rubix cubes and library books

donald is a very good gift giver. like, really good. i like to think i'm pretty decent myself, but honestly, he's a lot better. it is very rare for him to strike out. but even when he does, he does it well. which brings us to the tale of two christmases.

one summer, before we were married, i went on a mission trip to mexico. on this trip i learned how to solve a rubix cube. what can i say? i'm gifted. when i returned home i wanted to keep up with my new skill, but alas, i did not own a rubix cube. i went to the store to see about getting one but decided not to spend the money. which is exactly how 99% of my trips to the store end. donald, keenly observing my new found interest in the cube and aware of my penny pinching, started scheming. he thought to himself, if shelly would love one rubix cube, how much more will she love ALL THE RUBIX CUBES?!? so when christmas rolled around he excitedly presented me with my gift and i opened not one, not two, but three rubix cubes. the first was the original 3x3 cube. the second was the more challenging 4x4 cube. and the third was a rubix cube tissue box cover he had commissioned a coworker to make just for me.

it's at this point in the story when most female listeners swoon at his thoughtfulness. and i did. i swooned. but at the same time i was wondering what in the world i was going to do with all these cubes! since i can't hide my thoughts very well and donald can read me like a book, he knew something was up. we now know that while gifts is one of his top love languages, that one falls to the bottom of my list. 

i'm more of a quality time girl, so this christmas donald concocted a little adventure and combined two of my favorite things: scavenger hunts and the library. one afternoon he told me he needed to run a few errands and a little while later he called to tell me i should come find him at the library. so i hopped in the car and found him on a library couch with a basket and a book. he handed them over and said 'merry christmas'. inside that first book [snowball fight by jimmy fallon] was a clue, which led me to search the stacks for a book about another of my favorite things [corn]. there was a clue tucked in that one too and i zipped back and forth across the library as fast as i discreetly could collecting a big stack of books about all my favorite things. it was awesome and i was smiling so big that my cheeks started hurting.

ultimately we did part ways with the mega cube at a garage sale, but we still have the original rubix cube...and i think that kleenex box cover will now live with us forever as a priceless dyer family treasure.

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the day baseball shut down the city

let me first say that we are cardinals fans. first and foremost and forever. but as donald would say, the royals are our american league team. and that team has made life a little extra fun the past two seasons.

last year the royals ended a very lengthy stretch of being terrible by surprising everyone with a run all the way to game seven of the world series, and they did it with flair. so many games were won in extra innings and dramatic fashion. it was exciting, it was thrilling and it brought everyone together. people were smiling at each other in grocery stores and high five-ing in gas stations. the whole city was happy. it was a bummer not to win that year, but it didn't make it any less wonderful. and this year, they made it all the way.

the royals won the world series in new york city on a sunday night. the world series victory parade was scheduled for tuesday in kansas city. and i don't think anyone had any idea what was coming.

as cardinals fans, this really wasn't our party. but since we cheer for the royals too i was itching to get in on the excitement. pomp and circumstance has always been my favorite part of sports. early on parade eve i got word that the firm would granting a discretionary holiday on parade day. then donald's school cancelled classes. and the domino effect continued until most of the city had cancelled their tuesday plans in order to celebrate the boys in blue. while the news was covering the specifics of the free shuttles scheduled to take fans to the parade route, we naively made plans to drive down to the river market to park and walk a few blocks to the parade route the next morning.

the parade was scheduled to begin at noon and by 9am our plan was out the window. the highways were gridlocked and the downtown parking lots were already full. the free shuttles and city buses were overwhelmed. the whole city was trying to get downtown. getting anywhere near the parade route seemed hopeless and i was distressed. enter: donald the hero. he suggested we set out on an adventure and just see how far we could get. i'm so glad he did.

our game plan was to avoid the highways at all costs and see how close we could get using only side streets. we debated how many blocks we could realistically walk. [we suburbanites have no frame of reference for such things] we ended up finding free street parking a mere nine blocks from the north end of the parade route. we hoofed it over to davis park and found a lovely viewing spot in front of city hall.

we waved and cheered and got to be part of something way bigger than us. practically everyone in kansas city now has a parade story. some were relaxed and enjoyable like ours, while others were a bit more hectic. but we all made memories. all 800,000 of us. and it was a great day to be royal.

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our ordinary time

a long, long time ago i was telling a friend what i liked about donald and i distinctly remember that one of the things i mentioned was that he did his very favorite things almost every day. if i were to dream up the perfect day or the perfect week it would involve a lot of activities that you just can't realistically insert into everyday life. taking a trip. going to the beach. having a big party with all my far flung friends. dancing. camping. some of my ideas are more accessible than others, but overall most of my activities are pretty lofty. donald on the other hand would list more everyday activities in his perfect day. watching his favorite movies. eating pizza. playing cards. fantasy football. these are things he can [and does] do on a fairly regular basis. i've always admired that about him.

while i definitely still have lofty dreams of a 'perfect day' crammed with as many wonderful things as possible, i think i am getting better at enjoying the little things in the everyday. sometimes it's just a matter of remembering that some of the things i love the most actually can be incorporated in to a regular day. like swimming and jigsaw puzzles and dancing around the living room. 

i haven't blogged as much in the past year or so. there seems to be less 'big flashy things' and more boring grown up things...like full time jobs and a new roof. but it's still a whole heap of wonderful. at church on sunday we were reminded and encouraged to simply enjoy life where we are. throughout life we will all have low seasons of grief and high seasons of great joy. these are both good and they are both gifts from the Lord. but most of our time is spent in the in-between. the regular everyday living.

in the church calendar there is a season called ordinary time. in a very basic explanation, the church year starts with advent. a high season of great hope, peace, joy and love. it's a time filled with laughter and cheer. not long after advent ends, the season of lent begins. this is a somber time of remembering. it's the low. and then of course easter morning brings the celebration of the greatest news of all. it's like a roller coaster of emotions over those four to five months. there are ups and downs. but eventually we enter ordinary time. it's a time to rest for our souls. i feel like this season of our life is our ordinary time. we enjoy each other. we enjoy the time we spend with our family and our friends. we love and enjoy our church. and life is good. we are blessed.

"so i concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. and people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. and i know that whatever God does is final. nothing can be added or taken from it. God's purpose is that people should fear him." [ecclesiastes 3:12-14]

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