Moments of Unpredictability

Saturday was a day of usual madness as GramTuna, TeenTuna and I raced from place to place to place. Once I had five minutes to sit down and think, I realized that today my life wandered down a path full of unexpected gems.

Best Unexpected Quote: "Laughter is carbonated holiness" -- Anne Lamont
This quote appeared in an article written by Chicago Sun Times religion columnist Cathleen Falsani. But the article wasn't about religion, it was entitled "An Open Letter to Owen Wilson. And if that wasn't odd enough, I didn't discover it while trolling the Chicago Sun Times website (because I don't make a habit of trolling the Chicago Sun Times website). I found it over on rblog. Still in all, I thought it was a moving article and a wonderful quote. It's going in my arsenal.

Best Unexpected Yummy Discovery: I like maple syrup.
And I never really have before. On Saturday the Tuna Clan started their day by joining in a community-wide Pancake Breakfast as part of a week-long "eat local" challenge. Everything came from local farms: flour, eggs, sausage, applesauce, milk, apple cider, and maple syrup. I've never been a maple syrup fan, but after having some yesterday, I think my dislike must have come from not enjoying liquid sugar. This stuff was flavorful and yummy, without making me feel like I was going to lapse into a diabetic coma. If it's not loaded with chemicals and sweeteners, I may just be a convert.

Best Unexpected WOW Poem in my Inbox:: "When"

When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,
and when we escape like squirrels turning in the cages of our personality
and get into the forests again,
we shall shiver with cold and fright
but things will happen to us
so that we don’t know ourselves.

Cool, unlying life will rush in,
and passion will make our bodies taut with power,
we shall stamp our feet with new power
and old things will fall down,
We shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.
-D. H. Lawrence

Best Unexpected Gift: Flowers.
One stop on our Saturday insanity-go-round was to take TeenTuna for voice placement and uniform fitting for Children's Choir. As we were waiting for her to do her thing, I spent some time yakking with a fellow choir mom, and I filled her in on my last three weeks of unbelievable suck. Later that afternoon there was a knock on the door, and her daughter was there with a bouquet of flowers. "We were out shopping and my mom wanted to get these for you because she knew you were having a tough time." I was gobsmacked. There was a card with a short note reminding me that no matter what I had lost, I still had the things that matter most in life. TeenTuna saw me reading the note and said, "Don't start crying again!" Too late. It was the sweetest gift and the first good thing that's come from out of the blue in quite awhile.

Best Unexpected Saturday Night: Hanging at the dive bar
And not only were we hanging at the dive bar, we were listening to a High School garage band, Johnny Cut Corners. We happen to know some of these kids, and they were the opening band Saturday night. As the guitars were wailing and the younger crowd was whooping it up on the dance floor, I looked at all the adults that had come out to support these kids. It occurred to me that being there for each other was what life was all about, and we did it to a heavy metal riff, well that was OK too.

It was Saturday of usual madness, but by day's end, I realized my life wandered through a path full of unexpected gems. Although I was tired, I was happy that I chose to get up and and out, and thankful that I was able to see the gems along the way.