dedication

April 27, 2022

Dedication

While talking with a friend the other day, she mentioned that she felt obligated to finish a complex project before putting in her notice at work. I understand her work ethic, but the project keeps getting delayed, which may prevent her from moving into the new job she accepted.

I asked her what would happen if the new company told her they needed her to start earlier, and it meant the project for her current employer had to be handed off to someone else. She said that she hadn’t considered that. She was under the impression that her future employer would be impressed with her loyalty to the work by finishing off the project.

I asked her why the project kept getting delayed, and she said that the boss or another manager would make “small changes,” which would result in a whole bunch of rework having to take place. Neither the boss nor the manager cared about all the extra work this caused.

And why should they, since they weren’t doing the extra work or having to stay and work overtime. But, of course, once my friend left, she wouldn’t be working overtime either. So she had to let go of the project to embrace a new future.

March 28, 2021

Sleeping Dogs

The four-footed one takes napping to a whole new level of art. She’s a serious napper. She naps in the sun. She under tables and chairs. She rests on the softest surfaces. She sleeps on mounds of her toys. She steals part of the pillow to curl up on and settle down.

The four-footed one puts a lot of people to shame with her napping skills. She takes rest very seriously and isn’t ashamed of that fact.j

Wake her up in the middle of a resting period, and you risk the full wrath of her. I know. You are thinking, ‘so what? She’s not that big.’ You are right. She isn’t that big. However, her dedication to the craft of napping makes her dangerous.

Her dedication, combined with her muscular build and teeth, make her far more ferocious than you might first think. Laugh all you will. I will not be the one to wake her from her slumber if it can be helped.

Some people are still learning how determined and dedicated she is to this art. Some people will wake her up for things like bubbles and ducks. Those people end up experiencing the wrath of the four-footed one. They also end up temporarily deaf from her high-pitched barks.

May 1, 2018

Something She Rolled In

My neighbor is a very industrious sort of soul. He is constantly taking care of his lawn, his garden and his house. I have never seen someone so dedicated to maintaining the appearance of his place to the point where grass near the sidewalk that was missed by the mower will be hand cut with scissors. It’s a sight to behold!

Today he was doing some major, deep raking of his lawn. Given how lush and green it looks, I was surprised that he had any dead in the grass at all. But there is was a small pile of dead grass. Calling to the four-footed one. Demanding that she roll in his nice pile that he hadn’t gotten around to picking up just quite yet.

So she rolled while I was talking with my neighbor’s wife. I had no clue what was happening until she started to giggle. At which point I glanced over and discovered that the four-footed one was now wearing a grass blanket upon her back. She was looking rather pleased with herself.

Naturally I offered to clean up the now spread out pile, but the wife assured me not to worry, it gave her husband something else to do. And he’s probably take a soft brush to the four-footed one’s coat as well to ensure she didn’t bring any of the grass in the house. And that’s exactly what happened, as well as an offer to take care of the trampled spots on my front lawn.

April 22, 2016

Dance of Success

When I was a little girl I was enrolled in ballet.  I have no clue what the real motivation was for my parents to think I belonged in ballet.  Maybe they thought it would be a way to teach me discipline.  Perhaps it was because at some point I liked to dance around or twirl on my toes.  I honestly do not know, it wasn’t something that we ever discussed.

I was simply enrolled in classes, provided with shoes and less than frilly outfits.  I learned how to stand and bend.  I learned positions and the barre.  I learned that my ballet teacher had once danced in a ballet troupe, but not a huge one so she had to settle for teaching to stay with her passion of ballet.

She told us that it was not a case of broken dreams or not being good enough, rather it was a story of success.  A way of holding onto her dream, keeping her passion alive and sharing it with others.  To her dance, and where she ended up, was a dream come true.

At that age, I had no clue what she was talking about.  When I was a teenager, she was once again my ballet teacher and she shared her story again.  I remember thinking that she wasn’t fooling anyone with saying she had a successful life.  She hadn’t become a ballerina with a major company.  She taught ballet to some girls who were gifted or talented, but primarily to girls who lacked any real skill or talent.

Looking back now, her true success was finding a way to keep her dream alive, make a living doing what she loved and being free and comfortable with her life.  She didn’t care if she wasn’t the star.  She cared that she had made her self the best she could be and knew talent when she saw it.

She recently got in touch with me via one of my friends who happened to be talented.  My friend put in the work and effort required to master those positions and dance.  I struggled with discipline.  You see I wanted to leap and twirl and do what I wanted to do and no that did not include practice.  Apparently I had left an impression upon her and so when my friend was back in town and visiting the studio she asked my friend who gave her my contact information.

When she asked me if I still danced, I explained that while I learned an appreciation for the grace that came from hard work, I personally did not dance.  I didn’t dance because I knew I wasn’t that good and because my health didn’t permit it.  She told me that inside everyone is a graceful dancer of sorts, even if only in our dark bedrooms when no one else can see us.   See?  Even know in her older years this lady is still successful at living life with dance and connecting me back to it.  Perhaps, if I grow up, I too may find a way to be successful in that same model, but with my passion.

 

January 5, 2014

Dropping Focus

The rain fell in big, fat, splattering drops, making large wet spots on the ground. Wet spots that rapidly spread until it was impossible to find any dry ground. It wasn’t pouring rain, instead the rain fell in a slow and steady pace. It felt a bit like a mild massage against my back, through the layers of waterproofing and clothing.

I’m sure I looked ridiculous to them, me all kitted up in heavy rain gear while they went in jeans and light, water-repellent coats. I just didn’t see any need to get any wetter than necessary; dry being far more appealing than the laughter was dissuading.

So there we were, the three of use standing on the edge of the woods marveling at the old ruins. Two of us were looking decidedly like drowned creatures while one of us, kitted in a bright yellow outfit was nice and dry. No one was complaining about the weather, the ground conditions or anything at all.

We were each there for a different reason: one for pictures, another to gather information for a paper and the last was there to quell a growing curiosity. All three of us were too compelled with our work to even be aware r the sight we might be making or even if anyone else was out there with us.

Often times in life we can become so engrossed in something that we lose track of our surroundings or even the passage of time. It is as though we become so caught up in whatever holds up attention that the rest of the world simply falls away. Of course we end up coming out of the place of focus, slightly confused as things aren’t as we think we remembered them to be and then we are back into our slightly out-of-focus life.

There are times I’d like to remain in that place of utter focus, that intense dedication to one thing and have nothing else matter. But I live and interact with others and they act as distractions, good distractions from at place of focus. For surely to always focus like that is not healthy.

By the way, the two absolutely soaked people with me, ended up asking where I got my rain gear a they will be better prepared next time. So who’s laughing now? 😉