Category: Thoughts

Ponderings, Raw, Thoughts

Quarantine Week #4

FanTC

Here in the great Midwest, we are entering week 4 of self-quarantine. I have been successfully working from home, but GW has been going in for the past 3 weeks due to his manufacturing/”essential” position. Today, he discovered one of his coworker’s daughters has tested positive for Covid-19. I’m highly disappointed it took risking all of the workers for the owners to finally shut down.

Highly disappointed.

The mother-in-law has been depending on us for groceries since she has a form of Lupis and the medication has compromised her immune system. Now it’s looking like we’ll have to reach out to her other son (who lives farther away) since my husband has potentially come in contact with the virus.

It is incredibly strange to be “fighting” something we cannot yet see. Moreover, no one within our realm of society has been infected or been symptomatic to know up close what it is that is attacking us. I’m sure you can relate to my sentiments – or you’ve been fighting on the front lines and have seen exactly what this virus can do. I pray God’s protection over you, wherever you are.

GW and I took the motorcycle out Sunday for some fresh air. It’s still chilly in Wisconsin. It barely broke 60 degrees that day, but it was good to get out and ride even for a short time. Although we ended up becoming stranded. Yep. The engine got flooded. We had stopped to admire the scenery – far away from society – and when we returned, the motorcycle wouldn’t start. GW is pretty handy when it comes to his bike, but after 30 minutes and no improvement, he was at a loss. YouTube’s most reasonable explanation was the engine was flooded, and they recommended waiting another 20-30 minutes.

“If we can just get it home,” he started to say, revving the engine for what seemed like the hundredth time, when all of a sudden, the engine caught and stayed running. We replaced our helmets in a flash and thanked Jesus for the tiny miracle.

I don’t pretend to know what’s going on in this world of ours, but I do thank God for tiny miracles.

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin

Raw, Thoughts

Thursdays Aren’t for Everyone

FanTC

It’s an interesting observation the reactions the general public has to Thursdays. Much of the time, they are elated. The work week is almost over, and the weekend is in sight. But there are Thursdays enough when people become tight,…moody,…and slightly unhinged.

It’s almost as if Monday swings around for a final pass at us and tips the pot for extra measure.

It’s a funny – funny being used here to mean odd, unsettling, even irritable – experience when one attempts to lighten the room with humor and cheer, only to be completely shunned by the occupants. Let’s be clear that I did not know these occupants, and they didn’t know me. But after dealing with a morning of woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed, I was determined to turn the afternoon around. Monday/Thursday determined otherwise and created a most awkward environment when the said occupants not only completely ignored my comments and lightheartedness, but then proceeded to stare at me as if I were an alien, and they couldn’t believe I had dared speak to them at all.

It was a very Monday/Thursday indeed, and I have nothing else to add, except to say “Thank God it’s over.”

This has been,

FanTC

Mind & Body, Thoughts

New Year

FanTC

What if you adopted a motto instead of making a resolution?

It doesn’t seem like there should be a distinction between the two words. They are both goals which yield results. But I find there is very much a difference, and I would like to present a few mottoes I have adopted.

2008 – I wish to become a positive person.

2016 – I am at peace with my circumstances.

2018-2019 – I do not need to defend my choices or my family.

2020 – (similar to last year) I do not need to justify my actions.

I don’t place much stock in resolutions due to the epic failure rate. Of course, statistics mean nothing to the individual, but I know myself. That’s s big clue…

I know myself.

I am more apt to work on a motto long term. I think about what I want to become and let it sit in my soul all year. I bring it out, review it, make adjustments, and set it back again. These are things which require more mindfulness than action, and they’re not necessarily bound to time.

Not to say one is greater than the other. I feel there is something in the approach which may benefit one person more than another. It really is up to you to know yourself and embrace your strengths.

I find more value in mental and emotional growth than physical and material.

What are you working on this year?

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin

Ponderings, Raw, Thoughts

What’s in a Number?

FanTC

I’m going to be 29 this year.

I’m not where I expected myself to be.

Truth be told, I should have had at least two kids by now. I should be conducting my own house by now. My husband and I shouldn’t still be squabbling over the dishes, because we should have figured it out by now. But I’m realizing, I’m not as old as I thought I would be by now…

When you’re a kid, 30 seems astronomically old. Everyone talks about this “internal biological clock,” and you start to feel fear over something you don’t yet understand. What I’m beginning to understand is this biological clock is really based more on how old you feel. I’m being perfectly serious. The doctors can’t dictate when you’re ready to be a mother or father. They base their entire system off averages and statistics, but statistics mean nothing to the individual. I personally know women (plural) who had perfectly healthy babies in their 40’s.

Maybe things didn’t happen the way you planned when you were twelve and dreaming up your life. So what? We are in the here and now.

And that is a miracle.

This has been,

FanTC

Raw, Thoughts

KUWTJ – It’s Okay. They’re Already Dead.

FanTC

“What’s on your mind?” Facebook asks nearly every time we get together. I refrain from responding, because Facebook should already know how much I utterly despise its presence. Still, it can be useful on occasion, so I tolerate it lingering about.

It’s a Wednesday in the Andersen household. Not much going on for a Wednesday. We went to Bdubs for their all- you- can- eat wings, only to discover our particular chain wasn’t supporting said advertisement. A crying shame. Post- dinner, we watched an episode of Firefly which is always so tragically bittersweet for me. Like having dinner with a friend one last time before they’re shipped away. Forever. Never to return.

Of course, there’s like 15 episodes, so dinner 15 times plus thematic theme music…

As I was saying, not much going on for a Wednesday night.

Tomorrow boasts too many chores and adult-y responsibilities, and I recall to mind my favorite verse: Don’t be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself. Sufficient is the day and it’s worries.

So we put away our planners and have dinner with friends intending to leave us. Today we will worry about today. Tomorrow we shall see.

“Keep us, O God, for the sea is so big and our ships are so little.”

Leave no stone unturned and never stop until you have arrived.

This has been,

Fan T. C.