Be Sweet Too

For the past two days I have been obsessed with Nie Nie. Between her blog and her sister's blog, I've been walking around in a daze with my "free-time-mind" completely hijacked by this story. Well, not only by the story, but by the life. The life that led up to the accident that was so simply exquisite, and the life that is, and that will be, now-after the accident. Definitely as gorgeous, maybe even moreso, but in different ways.

That's what is amazing about blogging - how it brings people together. You can really see and identify with people you may never have even met, much less bonded with, in your non-cyber life. There is always a community.

Technology is a blessing, certainly, in times like these.

Last night, after thinking about it all afternoon (it's a blessing and a vice of mine, I look too close. I think of these things too much. Sometimes praying about them helps me by making my life so much more precious in many ways that I have yet to mention, but it always affects me. In college I couldn't eat or sleep normally for days after I read a blurb about the murder of a child by other children. It was in Child Psychopathology class, and I was sucked in. I guess that's a drawback of having good "spatial ability", aka the ability to picture things. Believe me, I'm not bragging - what does being tested and saying that I have an above-average ability to, say, see the back of a chair in my mind do for me?...)

Back on the subject I go...

Nie Nie is a goddess of one of my soon-to-be new year's resolutions this year (drumroll...) to be more homemaker-ey next year. Yup, I want to have a house that's decorated for the season and often smells like cookies. Can't help it. When I was little my sister and I made homemade noodles with my mom, stringing them from broom handles across countertops. I remember the flour under my fingernails, and my baby brother crawling on the floor, trying to get at the deliciousness hanging just out of his chubby paws' reach (I may have pinched off copious amounts for him. That's what good sisters do, right? At least I have that going for me...)

The joy she took in the beautiful simplicity of everyday living has given me new vision. Last night I went to visit T and was so grateful just to have him, whole and healthy and loving me - these are the things we should be paying attention to, that makes life sweet.

The crisp air chilling my cheeks and blowing my hair as I walk outside,

The warmth of the boys' hallway heater as I walk by (yay for it being in the center of their apt!),

Chatting in the living room about recipes and work,

Painting my toenails in a hard-won empty hour just after the sun's set and while the oven's preheating,

Warm hugs from my love....

Sometimes (ok, usually) life is more complicated. Traffic, deadlines, Christmas shopping, travel plans, returning phone calls,

But can't it always be sweet too?