my wonderful whirlwind

ok, so these aren’t all days right before christmas, but it’s been a CRAZY two months…a whirlwind in fact! everything has just flashed by so fast, and this seemed to be the easiest (or cheesiest) way to count everything off….so indulge me, if you will...sorry for the length...

On the first day of Christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a night with the orchestra for free...just to give you some perspective, my idea of fun as a kid was to try classics from bach, handel, and rachmaninoff on the piano, listen to peter and the wolf to see if i could pick out all of the different instruments, and take a trip to jones hall to watch the houston symphony perform. i adore classical music. i’ve always told marcus that if he wants to get me the perfect gift, all he has to do is show up with tickets to the symphony. so….when our friends told us that the st louis orchestra offers free mini concerts every few weeks, I was highly intrigued. and two weeks later, one such occasion arose. we met our friends at the noted powell hall and as we entered I was thrilled to discover a very small group of fellow music lovers sitting on the STAGE with the musicians. the chairs were set up in an arch around one string quartet and a percussionist. the violinist welcomed us, showed us a few slides about how he composes his own pieces of music, and then set about playing some of them. it was wonderfully intimate…almost like we were sitting in this person’s living room while he practiced some old favorites with his friends. sweet, beautiful music. i couldn’t believe that more people wouldn’t show up to something like this... something totally FREE that I gladly would have paid for. i was pondering this lack of attendees when the most unusual bird of a woman caught my attention. she was dressed in when could best be described as clothes that belonged in goodwill. her hair was a fluffy mess, her pinkish red lipstick slightly smeared. Her eyes were squeezed shut, head cocked to the side. but it was her arms that drew the most attention…..they were floating all throughout the air in front of her in time with the music. was she dancing? directing? dreaming? i was mesmerized. surely she was homeless….snuck into a free concert to get warm and then got caught up in some bizarre world of her own. not only did this continue the entire night, but after each selection, she would stand and gracefully bow her head, motioning in a circular fashion with her hands until the clapping stopped. your guess is as good as mine, but there is a verse in the bible that talks about entertaining angels unaware. as the concert ended and we left the theater, i couldn’t help but think that this just might have been one of those nights.

on the second day of christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a trip to las vegas, nv...i have debated writing an entire blog alone for this particular event. however, it had the potential to consume more pages than alaska, so i will just give a brief run down....thursday night: long flight, hotel and dinner, catching up with old friends until all hours of the night. friday: planet hollywood breakfast buffet, 100mph craps lesson, full day of craps and black jack, marc's birthday dinner at craftsteak, hilarity and fun at the tropicana black jack and craps tables until all hours of the night. saturday: tech game in the sports lounge, walking to/through tons of casinos, cirque du soleil show, dinner, light canopy show on fremont street, walking around old vegas strip, black jack at home casino until all hours of the night. sunday: cashing in chips, checking out friends' bellagio suite, airport ride, dinner, winning $60 on nickel slots in airport, flight home. summary: total hours in vegas, 67. total hours sleeping, 15. total hours laughing, smiling, and having the time of my life, 52.

on the third day of christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a 5K in under thirty...we spent 9 weeks prepping for this thanksgiving day race. then we went to vegas. i was pretty sure that i had wiped out all of my "training" in just 3 short days. if you'll notice, i didn't put down any exercising in the last section. when we got back, i did a practice run monday night and was thinking i could maybe finish the real thing in at least forty minutes. so here comes the morning of, and it's freeeeeezing out. my blood was pumping though. as soon as we got to the starting line amidst a sea of people, i could feel the adrenaline surging up. then we were off and running! there were 7 from my family in the race, but not a single one of us stayed together. i think we all just knew to go at our own pace. the craziest part of the run is that you have no idea how far you've gone or how much more you have to go. i just told myself to keep running. so i did just that. i was surprised that i kept passing people...not because i was really going that fast, but i guess because i wasn't stopping. and i'll tell you, nothing motivates you to keep running like passing people up. after a while, i came around one bend and i saw the starting point. i was suddenly super excited. it didn't seem like i had been running that long, so i started sprinting. as i neared the starting point though, i realized that the starting point is not necessarily the ending point. great. i had just used up my reserves on the power sprint to a fake finish line. i pulled back and tried to slow my breathing. i just knew my whole family was going to be there waiting on me, but i could do this. when the real finish came into view just a minute later, i powered it out again. as i crossed under, i glanced up at the big clock and could hardly believe my eyes. 29:32. crazy. i found marcus and mike, sloshed down some gatorade, and revelled in my glory. i think i could have run it twice that day. makes you feel good to know that you've worked your way up to something and been successful. 2,500 people, 20 degree weather, and unlimited adrenaline don't hurt either :)

on the fourth day of christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, turkey dinner for an entire family...nothing thrills me more than cooking, except maybe cooking for other people. on this particular occasion, i was honored to cook for 13. being my first time to cook turkey, use my oven for more than one pan, host more than 3, and cook for more than 4, i have to say....i feel like it turned out quite nicely. and i enjoyed every second of it! having amazing women in the family to help clean up every last dirty dish was just an added bonus to the deliciously perfect day.

on the fifth day of christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a birthday at the symphony...marcus took me up on my suggestion and bought tickets to handel's messiah. i'll be honest....i wasn't sure what i would think about the singing part of it. i love the symphony for the instruments. the voices just seem to get in the way of their sweet music. however, on this night, the voices were like angels upon clouds. gorgeous. i never quite realized that the entire oratorio is the telling of christ's whole life. i suppose the name should have given it away, but it usually only comes up around christmas time, so i figured it was a baby jesus concert, and not the full telling from start to finish. i have to say that it was a true religious experience to sit there for the full two hours, basking in the sounds of the choir, the violins, the horns, the tenor....and the verses that tell the story are so perfectly chosen. bravo handel. i was so captured by the beauty of this night that i almost didn't notice the animated guest sitting just four rows behind us. yep. you guessed it. our flapping friend was back. this time dressed in a t-shirt, spaghetti-strapped green velvet dress, leg warmers, and tennis shoes. she must have come down from heaven particularly for this one night of peace on earth.

on the sixth day of christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a truly rewarding shopping spree...marc and i decided to adopt a family for christmas this year. it felt right. we sort of signed up blindly, but we were blessed with the family of a little girl who is actually in my class. when we saw that they have 5 children, we pulled up our bootstraps and headed to walmart. well....i headed to walmart. for 5 hours to be exact. i think i was blissfully unaware of the time passing that night. having a connection to the family, it felt very personal and i wanted to make their christmas morning special. so i took my job very seriously. and i went to town. luckily, a generous woman from marcus' work offered to pitch in and also loaded us up with many gifts to pour onto the family. but the shopping was not the best part....delivering to their doorstep was the icing on the cake. never would you meet more grateful and humble people. and driving away, i was the one feeling thankful to have been able to participate in their holiday. what means so little to one person can mean so much to another. it very well may become a new garley christmas tradition.

on the seventh day of christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a lesson learned from being lazy...every year at school, i make my kids hot cocoa. they write about their "warmest" memory on this sweet little cocoa mug while sipping a tasty concoction of chocolate milk, chocolate chips, and fluffy marshmallows. i love doing it, but it requires me to lug my crock pot up to school, along with a sackful of above mentioned items. i also have to do a lot of clean up. crockpots are not made for pouring, so a ladle nicely drips cocoa everywhere. and i never can just stop teaching for 30 minutes to go wash the pot, so it sits there for hours while the chocolate chips meld to the inside of the dish. so you can imagine my excitement when i found a coffee urn in the teacher's lounge at my new school this year! just dump everything in. let it go to work. easy spigot for pouring. wonderful idea. i even decided to skip the chocolate chips to make clean up a breeze. i brought in the milk that morning. coffee pot on. milk in. off on my merry way of preparing the classroom for the day. two minutes later, my aide says "uh, it's smoking." i have managed to choose the one coffee urn that is ready to die. i rip the cord out of the wall, but have not done it in time to prevent the most terrible burnt hair smell from creeping down the entire span of our pod and length of the hallway. as my kids start skipping in for the day, they are stopped dead in their tracks, holding their noses and complaining. i ignore their groans, put the old (understatement) pot near the open door for ventilation, and spring to the kitchen for a newer model. i am hoping and praying that the milk has not absorbed the foul odor that the whole school can now smell. who was i kidding...it's milk. long story short, the "new" batch tasted exactly like it smelled. i still served it. i just told the kids it tasted a little like coffee, and if they didn't like it, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if they threw it away. one kid drank the entire cup. i think she was trying to look cool for liking "coffee." joke was on her. the rest didn't get past the marshmallows. who can blame them. here's hoping their third grade teacher next year won't be too lazy to carry and clean one crock pot.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my whirlwind brought to me, a plate full of treats so yummy...i was invited to my very first cookie exchange! i was in baker's heaven. and taster's heaven. winner of the night: ooey-goey butter cookies. probably the winner on calories too, but who's counting anyways?

ok...i'm going to leave it at that for now. the last four days of christmas are formulated and hanging in the balance, but i think my fingers will fall off if i try any more tonight.