Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day.  My Memorial Day started at work with me making holiday pay!  It had been busy at work, with the waiting room full and patients waiting even to be triaged (let alone to be put in a room).  Unheard of in Longmont whose patients usually can walk into triage right away!  After midnight--when holiday pay started--the waiting room, as well as the entire ER emptied out.  I was allowed to catch up on my shows and take a 30 min nap.  After 2.5 busy nights at work...it was a huge relief to my mind and back. 

Jon woke me up at 2pm.  We tried to get motivated to clean up since we were getting company.  Jon vacuumed and I emptied out the dishwasher.  We split up the chores before we were married.  Jon vacuums, fills the dishwasher, washes, and dries the clothes.   I empty the dishwasher, fold, and put away laundry.  We both clean the bathroom and tile floors when they need it.  So there is a small semblance of order in the Phillips' household, although it may not always appear like that! 

While I was emptying the dishwasher, we decided we were hungry for queso to go with our taco chips.  Making that took priority over me cleaning the stove.  Instead I fried hamburger to put in the queso.  Somedays I think that I am too concerned over my image and should rather focus on enjoying life.  So today I did not push myself to clean the stove *and* make queso.  It's okay for Mary to see my house in less then perfect condition.  My body and mind thanks me, even now! 

Carolyn arrived at our house sometime after 3pm.  Jon had put the queso in the crockpot and I was trying to sweep the kitchen floor.  I went down with Carolyn to the pool.  It was crowded due to the holiday, but we happily discussed bridesmaid dresses. 

We had almost given up on our other guests arriving, but around 4:30, Jon and Mary showed up.  We moved indoors to enjoy queso, with chips, and veggies with dip.  I ate too much of the appetizers and almost didn't have room for the main meal!  However, we were greatly entertained by hearing about steam cars and *why* water boils sooner and higher altitude.  This mostly came from Mr. Schrock.  Ben and James also eventually showed up to aid the discussion and help the food disappear.  I thought we had made a vast quantity of queso. But before the hotdogs and hamburgers were grilled, the queso was gone!

Eventually we all moved back to the pool.  By that time, most of the holiday party-ers  had moved elsewhere.  Ben and my Jon discussed our house progress.  Us girls sat on the edge of the pool and swam briefly, while talking about how to decorate our homes.  Mary's Jon focused on building bridges on Ben's smart phone.  Mary thought she may have to buy him a smart phone.

Finally Carolyn and I got cold and went up to take showers.  Mary entertained the one who was not cleaning up.  When we finally got back down to the Grand room (where we had eaten) the Jons were watching the Rockies.  Go Rockies! 

I have always enjoyed Memorial Day since being in Colorado.  My group of friends has typically made an effort to do something together on Memorial Day, making it pleasant and memorable.  Last year I walked the Bolder Boulder in a fairy outfit with wings.  I was not dating, let alone married.  I would say some significant changes have occurred in the last year!  I have had some "growing up days" (roughly translated from a popular PA Dutch phrase that I will not attempt to spell).


I feel that I am able to discuss my life again after some months of not feeling that I had "words."  Words to discuss how it felt to be married, words to describe new emotions, and new decisions.  Being married is forcing me to learn to communicate on a whole new level.  I am learning that holding things in or "bottling them up"  does me damage and does not one any good.  How many times I have heard that?  Though up until now I have not really been forced to learn that on a practical level.   

The different ways that men and women think has also been highlighted for me.  Karen showed us a practical illustration of this using a file cabinet and spiderweb/labyrinth.   The file cabinet depicted the way men usually make decisions.  The information goes in and comes out neatly and packaged in pros and cons.  The labyrinth on the other hand is the way many women--especially myself--think.  The information goes in and around many unique twists and turns.  In this lengthy process the woman looks at many different angles of the consequences of a decision and how it will affect her current situation, etc, etc.   Hopefully during the process she has the words to describe some of her thoughts and can also come to a successful decision.  I found myself frequently becoming locked up in the labyrinth and unable to describe my thoughts, being incredibly overwhelmed with the different facets of a decision and equally unable to describe my thoughts to anyone else.  The moral of this story is that I do need to set aside time to process and hopefully I can learn to think with some of the benefits of the pros and cons system.