Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 123

So, today was not quite as long and crazy as yesterday, but it had its moments, and I'm not caught up on the reverb 10 project.  Hopefully over the weekend!

In the meantime, here's today's daily 5:

1. waking up at mom and dad's after a mid-week sleepover due to last night's late night and today's early morning, much easier public transit access from their house
2. collecting some wrapping paper scraps from the toy shoppe at work for a project I'm working on
3. incredible joy and smiles on people's faces as they shop for their kids
4. having great joy at work, even amidst some really chaotic moments
5. House church Christmas dinner tonight
6. some really great conversations with friends
7. a steak sandwich (red meat was just what I needed as this crazy week has been sapping some energy!)
8. home decently early
9. a few good hugs from friends
10. feeling joy in the holiday season - not generally my favorite time of year at all, but this year I'm learning about anticipation and excitement, instead of painful, dragging, waiting through Advent, and it's a lovely change.

Reverb 10: Day 15 - 5 Minutes

Yesterday's (December 15th) Reverb 10 prompt:

December 15 – 5 Minutes

Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

(Author: Patti Digh)

Okay, I'm taking this literally, after pausing for a few minutes to reflect on what I'd want to include, and I'm setting a timer for five minutes.  These are the things I want to remember:

• that this was the year my life changed completely
• the year I lost my car
• saying goodbye to L when she moved countries
• the year I started seeing a couple different natural health practioners in an attempt to balance things out and really get physically healthy after several rough years
• the year Tim got married, and the chance to be part of his wedding party
• the day I lost my job.  I'd like to forget the negative emotions that are still left, but not that day.  There were some moments of grace in that, and it was a day that is ultimately a blessing in the midst of a very, very ugly disguise
• reading Robert Benson and thinking about being duckless
• being forced into praying, and realizing that God was calling me to enter nursing as a profession
• the crazy summer of studying (I never want to repeat this, and if I forget it, I just might!)
• California, palm trees, disneyland, and the friendship that took me there
• making choices to pursue healing
• discovering the wealth of supportive friends around me when the bottom of my world dropped out
• the funnier aspects (and not the awful ones) of the drama of life at grandmas
• finding reasons to laugh in the really dark moments
• lots and lots of tears, but lots of hugs too

And that's it.  Not a bad list for five minutes.  A whole lot of things to remember.

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 122

Today's Reverb 10 post will come sometime tomorrow or the next day.  Today I worked 9 hours, and then 5 more at a benefit concert, and I have to be back bright and early tomorrow and am opting for sleep instead of writing!

In the meantime, here's the brief version of today's daily 5:

1. Opening day at Toy Shoppe
2. The wonder of a huge donation of fabulous toys
3. helping to choose gifts for a baby to be born any day now (the mom was 5 days overdue, and shopping for her two older children as well as the baby)
4. Macdonalds for a fast supper
5. hugs from friends
6. The origin of "hi" - it's a contraction of hello, which is a contraction of the old English phrase "whole be thou" - such a lovely blessing to wish someone as you greet them.