I have been to Middle-Earth

This time last year, I was walking around Middle-Earth. Nope, not New Zealand (although I dearly want to go someday). Norway. I didn't realize how much Norse myth influenced J.R.R. Tolkien's work until my husband started doing research for his own novel (set to debut this summer--stay tuned!). And after walking, biking, and climbing around glacier-carved valleys deep in the fjords of Norway, I'm convinced the landscape influenced him as well.

Seriously, the only thing this picture is missing is a panorama shot of the endless snow-capped mountains surrounding us, and a dramatic swell of music (preferably from The Return of the King as each progressive beacon in the mountains was lit, because that music and those images made me cry the first time I saw it in theaters and that feeling is the only way I can describe how absolutely, heart-achingly beautiful the view from here was).

One thing that kind of made me raise an eyebrow leading up to our trip were some of the reactions I got when I told people we were going to Norway. "Huh, why Norway?" "Really? Norway?" As I had only seen pictures at the time, I explained as best I could how beautiful it was and how excited we were to traipse around the fjords for a week. Now that I've been there, my response would be more along the lines of "WHY NOT NORWAY? Have you SEEN it?" Please excuse the caps lock attack, but the idea that anyone would ever not want to see Norway is absolutely ridiculous to me.

Things work differently there. I know that's a simplistic, seemingly-obvious statement that can be applied not only to other countries, but other states--but it's true. Strangely enough this dawned on me when I was crossing a pedestrian bridge over a stream in Sogndal, saw a car coming down the road, and stopped, only to have the driver stop and wave me across the road. One of the locals later informed me that there are laws in place that protect pedestrians and persecute drivers who don't stop for them, even if the pedestrian isn't looking. Mind-boggling. I don't know how many times I've nearly been clipped by drivers who don't give a damn while trying to cross an intersection.

Anyway, oddball example aside, we were deep in the fjords, in a tiny town called Solvorn, and it felt like time didn't really apply there. Everything was so quiet, the people (both local and other internationals we encountered) were kind and friendly. We were essentially staying in the equivalent of the rural countryside. Pre-vacation, some people told us we wouldn't really need to know Norwegian to get around, but we learned some anyway. Sure enough, we ran into people who didn't really know English. Came in handy when we needed to order "to varmtsjokolade" at a tiny cafe in Luster along our bike trip and pay our bus driver to and from Solvorn.

Shameless plug time: if you ever go to Norway, spend some time at Eplet Bed and Apple in Solvorn. It's super affordable, the people who run it are wonderful  (and can help plan your outdoor excursions), and the apple juice is literally the best thing you will ever drink. Plus, you get to meet all sorts of people from all over. We met a group of English guys, a German family, and so many other lovely people during our stay.

I could write about this trip, the places we saw, and the lovely people we met for ages, but then this post would be as long as those mountains are high. So I'll settle for closing with this:

A (literal) full day of JUST traveling on either end of the trip in order to get there and back again (womp-womp, see what I did there?), the quarter-of-a-mile long cue at Heathrow, my swollen ankles from those stupid hiking boots I wore when we climbed that glacier, my aching legs from an arduous 40-something-mile bike ride that I was convinced I was going to die doing (sort of--those hills were no joke, and don't get me started on those three damp, unlit, completely dark tunnels were biked through with only tiny, dim flashlights)--all of it was so worth it. And honestly, those things are secondary. The pure, unmarred beauty of the fjords, our experiences there, and the friends we made trump any discomfort or stress along the way.

I think about this trip a lot, and I miss the place, the people, everything. This was my first trip outside of the US (or even the West Coast), and it certainly won't be my last. We will go back again, someday. Meanwhile, there are so many other places I want to see. England, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand... I'll see them one day. Until then, I hope I don't forget to appreciate the beauty of things and the people I know where I live. I think it's good to want to see other places, but I often find I need to keep my heart in check, lest I pine away for distant lands and forget about home. Besides, there are plenty of adventures waiting right outside my door. I just need to step out and have them.

Patience is a virtue

This morning I had several errands to run, one of which was shipping out some books for my publishing job. Since I've done this several times already, I know what to expect; so I wasn't at all surprised that there was only one person working the shipping counter at 10am, working on a complicated issue with his customers, while another lady and I waited in line.

The moment I stepped in line behind her, I could see her glance back at me in my peripheral vision. I avoided eye contact initially, because I figured she was going to make some comment about slow service. I shuffled my items around in my hands as she impatiently shifted her weight from foot to foot. When the associate had to go ask the manager for assistance, the lady in front of me turned around again and said something like, "Guess we're not in a hurry this morning." I tried to look sympathetic as I sheepishly replied, "It happens." That was the best thing I could come up with in the moment, and I don't imagine she particularly appreciated my passive refusal to acknowledge how inconvenienced she was by all this waiting.

This isn't me bashing on an impatient customer, by the way. I'm sure she has a multitude of stuff going on in her day, and I'm not one to say someone's time isn't as valuable as another person's time. What I wish I would see more of, is mutual understanding and human empathy. The customers in front of us had equally important things to send out, and the associate was doing his best to make sure everything ended up where it was supposed to. Stressing out about wait time isn't going to get your box shipped out any faster. 

I worked in retail for 6 years and I've seen the good, bad, and ugly of customer service. Any time I'm tempted to feel impatient in situations where I'm the customer, I have to stop and remind myself that I'm not that far removed from the other side of the counter. I also have to remember what a difference it made for me when I had a customer who was kind, patient, and understanding. Sometimes it's hard to be patient and go with the flow, but it makes a huge difference in how you perceive your day. Not to mention the difference it can make to an overworked associate behind the counter.

Self-discipline and rest

I think the hardest thing about maintaining this blog is going to be getting past the initial writer's block. The desire is there. I want to write. I just keep getting stuck where I always have--staring at a blank page. Should I write a short story? Wax philosophical? Make a list? Write a book review? Sure, any of those things would be great. If I could just come up with something to write, of course.

I'm fairly certain some of this stagnancy comes from being around the house too much. I work from home for both my jobs: marketing coordinator for a publisher, and nanny to 1.5 and 3.5 year old boys 3-4 days a week. On days that I'm not babysitting, my time is usually spent running errands for my publishing job or cleaning up the house. Thing is, it's not a matter of "not having any time." It's a matter of "I must make time." See, I've never been a morning person. When the alarm goes off, my initial reaction is something along the lines of, "Noooooooooooo..." But on the days that I have managed to drag myself out of bed, I've felt like there is more time to get things done (wow, imagine that, right?). 

For instance, the last couple of mornings, I woke up on my own around 5:45am. Usually I just go back to sleep (or try to), but even then, in those instances I'm up by 7am. This time of year, the sunlight comes directly through the crack in our curtain over the french doors (which we never open because our bedroom is tiny), and hits the sliding mirror door of the closet just right to reflect it DIRECTLY INTO MY FACE. So really, it's for my own benefit that I should get up before that happens. An alarm is bad enough, but blinding sunlight in your eyes when you try to go back to sleep is equally frustrating.

Anyway, back to wanting to be a morning person... the world is so much quieter first thing in the morning. Everything seems calm and refreshed. I enjoy taking in those peaceful moments before I have to worry about everything else I need to do that day. These would also be prime times for me to actually pick up my bible (something I haven't done on my own for a long time). Before any distractions, before the rest of the city is up and about, just me and the Lord. I need that in my life again. 

I am an easily distracted person. Those dogs in Up? Yeah, that's me. "Oh, I think I'll spend some time--SQUIRREL!" Literally. I even get distracted by tiny animals. "Oh look, a gopher in our front lawn! I shall sit and feed him crab grass." I was distracted by a split end while I typed that sentence. Point is: I need some self-discipline.

That's all for now. Let's open a discussion. How do you find time to get away during daily life? What do you like to do to find some rest even amid your routine?

Where to begin?

My aspirations have changed greatly since I was a kid. I've always loved children, even when I was little. Kids just seemed to gravitate toward me. I've always known that one day, I want to have a family of my own. But as far as career stuff, that has changed significantly.

When I was a kid, I thought I wanted to grow up and be a pediatrician, so I could work with children and help them feel better and all that. I was under that expectation up until sophomore year of high school when I had to dissect a cat in anatomy class and realized I would have to do the same to a cadaver in medical school. It may seem stupid, but that kind of made me realize that maybe the medical field isn't the place for someone so squeamish.

Backtracking slightly, I've always loved to write. My third grade teacher told my mom once about how detailed my stories were for class assignments compared to other kids my age. My teacher was convinced she'd be reading my books someday. Middle school rolls along and I fall in love with the Harry Potter books and a campy TV show called Big Wolf on Campus, and I decide I want to write my own stories into their worlds (i.e. fanfiction). High school was probably the "high point" of my fanfiction days. Go ahead and laugh if you must, but writing stories in preexisting worlds, getting into characters' heads, and putting them into new situations was fun for me. Especially once I discovered The Lord of the Rings. Just ask my lunch table friends and they will tell you (oh the epic tales and random adventures I wove for them, starring all of us, in Middle Earth). My best friend would read them aloud at the table, sometimes breaking down into laughter as she read certain parts. They were highly entertained, which made me want to write more (especially to get those reactions where they would laugh so hard that nearby tables would give us weird looks). Some moments in those stories are embarrassing to look back on for various reasons, but they were a part of me, and a part of our daily life.

After high school, something changed. I still wrote some stories here and there during college for various shows or books I liked, but it wasn't to the degree I had done previously. I took a fiction writing course sophomore year in college, where for the first time I really tried to create stories of my own. There was even one I put extensive effort into that my professor thought could turn into something like a young adult adventure novella. But like many of my stories, I never finished it. Sometimes I wonder, what if those characters were real, all the ones from my different unfinished stories, and they were just sitting there together in some stasis, waiting for me to finish their stories and fulfill their purpose? But I digress...

Something changed, and I couldn't tell you what if I tried. Call it the distractions of life, all the different responsibilities that pile up exponentially as you get older. Somehow inspiration has been lacking. I've discovered that I am very good as proofreading and editing, getting into the nitty-gritty details and catching things nobody else has caught. I enjoy doing that. But sometimes I just want to create, not correct. Thing is, how do you create when you don't know where to start?

To be honest, I can't say what exactly this blog will encompass--it could be anything. That's part of the reason I named this blog what I did. It's from a section of a poem found in The Lord of the Rings, and it resonates with me:

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

I can't really explain why, but something in this poem pulls at me, draws me in, encourages me. Maybe as this blog progresses, I will discover what that is.

My intention is to write intentionally. I have a problem with procrastination, lack of motivation, and inaction, and it affects various aspects of my life. I want that to change, with God's help. I know he answers prayer, and I pray he can change this heart of mine to be an effective human being, to contribute to the lives of others for his glory. I'm still working out what that looks like, but I trust that God will help me find it.