Morning

After my flight home yesterday, I went almost straight to the office for a half-day at work.

Once work ended, I made a quick stop at the grocery store, drove home, got partially unpacked, cooked some dinner, and took a nice, long, hot shower.

I ate dinner curled up in bed, watching a dvd.

The plan for the rest of the evening was to watch a dvd, and then eventually get around to some reading and journalling. It didn't happen.

I was asleep by 7:30 p.m. I got up once, around 8pm to use the bathroom, and proceeded to mostly sleep for about the next 11.5 hours. I think I probably still had a parentally imposed bedtime the last time I was asleep that early. More importantly than the much needed hours of sleep was the fact that the sleep was mostly dreamless. The dreams have been gaining in intensity again lately and were particularly strong at a few points over the weekend. It was nice to have truly deep rest for a lengthy period of time.

And now, it's morning, and I'm back at work, just getting ready to start the day.

After work comes the weekly shopping trip with my roommates. Oh, and we're going out for dinner (during which we'll do our meal planning for the week) because we don't actually have any food in the house to cook and feed all three of us. So, there's a good Italian restaurant that has cheap pasta nights (dozens of selections for either $6.95 or $7.95 a plate) on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. The plan is to do that as soon as we're home from work, then our groceries, and home again for an early night.

Heading home

It's 6:45 am, and I'm sitting in the Winnipeg airport as I'm writing. I caved in and paid for some internet time.

I rode to the airport with a dear friend, but her flight left three hours before mine, so I'm killing time, and waiting to be home.

Sleep has been fleeting (2 hours for me in the last 24 - I'm hoping to pass out for a couple hours on my flight home), but the weekend has been good.

Some new friends. Connection with some dear friends. A beautiful wedding. A concert.

But now, I'm tired, and I'm ready to head for home. My brother is picking me up at the airport, and I'm looking forward to seeing his face. He'll drive me home, where I'll hopefully have time to sleep for an hour or two, before I have to be back at work this afternoon.

I'm ready to be home for a bit.

Baptism, a rite of passage

Another great thought from Henri Nouwen...

Baptism, a Rite of Passage

Baptism is a rite of passage. The Jewish people passed through the Red Sea to the Promised Land in the great exodus. Jesus himself wanted to make this exodus by passing through suffering and death into the house of his heavenly Father. This was his baptism. He asked his disciples and now asks us us: "Can you ... be baptised with the baptism with which I shall be baptised?" (Mark 10:38). When the apostle Paul, therefore, speaks about our baptism, he calls it a baptism into Jesus' death (Romans 6:4).

To be baptised means to make the passage with the people of Israel and with Jesus from slavery to freedom and from death to new life. It is a commitment to a life in and through Jesus.

Tolerance

I read this article today.

It would seem, that in France, many muslims are sending their children to the catholic schools rather than the public ones. It seems that they find the catholic schools display far greater religious tolerance than the state run secular schools.

Interesting.

I am

Today I am...

• wearing a medal with St. Claire on a white gold chain around my neck
• wearing "sexy" new boots (can I say sexy in the sentence right after talking about wearing a saint medal??)
• glad it's "casual Friday" and wearing jeans
• getting super excited to see one of my absolute favorite people on the planet in less than 24 hours
• excited to have printed the boarding pass for my flight tomorrow morning, and finally, after quite a few trips by air this year, have a window seat
• sipping water, because I haven't made it to the staff room yet to make tea
• glad that I don't generally wander out to the kitchen in the mornings in my pj's. It seems my roommate's boyfriend flew in a day early to surprise her, and so the alternative sleeping arrangements we'd arranged for the weekend (he's staying with my parents) couldn't quite be put into effect, and he was sitting and chatting in the kitchen with my other two roommates when I emerged (fully dressed for the day)
• wearing a silver ring with a "blue lace agate" stone in it (that I bought a few weeks back at Lake Louise and really love)
• feeling some joy, some peace, lots of excitement, some fear, and some uncertainty
• wishing (just a little) that I wasn't one of those people who has bizarre dreams really often
• remembering the "Fountain Tire" commercial where the guy gets on the plane dressed for Hawaii, and realizes he's on the wrong plane "goin' to Winnipeg" (makes me laugh, since that's where I'm flying to tomorrow morning)
• going to fight with Best Buy about my ipod, and see if I can get them to replace it a week early, since they've provided absolutely terrible customer service, and it's now been seven weeks that it's been gone, and I'd really like to have an ipod for travelling this weekend.
• going to pick up some money my brother owes me, and a suitcase from my parent's house
• mostly smiling
• sporting really nicely done nails, thanks to a very girly evening last night watching the season premiere of grey's anatomy
• having a hard time getting warm
• really grateful for "George" and how much he's shortened my morning commute to work
• starting to get hungry, and thinking it's time to get on with some work that's sitting on my desk!

See you around!