Day 28: Breaking the Rules

If anyone has been checking or lurking around my blog, you probably have noticed that there have not been new entries for a good long time. Beginning in July and through mid-August my life was consumed with preparation for a month of travel and then completing the travel.

Time for blog entries of my days "not if office" never seemed to occur...I was simply living those days.

I decided not to get bothered by falling behind on the entries because I knew I could "break the rules" when the time came. So the "rules" are those habits of mind that unconsciously or consciously direct, affect, influence what we may or may not do. For example, I used to (many years ago) have many "rules" around when, where, and how I would or would not exercise and for the most part, the "rules" affected what I would not do...which was exercise. So until I gave myself "permission" to "break the rules" I missed many darn good opportunities for exercise.

"Breaking the Rules" was a notion I first came across many years ago (about 1985) in a seminar on creative thinking where Roger von Oech was the featured speaker (http://creativethink.com/). He essentially says to adjust your thinking and do things differently...just don't break rules that hurt yourself or others, etc. Of course, he explains this in a very interesting and creative way.

So I'm "breaking the rules" about the "order" of when I enter my blog entries. Hope you don't mind.

Day 27: The King

Olivia and I went to Grammy Mac's church for worship (an Episcopal church) on Sunday morning. Actually, Olivia and I spent most of the worship time in the nursery, but went back into the sanctuary for communion where the children get blessed. Olivia was a bit unsure when we walked up the middle aisle to receive communion and a blessing. She was not so sure about getting close to "the king"...that is what she called the Priest. The rest of the morning she referred to the Priest as the "king" and when she got home the first story she told her mom was about meeting the "king!"

Day 26: Great Grandmothers

Roger and I have responsibility for our first grandbaby, Olivia, for several days. Aidan is traveling with his parents as he is still nursing. We thought it would be a good opportunity to visit Roger's mother, Ginny, in Mankato this week-end, while we had Olivia. A wonderful opportunity for all of us to be together and spend time in the Mankato parks and Ginny's garden.

Olivia calls Ginny "Great Grammy Mac." The idea came from the first grade children Ginny teaches every day during the school year...they call her Grammy Mac....so we just added the "Great."

One aspect I really enjoy in "my new life" is the time for more unusual musings. So today I was wondering about the origin of the term "great" for grandmothers and grandfathers of the previous generation. After searching on the internet, I could not locate origins for the term, so I looked up the term "great"...and it became clear why "great" was chosen for referring to our "previous generation" grandparents"...read all the various meanings of "great"....I think they all make really good sense...

of major significance or importance; "a great work of art"; "Einstein was one of the outstanding figures of the 20th century"

remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect; "a great crisis"; "had a great stake in the outcome"

bang-up: very good; "he did a bully job"; "a neat sports car"; "had a great time at the party"; "you look simply smashing"

a person who has achieved distinction and honor in some field; "he is one of the greats of American music"

Ginny certainly fits these definitions...especially in Olivia's eyes.