When a gift just keeps on giving

So, you may already know that I had an anniversary recently. It was a biggie too. Twenty years! Who would'a thunk it, huh? It came on a Wednesday, a typical Wednesday where my husband went off to work in the wee hours of the morning, giving me a kiss goodbye before heading off in the dark. It was later when I got up to make breakfast for me and the boy when I discovered this:

Typical of our tradition, I did not open it. We always (always) wait until we're together to open gifts, cards and such. However . . . she said with a cunning little grin . . .  tradition did not prohibit my lifting and shaking the thing! But oh my gosh . . . what the heck did he buy me?! A case of bricks? A personalized stepping stone?

Ronnie lifted it too and between the two of us, we figured it weighed some ten to fifteen pounds.

Needless to say, I heaved it up and down a number of times throughout the day trying to guess what was in it. And only when hubby and I had gone out to a nice celebratory dinner and returned home, did I open it.

And it wasn't a brick at all but this:

What an awesome gift! Reminiscent of our ten year anniversary when we'd taken an Alaskan cruise, returning with stories and memories, a lot of great art work, a ton of pictures! And a case of canned Sockeye Salmon that had lasted many, many months.

I expect this case to do the same.

However, I did dig into it the other day.

It looked something like this:

And on my salad it looked just like this:

And it tasted a lot like this:

Yep . . .that's about it.

THANKS HONEY! I LOVE IT!

I want a "nothing box!"

So, I got to thinking about an interview I read a while back. It was about meditation and the interviewer asked the interviewee whether it was harder for women to meditate than it was for men. Her thinking here was from a historical background: how in meditation the goal is to let go of everything, to surrender one's mind and give ourselves over to nothing. Now, the interviewer was a big time feminist who argued that women have been made to surrender everything for thousands of years and now that they've begun climbing out of that mindset, it's harder for them to let themselves fall back into it.

I'm not sure I agree with the foundation of her argument but I have wondered the same thing myself from time to time. Especially sitting there on my cushion, wishing my monkey mind would stop all its chattering and settle down. However, MY curiosity stems from another line of thinking. Like this image of how a woman's brain supposedly works:

I don't claim to have a single CLUE as to how men's brains work in comparison (although I have asked myself that question a time or two). And then there's that comedian, Mark Gungor, who does a pretty good job describing the difference: 

A "nothing box" huh? I sure could use one of those sometimes. Especially sitting in meditation when all the balls are rolling off edges, pinging off walls and bouncing into each other. When all the wires are making countless connections and firing all at the same time. Or at 3:00 AM when my mind wakes me up to rehash some small little incident that seems larger than reality in the middle of the night. Boy would a nothing box come in handy then. 

I need a nothing box! 

My Queendom for a nothing box!

Four Gee!

My husband and I signed up to answer the phones for PBS last night during Rick Steves' airing. I told all my friends beforehand so they knew to watch for us - and to call in with a pledge if they felt so inclined.

For a while there, we didn’t think we’d make it to the studio across town. Nature had vent her fury on Houston earlier in the day and streets were flooded. Traffic was everywhere - heading to the rodeo, trying to get through high water or get around accidents . . . you name it. On top of all that, Obama was here and so there were street closures. A thirty minute drive turned into an hour and a half.

But I’m glad we stuck it out. It was such fun! My favorite caller was eighty three year old Thomas from Katy who talked to me for ten minutes about all the places he’d been and the things he recognized on Rick’s show. I missed out on getting my picture taken with Rick though. Seemed every time he was available, I was on a call.

Which was why I was there in the first place, right? 

During one of our breaks from taking calls, I checked my new “smart” phone (more about that later) and found a text waiting for me from my friend Barbara.

“Hey look . . . I got a picture of a picture!” I shared her text around the room and then my husband and I worked through its lineage.

See, Barbara had taken a picture of the picture that was on TV. So I was looking at a picture of the picture of the original picture. And now . . . if you’re looking at it--which I know you are because you’re here--well, you’re looking at its fourth generation!

The first ever 4G Picture!

Thanks Barbara! Ain’t technology great!