring that is hinting.  For God working in changes, even the ones I really don't like.  And for indoor heating, even when I can't get to the thermostat to make it useful.

Monday Morning

It's chilly outside today. The wind blew viciously all night, and it's cool and not supposed to get very warm at all today. Which means the skirt I unthinkingly put on this morning was probably a bad idea.

It's a new month, too.

And it'll be a busy one.

I spent hours yesterday, with dvds playing in the background, staring at the pages of my journal, and writing. Trying to process a week that included crazy dreams, unexpected meetings, roommate tensions, family stuff, and a number of milestones or rather emotional moments with God.

It perhaps helped a little.

Timing to me is always a funny monster. This morning I received an emailed prayer request from a family I have minimal contact with, but a family that appeared in a dream I had last week. The prayer request had nothing to do with the dream, but the timing of it made me pause.

And I smiled, just a little, when I came into work this morning and flipped the calendar over to the quote for the day. Not so much because of the quote, but because it was a quote from Clare of Assisi, whose life has also deeply impacted me in this crazy last year and a half. (The quote read, "Transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself through contemplation.")

There are so many things that must be done this week, and high on my priority list is arranging a place to live, and settling a moving date. I will be far less stressed and far more equipped to handle the coming month if those two things can be removed from my plate.

And, I've made fun plans for Saturday. I think I'll wait to share. But I'm going to indulge something I've been quietly thinking about for quite some time. Something I've thought about so quietly that both of my roommates commented that it seemed quick, and wondered if it was a thought through plan, or an impulse decision. Something that makes me smile at the ridiculous nature of it. And I've found a friend to come along and take photos!