Ringing in 2012 and Thinking of Italy

Happy New Year to all!  And a belated Merry Christmas!  This past week has been a busy one, and I'm still cattywampus with my schedule.  I missed my blog on Tuesday because I was out of town, so I decided to do it today on New Years Eve. 

Here is an update: my grandpa is feeling much better and was sent home in the middle of last week.  That was quite a relief!  Thank you to everyone who had him (and us) in your thoughts and prayers.  It is greatly appreciated.

As the new year is quickly approaching, I am reflecting on the past year (and my whole life).  I know that I have touched in previous blogs about how I feel very blessed and lucky to be me.  I am grateful for my blessings, and believe it or not, I am also grateful for my hardships.  While I am experience something difficult, I try to remember that enduring hard times can be the greatest learning experiences.  It is not easy to remember this in the moment, but I hope to be able to do that more often in the future.

I am a person who likes New Years Resolutions.  I like to do ones that are attainable.  I learned some time ago to set up smaller goals so that when I reach them I will feel proud of myself.  To be completely honest, I can't even remember my resolution from this year.  I think my New Years Resolution for 2012 is to learn how to handle stress a little better.  I don't think I am a stressful person, but when stress comes my way, I sometimes feel overwhelmed.  Maybe I will join a Yoga class?  Maybe I will meditate?  Who knows? 

A few days ago, I was thinking about a trip I had in Italy with my husband in October 2010.  We were attending a wedding of my cousin who lives there and it was a trip and an experience of a LIFETIME!  I learned some Italian before we went, and I have many wonderful memories.  I was thinking of one in particular last week, and it always brings me a warm feeling.  I will share it with you now:

It was the second to our last night in Italy, and my husband and I were out to dinner with our relatives.  I have two cousins who speak English, and they were angels!  They were translating for us the whole time, and I did my best with the little Italian I knew.  After dinner was done, my cousins husband gave us a ride home.  He spoke Italian and knew just a little English, and with my little Italian, we were able to communicate just fine.  By that time, we had been around the Italian language so much that the language barrier for the ten minute ride to our hotel was not uncomfortable.  This was because we were treated so well and with such kindness.  On the ride, the greatest thing happened.  He and I were able to communicate!  My Italian had grown and it was a wonderful feeling.  At one point, he asked my husband a question, and they were waiting for me to translate.  Well, I didn't understand what he asked, and I laughed and said, "Come si dice 'I don't know?' in Italiano?" ("How do you say, 'I don't know?' in Italian?).  We all laughed.  I was sitting in the back seat, and my husband was sitting in the front.  My cousins husband had a big smile on his face, looked over at my husband, took his hand, lifted it up and squeezed it.  This was a special moment because we all knew that what he was saying to my husband was, "Hey man, it's all good."  In America, men don't touch each other besides a handshake or a very hard hug with a slap on the back.  A lot of times when I see this, I usually think to myslef, "Ouch!"  I saw in Italy that men aren't as hesitant to show affection.  I don't think I have ever seen an American man hold another man's hand in that way, yet it was still a masculine gesture of kindness.  When this moment happened, I found it so touching that tears came to my eyes.  It was such a quick moment, but also incredibly moving and memorable.  They say a picture says a thousand words.  This is a picture in my mind that says ten thousand words, and they all make me feel so happy.  I can't wait to go back someday.

Happy New Year!  Buon Anno!

Happy Saturday to you and yours...  Sabato Felice per voi e la vostra...

Ciao!

A Prayer for My Grandpa

My goodness... this has been quite a week.  Before I go on, I have to note how I have noticed that I have talked about personal stories in my life, but they are rarely current.  I feel a little awkward writing in a blog about something going on that is happening "in the now", but I feel like I have to talk about this.  My grandpa is in the hospital.  He has pneumonia and needs gallbladder surgery.  He was told he needed gallbladder surgery almost a month ago now, and he had to take so many tests to make sure he could get it.  The surgeon took a long time to schedule it.  Then a few days ago he had to go into the hospital because he has pneumonia.  My grandpa is not a frail old man.  Yes, he is 83 years old, but he is active and has a lot of things to live for and to continue to do.  I saw him in the hospital yesterday, and I am happy to report that mentally he is totally "with it", but it is so hard to see him in a hospital bed.

My grandpa and I have a different way of communicating with each other.  We show each other our love by giving each other a hard time.  For example, my mom and I walked into his hospital room, and other members of our family were there, and he looked at us and said, "Who are you?"  Now... I have to admit that for a fraction of a half a second, I thought, "Oh no..." but then I saw something in his eyes that said he was kidding.  I was the first one to pipe up with a grin and said, "Don't you pull that with me!"  And he laughed.  Then as I was leaving, his nurse (who was incredibly kind and funny) was in the room.  I said to her, "You make sure you give him a hard time because he likes it."  For as long as I can remember, my grandpa has always been hard of hearing, so I had to repeat that to him, just to make sure he heard it. 

During my visit with him he had to have an echocardiogram.  For just those moments, I was the only one in the room.  A little while into it, I got to see the sonogram of his heart which was fascinating.  A few moments later, there was sound, and it sounded like a dog lapping up water.  I looked at my grandpa's face, and his back was turned away from the technician and he was mimicking the sound by pretending to lap up water like a dog.  It literally cracked me up.  I didn't want to disturb the technician so I was actually silently busting up, but I could see that he saw me smiling, and I'm sure my face was beet red.

With all of this going on, it makes me sad that it's so close to Christmas.  I am trying to stay positive, so here are a some things I am thankful for:

1. My grandpa is in no pain and seems to be relatively comfortable.

2. He's not really into the "Christmas-thing", so I hope he will not feel incredibly sad if he's still in the hospital on Christmas.

3. I am happy to see and hear our family doing such a great job taking care of his and my grandma's needs.  I know I live far away, and I want them to know how much I appreciate them all.  My mom, uncles and aunts are all showing their love for my grandpa and my grandma.  If anything, now is the time to not only show appreciation for my grandparents, but for each other.

4. I am happy that I got to see my grandpa and grandma yesterday.  I realized it on my way home that I feel like it's my mission to make people smile and/or laugh when they are feeling sad or scared.  I was able to do that for both of them yesterday.

5. I am grateful for the flexibility of the people at my work.  I will be able to take off two extra days this week so that I will be available to be spend time with and help my family.

Although I feel scared right now, I feel comfort knowing that I have a good family.  Christmas is coming on Sunday, and I know I have been thinking a lot about the Savior (especially lately).  Jesus Christ set such a great example for us to live our lives: to be kind, loving, forgiving, understanding, compassionate... the list goes on.  My grandpa and my whole family have been in my prayers a lot this week.  If you feel so inclined, please remember us in yours.

Happy Tuesday to you and yours...

The Community Sing

Yes... the long awaited Community Sing was on Sunday evening, and it was great!  The women all wore red tops and black skirts, and the men wore black pants, white shirts and red ties (all the women and men from our church).  We looked very sharp.  It was our turn to go up and sing, and it was so much fun.  I am so glad that I stumbled into our choir over a month ago.  We got to hear and sing all sorts of traditional Christmas songs, and hear some new ones too.  It felt so good...  Everyone sounded fantastic.

Last week, we crossed off two more things off of the Christmas To-Do list!  We went to a Creche Exhibit, and got to see all sorts of different nativities from all over the world, and then following evening we went to see the Temple lights which is about an hour away.  My husband and I went with my father-in-law, and we had a great time all together.  

I would normally write more, but I have a load of things to do today, so I better get to them.

I am loving this time of year so much....

Happy Tuesday to you and yours...

Off to a Great Start

The holiday season is underway.  I am very excited to say that my home is all decorated for Christmas!  We got our tree on Saturday, and it is a pine tree.  It has real pine cones on it!  We had one last year, too, but this one is even better than last years.  I spent most of last week doing some much needed cleaning and organizing in my house, and I have to say that it feels fantastic.  What normally happens is that I will clean the house, have the dishes done, and laundry caught up, and it will take just one day for me to fall behind.  Then, it takes a long time for me to catch up.  Before I know it, I've got lots of dishes in my sink, my clothes wouldn't be folded or put away, and the mail piles up...  Believe me, I am not proud of this in the slightest, but this last week, I have kept everything in order, picked up, etc, and it feels great.  I love coming home to a home in order.  I hope to keep it up, and by writing it in my blog, it will help to continue to motivate me.  I have a feeling it will stick this time.

As I type, I've got my Christmas CD playing, and currently I am listening to "Do you hear what I hear?"  I enjoy a lot of Christmas songs, but I also like to be able to come back to them, too.  I will listen to them for awhile, turn it off, then come back to them when I want. 

This coming Sunday is the community sing that my Church choir is participating in.  I am looking forward to it and a little nervous.  On one of our practices last week, there weren't very many people who came; I was singing with two other ladies, and we had to learn and practice how to project our voices.  I noticed something, and man in the choir called us on it, too, and he said that he heard us doing great... we were projecting so well, but it seemed like when we heard ourselves, we got scared and pulled back.  Well, he hit the nail right on the head!  The two ladies and I all laughed because that was exactly it.  Although that was a little uncomfortable to be so vulnerable and singing so loudly, it was great advice, and everyone was very positive and encouraging.  I enjoy it so much.  I will be sad when our choir will take a break after Christmas.  Who knew that I would love it so much? 

I have to say that this season is going great so far.  I feel like I'm off to a great start.  I am looking forward to Christmas day because I will be having a family at my home, and I'm already planning the meal.  From my last blog, you can read about some of my Christmas To-Do things on my list, and I already have one down (getting and trimming a Christmas tree), and we plan on crossing off a couple more things this week.  I will write about them in my next blog.  I can't wait...

Happy Tuesday to you and yours...