Reflections

I'm thinking too much today...I think.  My mind is flooded with thoughts, expressions of happiness, and gratitude. Feelings of blessedness, joy, comfort, and ease. Excitement tangled with delirium wrapped in nonchalance. And yet I'm nervous as all hell, naturally, because I think too much. Always.

Reflections of Blessedness. It's interesting when you just sit and listen. I'm in my quiet office. Outside of my door is a bustling of people, to and from the copy machines and file cabinets, and making small talk with each other while they wait. Overheard, in pieces. "I need a vacation." "Why wasn't I better at finances?" "Christmas is small this year." I have been here 34 years, tomorrow." "I need to win the lotto." 

My sweet copier repairman pokes his head in my door, then enters with the usual repair ticket to sign.  "Just get back from vacation, Melissa?" 
"No, Tim, tanning booth." 
"Probably because you're getting ready to go away...it's that time of year for you again, isn't it?" 
I sheepishly nod. 
"Where to now?" 
"Mexico."
"Wow, Melissa. Always the high life. Merry Christmas if I don't see you."
"You too, Tim."
It's so strange to be my age, doing amazingly fortunate things, and being surrounded daily by people who have worked their whole lives and haven't done half that I have. I knew I was meant for greater things than just sitting behind a desk. I have always known that. I just didn't know what would get me there. I have always dreamt of being a motivational speaker, or have an accessible forum to exercise leadership, and help others believe in themselves. I have that now. So to sit quietly and just listen to others...it's fascinating. 


I overuse the phrase "I'm blessed." But I am. I SO am.


Reflections of Nervousness.Who am I kidding. I ALWAYS think too much. I'd probably have way more fun in general if I shutoff the rational (or often irrational) brainwaves that clog every healthy synapse above my neck.

I have always approached commitment with trepidation. All types. Relationships, making Friday night plans on Monday, friendships, you name it. I don't like anything set in stone, because really, life shifts. And changes. And you change. And adaptation can be difficult in a 'set in stone' environment. Or, I suppose, it depends on who you ask.

I don't like closed doors - I'll always sneak back and leave them cracked. 
I don't like rooms with one entrance or exit - There should always be a backdoor to the alley.
I don't like driving places with others, because I don't want to be stranded if I want to leave.
I do my own thing. Always have.
My whole life, I have had a Plan B or escape route tucked in my back pocket, just in case.
Death IS final no matter how I try to rationalize it, thus I fear it most of all. It's for certain the one thing, no matter what I do, I can't talk my way out of.


Reflections of Love.
Love I have. Above all else it's mine, so long as I cherish it, water it, and watch it grow.
Cue, "All We Need is Love."

mjg

The Truth About Santa

A few months back, the Tooth Fairy got busted. She left a note for Alice up on her computer, and Lucy figured the whole business out. The Tooth Fairy cursed her need to write notes in elaborate fonts and tried to come up with a cover story, but it didn’t fool Lucy.

To her credit, Lucy has kept the secret from her little sister, who still hasn’t lost a tooth and deserves to wake up with money under her pillow.

But the Tooth Fairy knew it couldn’t be too long before Santa was similarly unmasked. She didn’t know when or how, but she knew the days of magic in her house, at least magic of a certain sort, were coming to an end.

And the Tooth Fairy—by which I mean myself—was pretty darned sad about the inevitable, which finally arrived last week.

Lucy and I have been exchanging notes since the school year started. We’ve talked about all sorts of things—sports, books we’d like to read, adventures we’d like to have, even stories from when I was in third grade. For the most part, though, it’s been light, casual stuff. Until last week.

I NEED TO KNOW, she wrote, using capital letters for emphasis. ARE YOU SANTA? TELL ME THE TRUTH.

What do you do when your kid asks for the truth? You tell it, of course, doing your best to figure out a way that keeps at least some of the magic intact.

Here’s what I wrote:

---

Dear Lucy,
Thank you for your letter. You asked a very good question: “Are you Santa?”

I know you’ve wanted the answer to this question for a long time, and I’ve had to give it careful thought to know just what to say.

The answer is no. I am not Santa. There is no one Santa.

I am the person who fills your stockings with presents, though. I also choose and wrap the presents under the tree, the same way my mom did for me, and the same way her mom did for her. (And yes, Daddy helps, too.)

I imagine you will someday do this for your children, and I know you will love seeing them run down the stairs on Christmas morning. You will love seeing them sit under the tree, their small faces lit with Christmas lights.

This won’t make you Santa, though.

Santa is bigger than any person, and his work has gone on longer than any of us have lived. What he does is simple, but it is powerful. He teaches children how to have belief in something they can’t see or touch.

It’s a big job, and it’s an important one. Throughout your life, you will need this capacity to believe: in yourself, in your friends, in your talents and in your family. You’ll also need to believe in things you can’t measure or even hold in your hand. Here, I am talking about love, that great power that will light your life from the inside out, even during its darkest, coldest moments.

Santa is a teacher, and I have been his student, and now you know the secret of how he gets down all those chimneys on Christmas Eve: he has help from all the people whose hearts he’s filled with joy.
With full hearts, people like Daddy and me take our turns helping Santa do a job that would otherwise be impossible.

So, no. I am not Santa. Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness. I’m on his team, and now you are, too.

I love you and I always will.
Mama

I absolutely love this, and am posting here for safe-keeping...
I will need this one day, I'm certain. Big. Love.

mjg

Oh, the places you'll go...

It's SUITCASE SEASON for me. Traveling lots & that 'lots' part warms my heart. Here's the upcoming lineup:

Indianapolis, Indiana - My boys & Christmas on the Prairie

Ft. Myers, Florida - Early Christmas with the parents

Pittsburgh, PA - Heinz Field for Christmas Eve

Riviera Maya Dreams Resort for Christmas

Home for 72 hours then back again:  Adventura Spa Resort Riviera Maya

Toronto Spring Sprint & my birthday weekend
Road trip with my sweet Jari Spry from Montana!

Columbus, Ohio Spring Sprint
Road trip with Autie & the Detroit girls!

Chicago, Illinois Spring Sprint
Road trip with my sweet friend Ashley from Texas & I get to see my Leigh from Iowa!

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Scentsy 2012 Incentive Trip

Las Vegas, Nevada - Scentsy 2012 Convention

I better go do laundry and pack;) Anyone want to come along and be my photog? I have royally sucked at documenting my travels in the last 12 or so months. I vow: To make memories, take lots of pictures, and soak it all up with all that I have...the Project tells me I have no choice BUT to.

Life. Is. Good.

mjg

Be you, and be you well.

That's all I have to say about that;)

mjg

The Spirit of Christmas

This absolutely made my heart smile today. Thank you for the reminder to give back.

Secret Santa picks up 3 layaway bills

Kindness 'Restored faith in people'

Updated: Wednesday, 07 Dec 2011, 6:38 PM EST
Published : Tuesday, 06 Dec 2011, 9:40 PM EST

• By Dani Carlson

PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Christmas came early for three people in West Michigan when a stranger picked up the tab on some presents.

It happened Monday night at the Big Kmart on the 4000 block of Plainfield Avenue in Plainfield Township. A woman, described only as "being in her 30s," walked up to the layaway desk, pushing a shopping cart full of toys she planned to donate.  

"This lady came up randomly and said, 'Can I, you know, pay off some people's layaway?'" said Dannell Goddard. Goddard works at Kmart in the layaway department. She told 24 Hour News 8 that when she first heard the request, she was a bit confused.  

"I was like, 'Well, are you trying to pick them up? 'Cause you can't pick them up if you don't have an ID," Goddard said. "And [the mystery woman] replied, 'Nope, I just want to help people.'"

The woman looked through several of the about 800 layaway contract tickets at the store. She randomly picked and paid the bill on three of them. She paid about $500 between all three of them and left a $10 balance on each of the accounts.

The woman's only requirement was that there were toys in the layaway orders.  

"It was really crazy the way she did it. She was so excited and so happy to do it," said Goddard. "She had a great heart, and I told her that I felt like she had a great heart, and she said she doesn't want to take appreciation for it. She just felt that she was blessed and she wanted to bless others."

One of the recipients of that kindness was Mary Chapin. She told 24 Hour News 8 the act of kindness "restored her faith in people."  

Chapin had put about $200 worth of toys on layaway for her son, David, Monday afternoon. She said she hoped she'd be able to pay off the balance by the week before Christmas.  

Then she got a call from Kmart that changed all that.  

"They said that someone had paid $180 on my layaway and there was only $10 left," said Chapin. "I thought it was a joke."  

Chapin wanted to say thank you, but the only clue to the woman's identity was a message on her receipt that read, "Happy Holiday from a friend."  

"I thank her. It's the best gift that I ever received, and it's the gift of believing in people," said Chapin. "And believing that there's good out there, 'cause you don't always see that."  

The entire layaway order was for 12-year-old David who has autism. Chapin told 24 Hour News 8 she was so excited she gave her son one of those toys, a brand new LEGO set.    

Chapin has her own name for her family's Secret Santa. She calls the woman "an angel" for her family. She said that angel gave her family a far bigger gift than the toys themselves.  

"Even though we're all in the same boat, nobody's thinking about anyone else, it's every man for himself," said Chapin. To have somebody come along behind, and just do something that's totally unnecessary but so appreciated, it just really made a difference."
--
The day after the story aired on 24 Hour News 8, another secret Santa went to the Plainfield Kmart and offered to pay off 13 more layaway bills -- to the tune of about $2,000.
It was the largest layaway payoff in the history of the store.

mjg

Constantly playing catch-up

I'm feeling really good. I'm down ten pounds. I'm tanning some color back into this casperesque body of mine. My teeth are getting whiter. I've drank more water in the past week then I have in the past three months. I had ZERO beers in 7days. And my DC intake is now down to "on occasion."  To celebrate all of this, I shall crack a beer & blog! Okay. No beer. I'm on a winning streak.

November 30, 2011 was my group's biggest Scentsy month to date. It will also result in my biggest Scentsy payday since joining just 4 short years ago. On top of it all, my sister promoted to SuperStar Director after working überhard to accomplish this goal. I'm so proud of her, proud of my phenomenal Scentsy group, and blessed to have taken a $99 chance on a candle company no one had heard of back in 2008.

Sisters & SuperStar Directors

A fabulous Scentsy sista Casie Stevenson sent this to me. It has a bottle cap magnet for every big Scentsy event I have attended. I so badly want to start coloring in a map of the world based on places Scentsy has taken me.

Cruising into 2009 - Director Leadership Cruise, Mexican Baja
Shine in '09 - Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah
Dream it, Do it! - Director Leadership Retreat, Puerta Vallarta, Mexico
Cablecars to Coconuts - Hawaii Incentive Trip
Intensity 2010 - Convention, Denver, Colorado
Beantown Bash - Boston Incentive Trip
Director Boot Camp - Boise, Idaho
All Hands on Deck - Director Leadership Cruise, Bahamas
Spring Sprint - Detroit, Michigan
Magical Memories - Disney Incentive Trip
Stampede - Convention, Fort Worth, Texas
SuperStar Director Summit - Boise, Idaho

Onward. So month end happens and my house is so disheveled from the craziness that I cannot find a matching pair of slippers. No pair ever stays where I put them, thanks to my cats who carry them in their mouths and then hide them (for certain they were dogs in their past 8 lives...).  No shame. I'll sport two rights from two different pairs.

Then Thursday night rolls around and I am ready to be super productive. Until, I open my balcony door to go adjust the timer for the balcony lights (from daylight savings, mind you) and in flies a bird. For 45 minutes, Autumn and I ducked and weaved as a frantic bird flew around the living room. Confirmed. I have Ornithophobia. At least confirmed that I have a fear of birds when I have to freely share square footage with them. Want a good workout? Let a bird inside. You'll jump, dance, army crawl, & scream more than any aerobics class EVER. My pedometer tallied 5.1 miles Thursday night. I'm certain 4.3 of them were calculated during my bird escapade.

Hard to see. But he's in there.

Toldja.

Fun fact: No, I don't have a couch made by NASA, nor am I slob.
Laying tinfoil on the couch cushions when we aren't home keeps the dog off the couch.

Feather remnants. On the ceiling.

This ledge is where Mr. Bird had begun to take up residency.
I'll show you, Bird.

My friend Kelly, immediately after hearing my bird fiasco, shares with me her latest achievement. A family of rats was found living in her attic. She is averaging catching one a day.

You win Kelly. I will gladly take an indoor bird for 45 minutes over knowing rodents are running above my head as I sleep & having to set traps.

Being the Christmas movie fanatic that I am, I of course saw Arthur Christmas on Friday night. The movie was BAD. Don't go. And though it looks to appeal to children, half the time I couldn't understand what the characters were saying in their thick accents and vocabulary choice. On the other hand, going to the theater allowed me to stumble on this exciting little ditty. Titanic is coming back in 3D.

Saturday I had a successful Scentsy party, then Autumn and I headed downtown to the Detroit Urban Craft Fair to feed our Cellar Door Soap Obsession. I'm excited to report that I ordered 100 bars and Brandon will be scurrying in his Elf Shop to get my order fulfilled by Christmas. Check that off the list!

After the Craft Show, we had an AMAZING dinner at one of our favorite places: Texas de Brazil, a churrascaria in Campus Martius Downtown. My mouth is watering just typing about it. If you have never been and are a carnivore, put it on your bucket list. It is dining like none other. Passadores (meat waiters) come to your table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of meat, be it beef, pork, filet mignon, lamb, chicken, sausage, or any other sort of local cut of meat. The house meat is a beef top sirloin cap known as picanha, as seen below. YUM.

If your table card is flipped to green, that means "Keep the meat coming."
If you flip it over to red, they don't stop at your table.

After dinner, we walked around Campus Martius, so beautifully lit for the Holidays. I love Detroit. I love downtown. I doubly love downtown Detroit during Christmas.

Sunday we tackled mega-Christmas shopping in Birch Run. I am happy to report that half of my shopping is complete. This is a first. Remember, I am deadline driven, so Christmas Eve is typically my shopping day of choice. BUT not this year!

The house got cleaned. Shopping got started. Laundry got done. To-Do list for the week made. Meals planned for the week. And, I relaxed Sunday evening.

For the first time in a long time, I beat Monday out of the starting blocks.

mjg