Doctor Who: Be There

“Don’t blink. Don’t even blink! Blink and you die… Don’t turn your back—don’t look away—and DON’T BLINK! Good luck.”

                                                    -Doctor Who, Steven Moffat

        "Life moves pretty fast-. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it." In the episode, Doctor Who says this to Sally Sparrow as a warning against creatures that would kill her. The creatures can only move when they are not being looked at, so his words—Don’t blink—are dire and absolutely necessary for her to follow in order to save not only her and her friend, but also the Doctor and his friend as well. No pressure…

        But these words spoke to me on another level. “Don’t even blink! You blink and you die…” Or in the words of Ferris Bueller: "Life moves pretty fast-. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it." So now I look at my life and I think, “How did I get to be 26?!... When did Scarlett grow into such a beautiful, tender-hearted three year old?... And Liv is crawling??...” Don’t blink is right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8cPJJdOt2k

        This year has been rough for me and my girls (and my husband too—let’s not forget him.) With both my husband and myself in school full-time and us refusing to do outside childcare, we have been busy for sure. And sometimes it feels like school has been my whole life!

That’s when the guilt sets in. I know that I have had free time. I know that I have had times for my girls. But selfishly, this year, I have spent most of that time on myself, recuperating from my insane schedule. So Olivia is now 8 months old and I look at her and I feel like I missed her tiny baby time—you know, when all they do is sleep and snuggle? And now she’s roaming around the floor like she owns the place! And Scarlett has been so understanding! She rally misses all the time I used to spend with her—I know she does. But rarely have I even heard her request to “Play with me!!” She’s been such a trooper. But it really hasn’t been fair to them to have two parents that really can’t give them the attention they deserve. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying they’ve been neglected and that CPS should be called, but I am saying that I wish I had been more present mentally…emotionally…

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765575928/How-to-miss-a-childhood.html?pg=all

So, today, I am taking my life back! And I am going to be part of my children’s! This may seem convenient because I am done with school on Friday, but I am not waiting until Friday. I am starting today. I put my life on hold no more.  And I challenge anyone feeling the guilt of absentee-parent-ism to do the same.

And don’t miss a thing! Because suddenly you’re counting the candles on your birthday cake and there are twice as many as last year—I swear! And suddenly your baby’s outrunning you on the playground. And before you know it, it’s all over. So don’t blink—don’t even blink. Blink and you die. Don’t turn your back—don’t look away—and don’t blink.

An Orchid: The Essence of Womanhood

                                    -An Orchid, Georgia O’Keefe

       To some, a painting simply of a flower, zoomed in, so as not to show it in its entirety, but only a flower nonetheless. But this painting speaks to me of something much deeper. To me, the painting’s simplicity of subject makes it all the more intriguing.

Orchids are exotic. When someone says “flower” what typically springs to mind is a daisy or a pansy or the like—not an orchid. There is something mysterious and intoxicating about orchids—from their strange shape (they look a bit like a lion with an under-bite to me) to the vivid colors on their petals (violets and yellows and sapphire blues), to the graceful way they droop and hang on their stems (like an old man nodding off to sleep) . And orchids have a natural juxtaposition of the sharp points of their rostellum right next to the softness of their petals. It is curious how such an opposition can exact such temptation out of the viewer.

Yes, I would say that given all these alluring qualities, orchids know something of seduction—they show you just enough to pull you in, without giving too much away. They make themselves irresistible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXhyGANMvkw

But that is what we see from the outside. It is not until we look deeper—as O’Keefe has done here—that we really see what makes an orchid. And through her lens, we are able to see such complexity! There is much more to it than one might have supposed by only looking at it from the outside. There is an organic, natural beauty even within the parts that help the flower to survive. The functions they perform are beautiful—and that speaks to me as a woman: inside me are organs that are intrinsically different than there are inside of a man. And those organs perform a beautiful function—giving life! This painting describes to me the essence of womanhood. It’s an understated beauty that cannot be expressed in words, nor can it be understood fully with the logical mind. It can only be felt. For me this is the epitome of the real. It is so beautiful that I do not want to use my language to symbolize it. I want only to bask in its wonder.

“And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2: 16-19).