Occupied

Occupied
To seize possession of and maintain control over by or as if by conquest.

Just a quick update... our one and only remainding vacancy for January has been filled. Final count is 26 out of 31 days full in the first month of the year. So far so good, but in this exact moment I am beginning to feel the drain.

"Happiness is possible only when one is busy. The body must toil, the mind must be occupied, and the heart must be satisfied. Those who do good as opportunity offers are sowing seed all the time, and they need not doubt the harvest."
- Anonymous

Vacancy

Vacancy
A position, office, or place of accommodation that is unfilled or unoccupied.

Extra! Extra! Read all about this... Top headline news friends! Here in our chipper and ever so busy apartment we still have ONE vacant night available. First come first serve! January is officially the busiest month of them all (and we thought September was full). Out of January's 31 days, we have had, and will have, guests for 25 of those 31 days!!! CRAZY!!! I am unable to fully grasp this phenomenon. Out of the 31 days, my roommate will have been here for only 20 of them and I have only skipped out on two Fridays. Sure does make the month fly by.

"Gloomy calm of idle vacancy."
- Samuel Johnson

Crowds

Crowds
A large number of persons gathered together.

I was a part of a crowd today. In the crowd I often feel invisible, but I have been the one on the stage, looking out onto the crowd, seeing those that feel invisible and realizing that much more is seen from different perspectives - never invisible.

I got to thinking about crowds. They usually gather together for a communal purpose, but I believe that so much more is going on beyond the obvious. I started thinking about some stories from the Bible which included crowds. The exiled that followed Moses, the hopeful that longed for a glimpse of Jesus as he passed by, those who stood close as he was crucified, the beginning congregations of the first Churches and so on. We have only had the privilege of hearing a few perspectives, often only one side of the story.

I firmly believe that incredible miracles happen within the crowds. We spend so much time looking at the stage that we probably miss out on the beauty right beside us.

"The crowd gives the leader new strength."
- Evenius

Frozen

Frozen
To become motionless or immobile, as from surprise or attentiveness.

Today a song came on at the grocery store that made me stop instantly. I was frozen.

About two months ago I had a fabulous dream. Whenever I have a dream with a "certain" friend in it, which has been rather rare, I immediately write it down when I wake up (if I remember it that is). I dreamt that I was at the grocery with three other fabulous ladies, including this "certain" friend, and we were just making our way to the checkout. Just at that time a song started to play, "Everybody Plays the Fool" by Marvin Gaye. Quite a random song, if I do say so myself. I really can't recall ever hearing that one in a grocery store. Anyways, two of us began to dance, right at the checkout, no care in the world for who was looking or what we looked like. I grabbed this "certain" friend and made her dance right along with us. She laughed and smiled just as she always had. All four of us somehow stumbled and ended up on the ground, at the checkout of SuperStore, laughing till our bellies ached with tears streaming down our cheeks - the great kind of laugh. Then I woke up.

Today, two months later, I was leaving the exact SuperStore where the dream took place, bags in hand and the sliding doors just opened when I heard "everybody plays the fool, there's no exception to the rule...". I froze. Just stood there as the doors closed and opened once again.

It is in these moments that I am so beautifully reminded of the world above our own. It's in these moments that I feel so wonderfully united with the angels. It was in this moment that I was SOOO tempted to dance, but smiled and continued on. I love these moments!

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day When the sun is out and the wind is still, You're one month on in the middle of May. But if you so much as dare to speak, A cloud comes over the sunlit arch, A wind comes off a frozen peak, And you're two months back in the middle of March. "
- Robert Lee Frost