Seriously? Pure exhaustion. I am running on empty. Every part of my body is aching.

This week is my company’s annual meeting. The sheer size of this thing is like nothing I have ever worked on before and the immensity (is that a word?) of the meeting area is quite astounding. I feel like I have been back and forth across it 87 times today alone. We are actually using pedometers to track how many steps a day we’re doing. I just got mine but based on everyone else, it’s got to be at least 10,000 – 12,000.

It doesn’t help that I am wildly out of shape. This is a lot of physical activity for extended periods of time for one who does exceptionally little physical activity…any time.

I have a funny story to tell but it will have to wait until I have a bit more time.

TTFN

Appetizer
What is a word that you use that would not be considered common?

I actually use a lot of words that are uncommon…it’s part of my charm : )

Tomfoolery
Willy nilly
Indeed (somewhat common but not as commonly used as I use it)
Rammy
Ruchy

Soup
What theme of calendar do you have on your wall this year?

On the wall at home it is animal friends and at work it is the seasons

Salad
Name 3 people you speak with by telephone a regular basis.

Mom
Michelle
Kym (though not lately for some reason)
I’m really more of an email girl…

Main Course
If you could buy a new outfit for someone you know – who would it be and what would you purchase for them?

I would probably buy something for my mom. She doesn’t really like to shop and doesn’t really buy too much in terms of clothing for herself.

Dessert
What is the last beverage you drank?

Seagram’s ginger ale…

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY — by Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I’m feeling reflective today. I’m not sure why…maybe it is the loss of Jacob this week combined with all the other stressors I have been dealing with. I was going to simply post another Thursday Thirteen but couldn’t come up with anything even vaguely entertaining and the Frost poem above kept coming into my head.

The year I was in sixth grade, The Outsiders came out in the movies and the book by SE Hinton was THE book. All of my friends were obsessed with it. We all read it and cried our eyes out. I know for me, I felt a deep connection with the characters in the book – I could completely understand them. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend you do. On the surface, it is about conflict between the haves and the have nots. But really it’s about relationships and about the hard realities we face in life. In the angst and the drama, the main character, Ponyboy, shares the poem with his friend Johnny and they talk about how nothing gold can stay, life is always changing and things can’t stay the same, even when we want them to desperately. In a particularly poignant scene not long after, Johnny says to Ponyboy, “Stay gold”.

Today, this keeps coming in to my mind. I used to be able to recite this poem from memory and probably still could today. I remember my friends and I signing notes to each other, “Stay gold”. If there is any memorabilia in my mom’s house from that year, I’m certain I’ll find it written somewhere.

Back then, I think we truly thought we could “stay gold”. That things would stay as they were, we would always be friends, and life would be as it was then forever. But Frost was right. People pass away, friends move on, children get sick, jobs change…life changes.

And nothing gold can stay.

I am exhausted, I am stressed, I am sad. I really don’t know what to post or where to begin, so I am going to take the easy way out and do a meme. I found this one at http://www.musicalmemoirs.blogdrive.com.

Musical Firsts (How many can you remember)

First CD/Album Purchased: I think it was a 45 of “Beth” by KISS

First Concert: Def Leppard (I was 12; Stacy Queen’s dad took us at the Fairgrounds)

First Over 21 Show: Age of Exposure at the Ambler Cabaret

First Musical Obsession: Very first was Shawn Cassidy. Somewhere in the mix was a long obsession with Prince…

First Musical Crush: Shawn Cassidy

First Musical/Musical Movie: The first musical movie I saw was Mary Poppins when I was 5 (at the drive in)

First Stereo: Don’t think it even had a brand name

First Portable Device/Player: Cassette deck of some kind

First Musical Format Owned (i.e. LP, Cassette, 8 Track, CD) LP (45)

First 45/CD Single Purchased: Again, I think it was “Beth” by KISS but am not sure…

Tagging anyone interested in doing this one!

You may remember me mentioning Amazing Jacob, a little boy with cancer whom I list in my links. Jacob became an angel last night and is now finally healed and in the arms of our Father in heaven.

My heart breaks for his family. I have constantly been astounded by their faith and their full reliance on God throughout this – even though I too believe that God can do all things. I know that I and so many others around the world prayed in earnest for Jacob to be healed here on earth, knowing that it was God’s will – not ours – that would be the final say. As recently as Saturday, during a pray vigil time that was set for Jacob, I was praying for his healing on earth but also acknowledging God’s will in the situation – even if it would not be what we would want.

I know that God hears all of our prayers. It saddens me and breaks my heart that Jacob has left this world but I know that many people’s faith was strengthen through him and that some people came to faith through this amazing family. God’s timing is not our timing and his ways are not our ways. We may not understand it now but there is a reason for everything – even this.

Please pray for the Duckworth family – for Heather, Donnie, Devin, Brandon & Kyle, as well as their friends and extended family during this time.