World Famous PB & J

Welcome to the first blog of the New Year. I find the New Year to have Catholic roots for such a secular holiday. A new year causes reflection and introspection. Where can I grow? What parts of my life are lacking? A new year causes a look toward the future. What goals can I set the get there? How do I want to spend my time this year? The attitudes and questions remind me of confession and the newness we welcome after going. But, I refrain from talking too much about New Year's experiences and attitudes. I find them to be important but redundant (if you wanna know my resolutions though just let me know). So here is a blog with perhaps my favorite ever introduction because of the significance of it to me and the way it will tie in at the end.

I should warn you I started writing this blog months ago, so "the other day" may be 3 months ago. But, I found the message to be better suited for the New Year. A mix of old and new should make a great blog eh? Well, let me know by the end.

There exists a thankless job in this world that I will never have the opportunity to participate in. It is a task typically paid, but these workers do it for free. It is a task often unwanted by the worker, but typically needed by the "employer." Of course, the task I'm talking about is babysitting your little sibiling. In hindsight, I realize the days of babysitting were not exactly chosen by my sisters. Under other circumstances, they might be in their room or with friends. Yet, despite the forced nature of our time together, Jordan and Kelsey gave me some of the best memories on these nights. I can remember getting every food out of our pantry with Jordan and trying outrageous combinations. I remember Kelsey and I playing pool in subpar Italian accents and her making an excuse everytime she missed an easy shot. And with every lunch made by Kelsey, I always got her "world famous PB & J." In reality, the sandwich was not different. Perhaps, she said this to mask the fact that I only ate PB & Js for lunch when she was around. Perhaps, she said this to inflate my view of her cooking ability. Perhaps and most likely, she said this to make me laugh.

TOP SECRET INGREDIENTS to Kelseys PB & J:

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Bread

You didn't think I'd reveal the secret did you? Here are the blog's ingredients:

An All Saints Homily:

Music Divine:

Proud to be a leader:

Prompted Vs. Unprompted Writing:

Warehouse Shopping:

Alice in Wonderland:

Walking in Saint John Paul's footsteps:

A big ole gateway:

6 foot 3inches 185lbs athletic build failure:

Milo time:

6 days 4 dogs:

1 Midnight Mass:

Way to Go Rog:

Codenames Kids Next-door:

An All Saints Homily: Shaelen and I have a habit of never going to the same church twice in a row. Nothing intentional, it just happens that way. For all saints day we went to this oddly shaped church on the edge of downtown indy. The people were very kind and the priest killed it with this homily. He had a dry matter of fact humor style. He admitted flaws or rather owned them. But he turned our focus to the Eucharist and saints in heaven. First of all, he showed through the Bible the diversity of people who will be saints at the end of time. Diversity in race, gender, personality, faith lives etc. He showed their will be saints as we think of them, saints of mothers and fathers who lead their children correctly, saints of people who just figured out how to love others. BUT the coolest part was he took halloween and created this parallel structure. He showed as kids we approach a door with a joy, say the magic words, and receive a gift of sweetness as we do with the Eucharist: approach with joy, say the magic word, and receive a gift containing all sweetness within it. Wowza.

Proud to be a leader:

A while ago we conducted interviews for new directors of the Purdue Student Union Board. While I can't discuss much of what happened out of respect for the privacy and decision making of the organization. I can say that two members from my committee took the chance at being a director and for this I am proud. They conducted themselves well as my members, asked meaningful questions, and now they get to have a bigger impact on a large organization. Even more, Joseph and Dev are just good guys. They are appreciative of others and genuinely care. Joseph finds ways to connect with all different types of people and make them laugh. Dev is as genuine as they come. He sent me a thank you text for my help in getting him to be a director almost as soon as he found out the news. I am excited to be handing off the responsibility to those two.

Prompted Vs. Unprompted Writing:

My mind often wanders to being an English teacher. I think it is an inevitable career path for me as it combines many of my passions. It is not my current direction because my favorite teachers often have had career experience beyond the classroom. One of my thoughts is the difference between prompted and unprompted writing. In my experience, prompted writing is the means to an end while unprompted writing is a lot harder, but has higher potential. I think prompts with the proper freedom intentions can be super beneficial to students, but in my education, they turned students off to the art form of writing because they were narrowed, analytical, and filling the paper with proper form/quotes instead of creativity and passion.

Warehouse Shopping:

Shaelen and I took a trip to this massive antique wearhouse in Indianapolis. This building is on the edge of town with the kind of fencing and auroa that would make you want to hold you kids hand extra tight. It LOOKS as if it could be rundown and vacant, but inside it is a beautiful array of randomness. About 1/2 way into our trip I decided I wanted my favorite collectible: a snowglobe. We looked all over but found NOTHING. I could find a cookbook called "diabetic delights" but not a snowglobe. Twas sad.

Alice in Wonderland:

Jack has Disney+ and him, Hannah, and I decided to watch Alice in Wonderland the other day. I gotta be honest. On the first go round I feel asleep 20 minutes in and slept for an hour. They eventually turned it off and Jack woke me up so I could actually go to bed. ON the second go round I should've been paying attention to homework and instead got distracted by the movie. The conclusion was pretty epic and showcased to themes: believe in the impossible on a regular basis and don't be someone else just to please.

Walking in Saint John Paul's footsteps: Over break I visited my grandpa with my parents and Shaelen in St. Louis. It was a blessing to be able to take her to one of my favorite places and share in our staple experiences. But, as she seems to do, she gave me a new and better experience. She guided me toward daily mass and together we found a Cathedral we wanted to go to. It ended up being the most beautiful church I ever stepped foot in. I'll do my best to describe the feeling, but first you have to know the entire church is covered in mosaic with these beautiful dome areas on the ceiling. These mosaics depict saints, stories in the Bible, etc. and the background is all gold. Now that doesn't do it justice, but it was immaculate. The words breathtaking don't quite describe it. The beauty of the church overwhelms you to the point you feel emptied out so that the beauty echoes in your soul. The church made me realize the importance of beautiful churches. It made me think how can I build a beautiful cathedral and glorify God with my life the way the architect did. It made me hope that I am just one tile, humble and not that awesome alone in its appearance but amazing when paired with others living for the glory of God. Oh, and not to mention that Saint John Paul the second walked in that same church.

A big ole gateway: Well now that you know I went to St. Louis with Shaelen. Of course, we visited the St. Louis arch. It is a drawn out tour with 10 minutes at the top during COVID, but an awesome and must do experience nonetheless. I think my takeaway from the arch is the ride up. It is in no way fun. It is creaky, cramped, and uncomfortable. It is no way a place you want to say. But isn't that a great metaphor for getting where you want to be, towards reaching new heights (630 feet to be precise). Comfort does not help you grow.

6 foot 3inches 185lbs athletic build failure: I was challenged by my awesome Godmother to do more with my time, talent, and treasure this advent season. While this had many fruits, I didn't feel like I adequately lived up to the challenge. A large part of this was because I wanted to write letters to a prisoner. I realized quickly that the most accessible free sites had turned into potential dating sites. With men stating their height, build, and type in women. I was deterred and did not end up pursuing this for the challenge.

Milo time: Time with my nephew is always a blessing. It's amazing to see Kelsey grow from babysitting me to babysitting her own kid. In all seriousness, I am quite proud of the way she has taken on the challenge of motherhood. She can bring out the smiles in Milo and is clearly his comfort spot for him. Milo himself has taught me so much about the humility of Christ. How incredibly reliant a baby is on their parent blows my mind that God would do the same. The only self-reliant being. Wow, made Christmas more special this year.

6 days 4 dogs: Recently I dog sat 4 dogs. I would not consider myself a dog lover but I am not a cat person or dog hater either. What I'm saying is 4 dogs is a lot of pooches for me. Two of the dogs slept with me and for more reason than 1 I lacked sleep during this week of dog sitting. I learned a couple of important facts about patience. 1 sleep helps patience. 2 Frustrations can breed targeted impatience. One day I was frustrated by the dogs getting all muddy in the yard after they woke me up way early. But, c'mon they are dogs. They are having fun and enjoying the outdoors. Me cleaning their feet is part of the job. It should not bring out frustration or impatience. So after reflection of that day I prayed I could use my time with the dogs to grow in the virtue of patience. I also became more appreciative that they just wanted attention and to be close to me. How could I be frustrated with them?

1 Midnight Mass: Christmas and Easter are the only times that I know of where midnight mass is available. This year for Christmas looked different. My family was worried about the packed nature that usually is Christmas mass with Milo coming in town. I had much more faith in the precautions the church took. Turns out, I had the pew to myself with no one near me at that midnight mass. While somewhat sad to be celebrating family and the birth of Christ alone, I am thankful for the experience. It reminded me that my holy family is eternal and always by my side. It also made me so thankful that my family typically all practices mass. On a different note, thank you to the Duray family for blessing the congregation with beautiful music.

Way to Go Rog: Rog pronounced raw-guh rhymes with log. It is what I jokingly called my uncle Roger during a game instead of Rog prounced raj rhymes with dodge. It made my family laugh and my Aunt Lori kept laughing repeatedly. Especially when I used it to highlight his in game struggles (I was scorekeeper).

Codenamed Kids Next-door: If you know what show this is, you watched the right shows on cartoon network. If you don't know, that's okay it has 0 importance to the actual point of this portion. My family has enjoyed playing codenames recently and it's highlighted something that is difficult. The game revolves around clue giving and then finding the words that match the clue. This has highlighted the difficulty to think like someone else even when trying your hardest. It's hard to understand their experiences, how words make them feel, how they hear and comprehend things. It makes me think empathy is partially like a muscle: we have to work at it to be better at it.

For my dedicated readers who made it this far thank you.

For those not religious, thank you even more because a lot of that was religious portions to read through.

While typically, I take all my ingredients and tie them into the meal here. However, this one is bulky so I am mainly going to tie it back to my introduction. Kelsey making a PB&J sandwich is perhaps one of the smallest acts of service. It's little in time, it took none of her treasures. Of course, it took an incredible amount of talent for it to be World Famous. Yet, Kelsey's example is who I think we should take after.

Kelsey took a small opportunity to serve and did it with incredible love. Mother Teresa comes to mind *paraphrase* that we can do no great things just small things with great love. Kelsey could have let me play video games on those nights together while she was in her room. She could've told me I am completely able to make my own lunch, something that could've helped me get past youngest child syndrome earlier in my life. Instead she made a lasting impact by doing something with the best attitude she could. Personally, I struggled with this last year. I let PSUB frustrate me at the beginning of the year and I shelled myself off from doing extra. But, a change in attitude and I helped more often even if I thought it was taking a ridiculous amount of time. My attitude change helped lift myself, the office, and my committee. Attitude checks are important and I think worthy of having an intentional check each month. But my point moreover, is to take small opportunities to serve with great love.

Last night I received a text from a treasured friend Jake Labus. We had just had a solid conversation and he texted me afterwards that he is grateful for me and I'm a blessing in his life. What a glorious showcase of gratitude. IF I HAD 1 CHALLENGE, for you my readers this year, it would be to give more unprompted thank you's. Yes, yes technically there is no such thing as a perfectly unprompted thank you, but we have so much to be grateful for and it should take thanksgiving for us to express it. Here is NOT what I mean by an unprompted thank-you.

1) Saying thank you after an gift/act of service/words of affirmation or support even if it isn't a normal thing to say thank you for.

2) Saying thank you for a second or third time for something you've already showed you are grateful for.

3) Making up for a thank you that you should have given a while ago.

4) Just scrolling through your contacts or people in your brain and shoot them a thank you text.

What I DO mean is to reflect on the blessings/goodness of your days or weeks or even last year and show a genuine appreciation for someone that did not hinge on something that "calls for" a thank-you typically. Just like Labus did last night. Nothing I did called for a thank-you but he just appreciated my presence, personality, perspective. It means so much more and feels so genuine.

Serve small with Big love. Give uncalled for gratitude. Perhaps then we can be a tile in a beautiful mosaic. Happy New Year!