outdoors thoughts

So I've had a variety of topics on my mind lately. I shall enumerate and explicate:

1. Matthew 11:28-30
2. Trees (and Celts)
3. children with cancer

Of course there is a perfectly logical explanation for each of these, which would be quite long should I choose to type it. But is there a logical explanation for all three running together in my mind like 3 popsicles on a kitchen counter? I'm not sure.

So #1. The times I get to go to church are varied and random due to the necessity of my sometimes working on the weekends. There is not really any pattern to when I will be there. So I find it interesting that the past 3 times I have been, someone has talked about Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Whenever God tells you something 3 times in a row, you should bet He's probably trying to get your attention in a serious way.

Item #2 doesn't really need a lot of explanation. Being a hippy at heart (yes, I know, shudder) I think about trees a lot. And since I am of Dutch-Welsh descent, I also think about Celts a lot. Because the Welsh were Celtic, not Brittanic. And they defended their little corner of the isle for 900 years before the English invaded for good. But anyways, yesterday as I meandered I found a man selling jewelry in a hallway, and he had.... a Celtic Tree of Life ring. And I thought "Now isn't this lovely. Biblical and Celtic and pretty in one neat little package." So now I'm wearing it and I'm completely enamored and it makes me think of Lord of the Rings and also about Celtic warrior queens (like Boadicea) repelling evil people (like nursing instructors who are mean for no reason).

Item #3. The simplest explanation of them all. I am writing a paper applying a certain nursing theory to the care of pediatric bone marrow transplant patients who, of course, have cancer. I think I'm going to get to do an apprenticeship sort of thing next semester either on the bone marrow transplant unit or the oncology unit at Children's Hospital. So I'll probably be thinking a lot about cancer for the next year. But anyways.

That's all the thoughts. Well I'm still thinking more about trees. But with these gorgeous colors, it can't be helped.

October in Alabama

The funny things about Alabama:

-Yesterday I was sloshing through the rain in flip-flops, jeans, and a short-sleeve T-shirt and it was perfectly fine in temperature. Today it is 47 degrees Fahrenheit, right now, at 10 am.

-I am the only female my male co-workers consistently speak to in an extended fashion right now, because I am the only female at work keeping track of NCAA football beyond the AU/UA rivalists.

-My mother is losing her mind because my brother is never home, and the short times he is home when she tries to talk to him, Dad cuts in to talk about ..... football.

(I am convinced there is literally no other place on earth so obsessed with American football as the state of Alabama.)

-It's only October, the semester does not end until December, yet my Foundations in Nursing Course has already had its last class and last lab. And yet, we still have 3 more tests to take at various intervals continuing throughout the semester. To be fair, we do still have clinicals most weeks. But all the test information has already been covered. I guess they're testing long-term recall.

I guess that's all my observations for now.