It has been a busy week.  Not so much of the body, but very much so of the brain.  I spent the week from Sunday afternoon onwards in classes learning more about my industry.  I won’t go into detail here, although if you’re just itching for lessons in finance, I can point you to a few resources.  It really was a great week, and my not-so-inner geek really loved the chance to take notes and study for an exam.  I know, get a life right?  I love this life!  While I have already confessed a tendency towards laziness in the body (although Zumba is quickly curing that), I can’t sit still in the brain.  I get a big charge out of learning something new, and the history of my web browser is full of rabbit trails of chasing off after research or one kind or another, so my class time was a happy challenge.

I learned a few non-banking lessons this week too.  One that pierced my heart was being caught, yet again, in my own impatience.  I’d love to say I didn’t have to relearn that sort of lesson, but maybe this time I at least caught it faster.  Tired from a long day of brain drain, I called in an order to a restaurant, planning to pick it up and make a beeline for my hotel room, comfy clothes, and quiet.  I pulled up to the designated spot for curbside delivery, and sat for a total of 10 minutes past the time my dinner was supposed to be ready.  I didn’t sit alone; there were cars ahead of and behind me, so I was thoroughly convinced it wasn’t going to be a smooth transaction.  Just then, the server burst out of the door, smiling and rushing to bring out the orders.  She was young and cute and bubbly and I couldn’t help smiling in return.  And then I noticed, as she headed back in to run my card, that she had a deformity in one of her arms so that it was bent and twisted back towards her waist.  This girl serves plates and trays of food for a living, a job I have never wanted to do, and she does it with a level of challenge I can’t imagine.  And she was doing it with a happy heart.  So I released my frustration and prayed that there wouldn’t be a next time.  That I would be consistent in remembering that my watch doesn’t rule the world.  That I would ever approach my own job with a thankful heart and a smile.

There were certainly smiles when I got home.  I am so thankful for the opportunities I had this week, but this is the longest I’ve been apart from my husband, and one of the other lessons I’ve learned is that when I’m not with him, I’m not me.  It’s not a radical personality change, but it is deeply felt in the heart.  As much as marriage has been dissected by books, researchers, and therapists, there is still a holy mystery at the center of it, where two truly do become one.  J and I aren’t joined at the hip; we have different interests and somewhat different schedules, but we are best friends, and we have learned how to create quality in the time we do spend together.  There are calls, texts, and emails, but when he’s working late hours at home and I’m crashing with mental exhaustion hours away, the absence of pillow talk is profound.  Therefore, I am so very happy to be back home in my nest, with J and the cats and my own bed and my family nearby.  I don’t ever take that for granted.  Plus, the house smells fantastic because J had put dinner in the crockpot this morning so it would be ready when I arrived.

So goodnight for now.  Hug the ones you love, and pray with me that we’ll have eyes open to see opportunities for His love to shine through us.