July 2012
31 posts
Day 248: Only One Way Over The Threshold
Our ongoing work to complete preparation for our home sale reminded us of similar circumstances right around the time of our twin daughters’ birth. What kept us nonstop-busy then was moving to a new home and pulling out all the stops to renovate it before the arrival of our newborns.
This time around we are working nonstop to declutter, purge, and empty out the nest so that all four of us can be...
June 2012
33 posts
Day 247: Energy Vampires
The day after we wrote about “Alice”, the cartoonist at Gapingvoid, Hugh MacLeod sent out an email with a drawing of an “energy vampire” and the following text:
Energy Vampires
You know who they are. You know what they do.
You know what must be done.
Surround yourself with people who support you, challenge you, understand you and push you to grow. Beware, however, people who drain your...
Day 246: One Room at a Time
When you have your work There is no time to worry About the unknown.
For the past few weeks we’ve been steadily going through everything in our house, and yet it still feels like we have far to go. Today, a very wise person suggested that we focus on one room at a time to avoid becoming overwhelmed and to feel a sense of progress and accomplishment as each room becomes ready to show. Tonight we...
Day 245: Doing As We Are
There is a ton of advice out there to help with selling a home and as in all areas of life, there are plenty of people who want to give home-sellers advice. That said, we love to do things ourselves and our way. We like to be our own general contractors, gardeners, teachers and cooks. We gain a lot of satisfaction out of doing things ourselves — learning and stretching along the way. This...
Day 244: Sir Fix-A-Lot
Today was (probably) the last day we would see our handyman, “Sir Fix-A-Lot,” before we move to the East Coast. We love the name he chose for his business (and we just learned that “Sir Mix-A-Lot” was from Seattle!) but mostly we are grateful for how helpful he has been. He is skilled, imaginative, knowledgable, professional, personable and a good communicator. He went the extra mile for us...
Day 243: Rest Your Gaze
Looking at one thing For too long exhausts our eyes. Time to look away.
As much as living in the present moment is working well for us, it can sometimes get a little too intense. When we take a moment to look away from our present work and let our gaze land elsewhere — on a family walk, watching an episode of Legend of Korra together with out daguthers, or taking a few minutes to read a...
Day 242: Present-Moment Energy
We’re making progress on getting our house ready. “Things are getting done,” we often say to each other. That’s not to say that things are getting themselves done. We are decidedly doing our part and working hard. What we’re not doing, however, is spending a lot of time measuring and evaluating our progress. We keep our attention focused on the present moment and the...
Day 241: Weekend Rejuvenation Haiku
Work sprinkled with play Keep our energy going. Rejuvenation!
Day 240: Christmas 2004
While cleaning out our home office, Jung found our letter to family and friends from Christmas 2004. In it we talked mostly about our move from Boston to Seattle that year and what the move and adjustment had been like. It’s an interesting snapshot into our lives then and through it we garnered some insight into what we experienced then and a little about what our expectations were. It’s also...
Day 239: Ballast Away Haiku
Dropping our ballast, We push out what we don’t need. Preparing to fly.
Day 238: Summer Solstice Haiku
We all face the sun, Grateful for its life-giving Rays of warmth and light.
What an incredible summer solstice in Seattle! It was a perfect Seattle summer day: low 70’s with a dry breeze, high puffy clouds and a cerulean blue sky. It’s almost 9:00 pm, but the sky is still blue and the longest day of the year is here to remind us that no matter how harried we may be, Nature’s cycle...
Day 237: Knowing What's Important
Prolific children Have created so much gold. What to keep or throw?
One of the most time-consuming tasks for us these days is sorting through all of S and J’s creations from the past eight years. There’s writing, art and myriad miscellaneous creations from both school and home which we’ve collected. Everything they create is precious to us and we’ve always had a difficult time deciding what to...
Day 236: Lots and Lots of Steps
The road is traveled Not by miles, but by steps— Lots and lots of steps.
We are still deep in the work of getting the house ready for sale. There are so many little things to do that it can feel like we’re moving at a snail’s pace, and yet we know that we are steadily and surely traveling further down our unique path.
When we get tired of cleaning, de-cluttering, and packing things away...
Day 235: Triple Blessings on Father’s Day
Loving, caring, fun S and J say so ‘bout Charles Happy Father’s Day!
On the night of our daughters’ birth, Charles went alone to visit them in the infant room where they were being monitored for arriving a tad early while I was recovering from the c-section. He brought back a Polaroid photo of him holding the newborns in his arms as I couldn’t visit our precious daughters in person. I still...
Day 234: Recycling Event
Metal recycling, Donation for charity: A win-win for all.
There was some junk in the garage that was making Charles scratch his head thinking about the best way to dispose of them. Then when we were driving by a local park last week he spotted a sign announcing a “Free Recycling Event” at the park scheduled for today. The event was sponsored by a local sports program as a fundraiser who...
Day 233: End of an Era
Their final day of School as they’ve known is done. End of an era.
As we wrote yesterday, today was S and J’s last day of being in a school where their lives are scripted. Tonight we celebrated with a candlelight spaghetti dinner finished off with frost-your-own, homemade, gluten-free carrot cake. S and J each blew out one of the candles, making a wish for their coming school year.
We are so...
Day 232: Living on Faith
Tomorrow is the last day of our daughters’ school year. This year it is a particularly momentous occasion because tomorrow is likely to be the last day of their lives when they will be in a school where they are told what, when, where, with whom, and how to do what the teachers want them to do. It must be liberating and scary for them at the same time, but they are not in their new school yet, so...
Day 231: Living Off the Menu
When Jung discovered that she was allergic to gluten, we enjoyed going out to restaurants more than we do now. It had always been a challenge to find restaurants which served food we all — adults and children — liked and now we had to add “gluten-free” to our list of requirements. One of the few local restaurants which qualified, however, was a Thai restaurant. Although the food was...
Day 230: Making History
Our brilliant daughter, S, made history at her school. We’re so proud of her!
Last Thursday, we received a heads-up from S’s Humanities teacher who wrote:
“Hi Charles and Jung — out of five years and 1000 tests (yikes!) I have never had a student get a perfect score on one of the Vocabulary Exams… until now. It’s become kind of a Holy Grail of sorts for [our school’s] students. I wanted...
Day 229: Blue Skies and Sunshine
Walking and talking We work together under Blue skies and sunshine.
It was a beautiful day today and we were grateful to have the chance to walk on our favorite trails and in our favorite park this morning. We continue to dance our life between all of our works and although we sometimes find ourselves whirling quite fast, it still feels so much more joyful to dance than to march!
Day 228: Less is More
Small is beautiful; It can be powerful, too. I choose small-enough.
Small is in and cool. Bigger and better no more. Small is power-full.
We have been going through so much stuff in the house in the past several days, and this work is likely to continue until we move to our new home. One word comes to mind: “endless.” We are in that in-between stage where we feel good about getting going...
Day 227: Reliving Memories Haiku
Clearing out the house We find happy memories And live them again.
Day 226: Great Day
It was a great day.
We just finished (around 8:30 pm) a nice dinner with wine, while enjoying the lush green outside our window adorned with golden twilight (which Jung loves dearly) and the powder blue sky as a gentle background — completely nonchalant about the hail that poured out of it about an hour or two ago!
We worked hard all day — literally back-breaking work —...
Day 225: Stuff Haiku
Going, going, gone! It’s amazing how much stuff We never needed.
Day 224: The Now and Later Dance
Keep your energy Focused on your work today. To each day its own.
For quite some time now we have been practicing staying centered in the present moment. We have found that while preparing our house to sell we have begun a little dance. There is timing to consider — the order in which our many tasks need to be completed — as well as planning so that we can contact and schedule...
Day 223: House Purging
Work on preparing our house for sale is going full bore here at Soul Play Family, so our writing and blogging may be light for the next few weeks. We’ll still continue to check in daily as we have since we began blogging our Soul Play Family 365 Day Experiment, but we may be writing a lot more haikus than not.
Some of you may breathe sighs of relief that our missives won’t be as extensive. For...
Day 222: Never Look Back
“I never look back;” “It distracts from the Now,” said The wise Edna Mode.
Day 221(C): Big Scary Stuff
Jung has often teased me that I get overwhelmed easily. I have often observed her looking at a big project and then saying, “We’d better get started!” I, on the other hand, when presented with a big project have often found ways to dodge and weave around it. Sometimes by perfecting my organizational approach and sometimes by just… finding other things to do. Eventually, of course, I always have to...
Day 221(J): Freedom Haiku
Remember one thing: You’re born to be free in life. Break loose from all “shoulds.”
Day 220(C): Prioritize Art
When I met Jung there was another woman in my life. Please understand that this woman did not and still does not know that I exist, but I was fascinated by her, and frankly, I still am. She is a performance and multimedia artist by the name of Laurie Anderson. I have many of her recordings and I read quite a bit about her back when I was a student. I’ve been to two of her concerts, one of which I...
Day 220(J): What is the Point?
I recall a question from my former colleague who wanted me to stay at Microsoft as a part-time employee until my backfill could be hired. As I wrote yesterday, the group I was leaving was understaffed, and my departure was going to make the matter worse.
“So, what are you going to do with all your free time at home, Jung? You could surely work part-time, couldn’t you?”
This response that I gave...
Day 219(C): One Size Fits Some
One thing that Jung and I believe very strongly in, is that promises of “one size fits all” are rarely true. Whether it’s weight-loss programs, happiness tips, wealth creation, debt reduction, organization, spirituality… The answers to the problems that come up in our lives are as varied as we are ourselves. Jung and I sometimes write here about what has worked for us, and we hope that our...
Day 219(J): First Step First
Like the fog I saw this morning in the park where Charles and I often walk in the morning, my memories of working at Microsoft are becoming fuzzy and distant. My time working in a corporate environment almost feels like it was another lifetime although it has been only a little over seven months since I veered off from the corporate track.
After receiving my resignation, my then-manager asked me...
