Never Been Done Before...

...okay, at least by me. Would you believe that until this last Thursday I was perhaps the only person in America who didn't react to the phrase, "I want my two dollars."? It's true. I had never seen Better off Dead!

I went to rent it on Thursday afternoon and the the two guys at the video store (is it still a video store since now they carry DVD's, not videos?) were so excited they could hardly stand it. They were quoting lines from the movie, saying that it was the best movie ever, and I half expected them to show up at my house to watch it. I will admit, other that a couple of weird, animated parts, the move made me laugh out loud and I've found myself the last few days smiling when remembering certain parts of the movie.

Another thing I'd never done until this week, was golf. I won't repeat details since it's mentioned in the post below. My 6 year old nephew didn't believe I'd actually done it. He actually said, "no way" when I showed him where I'd golfed. A friend had to verify that it actually happened before my nephew would believe me.

On Saturday, I hiked up to Doughnut Falls, another thing I'd never done before. The canyon was so beautiful and while the area was crowded, we had a good time throwing rocks, squashing ants, and walking through the mud. I even ran into my last mission companion on the trail. It was so good to see her and then to later chat on Facebook and do some catching up. It brought back lots of memories.

The last picture is not really a picture of something I've never done before. But my two year old nephew, Isaac, is so dang cute that I couldn't resist posting it. Friday evening three of my sisters and I set out to hike up to the "Y" or the "YU" as Isaac calls it.

These last few weeks, recovering from surgery, have not been what I'd expected. I wasn't prepared for the total exhaustion or the emotional reaction that I've had to this. I've spent a few weeks not really sure about things. It's amazing how therapeutic these last few days have been for me. Thanks, everyone!

Golfing

Last night I did something I'd never done before. I went golfing. I guess maybe I can't say that I went golfing. I just went to the driving range and shared a bucket of balls with a friend. Here are the things I learned:

• I am an impressive golfer (only somewhat more impressive than the four year old who was golfing just down from me).
  
• Hitting the ball with all of your strength doesn't make go further. In some cases (okay, a lot of cases) it doesn't make it go at all.
• It is actually possible to almost hit yourself in the face with a golf ball.
• The shorter you are, the shorter your club should be. Mine wasn't nearly short enough.
  
• Laughing at yourself is a good thing.
• Someone else laughing at you is also a good thing.
  

There were a couple of times when I thought I actually hit the ball pretty far. Then I happened to look over at the couple golfing next to us and saw how incredibly far he hit the ball.

If you look closely at the impressive action shot you will see a ball about three feet in front of me. Yes, I actually hit it there. And I hit it hard.

What Makes Me Smile...

Tonight I was reminded of an experience I had when I was 8 years old. I wrote a song for our school's reflection contest. The theme that year was "What Makes Me Smile".

Summer flowers, Spring trees, Humming birds and Bumblebees,

Autumn leaves, Falling snow, Summer breeze that softly blows,

Mother's kisses, Daddy's hugs, Babies laughter, Brother's love,

Mountains pretty, Skies so blue, These things make me smile. Don't they you?

All of those things that made me smile when I was 8, still make me smile today, but I forget, a lot, just how many things there are. This has been especially true the last few weeks.

Being sick when you're single is not fun, but recovering from surgery while living alone has been more difficult for me than I could have imagined. At times the loneliness was consuming and, I think, somewhat hindered my ability to heal. I've had sleepovers with the kids, family over for dinner, attended church, ran errands, and went to work all before I should have because I didn't want to be alone. These things did not speed up my recovery. But I couldn't sit in an empty house for one more second.

The fact is, I'm not alone. I'm surrounded by people who love and care about me. There are so many things in my life that make me smile. I am blessed in more ways than I can count.