Nancy Love’s Weblog

Good Morning.  What are you celebrating this fine Monday morning?  How was your weekend? Did you get a chance to get out of doors in the crisp Alberta air or whereever in the world you are? What do you enjoy doing on the weekends?  How is your family?  Did the baby cut her tooth yet?  Is your mother feeling better?  How was the drive to Saskatchewan?  Did your son win his game?  Did you enjoy the concert?

These are the kind of questions I would ask if you were here.  We could have this great conversation about how you spend your time and that would renew and refresh me for the week ahead.  I miss those kinds of conversations from the world of work.  I miss the connection with people on a daily basis.  I miss the kind of sharing that only really happens between coworkers.

The awesome thing about being in St Albert is that I occasionally run into people I had that kind of relationship with years ago.  It is still the same.  We step right back into the repartee of coworkers and I love that.

As a writer you spend alot of time alone and, although I have my fabulous book coach who works with me from her home in BC, I rarely talk to anyone on a regular basis about the weekend or about my work or theirs.  We email and send documents back and forth and we get lots done but I don’t TALK to people the way I did when I was in a school five days a week.

I wonder how many other people working from home miss the kind of connection you get from sharing a physical space with someone.  Some of those people become your friends and stay with you through out your life but even if they don’t when you see them there is a bond of experience that cannot be ignored.

Hug your coworker today.  You won’t have them forever. One day you will decide to do something else or they will and whether you enjoy their company or not you will miss them.  Appreciate the struggles and the triumphs and the comfort that comes with shared space and experience.

I have a Persian rug in my living room, the kind that takes two people two years to make.  I know that because on trips to Turkey we have visited carpet shops and seen the operation and a demonstration of how they are made.  It is tedious work for sure.  

When I look at my carpet now I see the little flaws in the pattern, the wiggles in the straight lines that tell me the story behind the carpet.  Of course I don’t really know the story but I can guess.  I think that there were days when the weavers were angry or anxious.  On those days the threads are woven tighter together.  Other days might have been more relaxed.  Days when things were going smoothly the tension on the threads was perfect too.  Some days attention was else where and a tiny piece of the pattern was missed.

The overall picture is perfect, whole, complete but on closer examination the carpet reveals human struggle and vulnerability.  That’s why I like it.  It reminds me that people are like that too.  On the outside they look good and they might be smiling but if you look closely you see the flaws in the pattern that make them unique and special. Those flaws are what gives them their signature, what distinquishes them from others.

I love the flaws in my carpet and I also love to see the human side of people when they also reveal a flaw or two, a variation from the perfect pattern or the perfect life.  Flawlessness is overrated. Change it up a bit.  See if anyone notices.  There is something liberating about the vulnerability it takes to show others where we might not be perfect.  We all have flaws, good days and bad days, days when our attention is elsewhere AND THAT’s OKAY.

I would like to thank my carpet weavers for sharing their life with me, for creating this carpet and telling me their story as they did. 

 It makes my carpet very special.

It seems strange to see snow today.  It is April and it is supposed to be spring but here we are wondering why the snow is falling again.  “It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter” as Paul McCartney might say … “It seems like years since its been here.”

I welcome snow in the winter.  It provides the base for a lot of wonderful outdoor activites.  Right now though, it is just interfering with the opportunities to get outside and do SPRING things.  It does not hold the same promise as it does earlier in the year.  The shoulder season as some refer to it, weakens the snow and ice cover we do have with warm sunny days and fools us with a fresh fall of snow to draw us to the moutains for spring skiing known best for icy, often treacherous conditions or to the lake to skate on thinning ice.

It is a dangerous time of year.  Ice covered sidewalks and roads, unpredictable conditions on a daily basis, below “normal” temperatures.  

Sir Paul adds “Here comes the sun.  Here comes the sun.  It’s alright.”  I hope he is right.

We are all waiting, Mother Nature, for renewal and recreation.  Bring on the rains and the green. Bring on the warm sunny days and the flowers that are already blooming in other parts of the world.  Have you fogotten us? Please let the evidence of a glorious spring day arrive soon.

From St Albert….

I have always said that it is important to fall in love every spring.  I still believe that even though this year it may not be true for me.  The spring brings out the best in us … the part we like to share with others.  It signals a new start for all of those living things that have been hibernating and hiding over the winter … including people.

Falling in love is different from loving.  Loving is important.  It helps us maintain our emotional health. It keeps us even and happy on the SHIFT scale.  We value our loving relationships with friends and family for sure.  Being in love or falling there is different.  We kind of loose control with this ache to be with and for someone outside of ourselves … someone who completes us or compliments us or provides us with that sense of significance just with a look.  It is always best when that someone is also feeling that way about you. When it is the same person as you fell in love with last year or for the past 60 years that is so special.

I have been watching schmaltzy romances about older people lately which is probably where this is coming from.  One in particular attracted my attention.  It’s a British TV show called “Last Tango in Halifax.”  Halifax, England of course not my Halifax, Nova Scotia but it was the name than caught my interest.  It’s a great story about high school sweethearts reunited.  I like possibility stories … especially in spring because it is the season of possibilities.

Here’s hoping you have a great spring filled with love and affection from those you love and those you are in love with again this year.

“Nothing really …”  is what you often get from people you haven’t seen for a while when you ask them what they have been up to….  Once they start to talk you realize of course that they have been up to LOTS of different things.  They have been dealing with family and friends and working at their careers.  They have spent many days changing their corner of the world but still answer with “Nothing really…” when you ask.

People are weird.  I have said that often.  I love that about people.  Even though they have been on the planet for a while, they still aren’t great communicators and definitely the ones I know are not into self promotion or refecting on their own impact.

HUMBLE.  That is what they are.  Great change happens in small steps and everyone I meet is involved in the great changes that are happening all around them.  Congratulations on making a difference in the world.  Take some credit when you can.  It boost your ego and your reputation as someone who cares and helps when they can.

Take good care today.

I am sure you are all familiar with the excitement and frustration associated with setting up a new computer. For me it is always a test of my patience and my translation skills. You need to be able to speak the language of the program you are working with if you hope to successfully bring the new computer to a place where you are comfortable working with it.

You have to be Gentle and Honest, especially when you are asking for help. You have to be Open to new ways to doing things and new language for old processes and more steps to achieve the same outcomes. You have to get past the advertising websites to the REAL ones, the Specific ones for downloads and you have to patiently wait for your changes to “populate” something or other so you can get to the next step. And you must keep Talking to get where you need to be and accomplish your mutual goals.( GHOST )

I love what computers do FOR us. I am not as fond of what they have done TO us. My head hurts when I am trying to figure out why a program won’t do what I am asking. I deauthorized two other computers so that I could authorize the new one on itunes. The message I get every time I try to authorize is that I have five authorized machine and I need to deauthorize one. I did that. My account says ” You have three authorized machines.” What am I missing? I really hate those logic loops that you can’t get out of or past.

And then the minute I get the new machine operational, my iPad freezes and needs to be restored. URRGGHHH.

Days like yesterday are frustrating but I like to balance that with remembering how difficult it used to be for the world to receive messages like this from me. Thank you for teaching me persistence and patience and peculiar ways to think about things. Thank you for teaching me a new language and making it possible for me to share my thoughts with others.

I do love my new computer. I am going to call her Constance. I know we will have a long and mutually beneficial relationship. I have friends with that name who are reliable and hard working and that is what I want from my new Constance. In return I will take good care not to over load or treat her in anyway that might lead to break down of any kind.

Cheers to Constance and a new lease on communication and conversation with the world.