Don't open an umbrella in the house.

Seeing out of a hole that you're stuck in is pretty difficult. Sometimes, you just have to wait for someone to come along and point out some foot holds. While, I'm a bit to heavy and have too much baggage for anyone to pull me out, I appreciate the heads up every now and then. An e-friend of mine, Julie, is doing a photo-a-day project and posted a photo along with a quote (she always finds such fitting quotes) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."

I started to think about what we do when the literal rain comes. We dress appropriately, grab an umbrella, and go about our days. It really shouldn't be any different with proverbial rain. We should prepare with what we have and just let it rain and keep going. There really isn't much else we can do.

I really can't beat myself up for suffering and having a hard time lately. It doesn't help. I will do everything I can to protect myself from getting my head wet, but I really can't do a lot to keep from getting my pants wet up to the calves. It happens. I didn't cause it to rain, so I can't make it stop.

Train of thought

watching A sleep is hilarious
She just tosses herself around
Fwop on her belly, butt way up in the air
Not too long ago...like two months, these pajamas were too big. Now, she is pushing it in them. I can see her belly.
She just scratched her elbow
Oh gosh. She is amazing
She scratched her own elbow in her sleep. That means something itched, she recognized it, realized what needed to be done and did it with her eyes closed
The same girl that velociraptored her head around for a bottle
I am awed

Okay, so I didn't win the lottery like I said I was going to do. That's all right though. I've started this new conversational blog and maybe some good growth will come of that.

As a little family, we've found something new to place our hope in like we always do. I feel so stupid for hoping because I keep getting disappointed. We place hope in things and feelings and opportunities, Nobel prize winning presidents, situations, and luck. All of this hope makes me wonder about the origin of hope. Does it spring from faith or does faith grow out of hope?

Origin aside, does hope benefit the hopeful? I will be the first to admit that hope feels good. Imagining a better life with a moderately nice house and fewer bills and less worry is fun for the duration of the fantasy. But does fantasizing make disappointment worse when it (seemingly) inevitably comes along? If we didn't fantasize would we be less upset by bad news?

What do you think?