Great Weekend

Recently Indiana made national news.  Not for a good thing.  In a church in Greenwoood a 3-year-old boy sang a song about "ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven."  At this line the whole congregation gave a standing ovation.  Hate is taught.  And it's national news.  However, this weekend was Indy Pride.  I wish the national news would mention how many churches were a part of the Indy Pride parade and festival.  I don't know how many exactly, but it was a good amount.  I got teary eyed a few times during the parade.  Once when I first got there, seeing a whole city celebrate a people who are so often discriminated against.  Also when many of the churches went by sharing their love for ALL their neighbors, not just the straight ones.  And also when 120+ youth walked by.  Seriously?  That many kids recognize who they are and are proud of it and/or accept their fellow classmates for who they are rather than bullying them to their death (as we see in the news so often)? 

Then tonight one of my favorite singers performed AT MY COUSINS' HOUSE!  I didn't even know my cousin knew who she was.  I love the small concerts I go to, I love house concerts even more.  And to see 2 of my worlds collide- my family world and my music world- I always love that.  Watching someone do what they love because they love it in front of a crowd who truly appreciates it always brings tears to my eyes.  Thank you Rachael Sage for sharing your gifts.

Fairy

Thanks to Signe Pike's book Faery Tale (http://signepike.com/home/) I rediscovered & expanded an old love of mine- Fairies.

I was never crazy obsessed with them or gave them tons of thought, but I have always clapped my heart out in the part of Peter Pan that asks you to clap if you believe to save Tinkerbell.

And a part of me has always believed, and an even bigger part of me has always wanted to believe.  I never actually liked Tinkerbell, she was kind of bitchy, but the new Tinkerbell movies have redeemed my view of her (though not an accurate depiction of fairies).

Anyway, Signe Pike's book tapped into my old love while expanded my view of "fairies" to a way that spoke to me and had meaning to me now.  Since then I have bought many books on "fairies," watched documentaries on the topic, google searched countless times, etc.  Since reading the book and attempting in my own ways to reconnect to and expand my old love, it's been amazing what I've learned and what things have connected.

I don't talk about it often as most people have a pretty narrow view of what "fairies" are and what someone who claims to believe in them are like.  And the fae is too complex of a topic to write about here.  I encourage you to get and read Signe's book or at least do some "googling" of your own to find some of the deeper meanings of the concept of fairies.

However, this blog is called, the little things are the big things, so I will attempt to stick to that topic and not go too deep below the surface.

As I've made clear, there is much deeper meaning to me now when it comes to "fairies" but this respark in the subject for me has led to some fun things. 

For one, I have been able to have a lot of fun with the young girls I have nannied.  One, named Signe ironically, loves fairies because of the Tinkerbell movies.  She even made her own fairy house in her bedroom!  Often while I was watching her she would stop what she was doing & run to her room & check the house to try to spot a fairy.  I think she loved having an adult that shared and encouraged her belief (I should say another adult as her family does too).  While her knowledge of fairies was Tinkerbell movies, I was able to add some, like when she would get dissapointed when there wasn't a fairy in her house I was able to explain to her that just because she couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't there.  She and I used to write stories and I wrote one all about her and a fairy that came to live in her fairy house.  Her eyes and smile got huge as I read it to her the first time.  I also read to her a chapter book from the Tinkerbell series.  I think she also loved having someone she could show off her new fairy stuff (dolls, books, a fairy journal she created, etc.) to.  Another time I brought a book I got from the library that had stories about different types of fae and read those to her.

The other little girl I nanny for and I made fairy houses together twice.













Thanks to the magazine Indianapolis Monthly I found out about Indiana's Stonehenge in Brown County.  Obviously a magical spot my roomie and I went there one day.  While there I found an obvious fairy doorway-

So I spruced it up a bit for them and left a little gift of chocolate & wine.

I posted these pics on facebook & Signe's (the girl I nannied for) mom left this comment- Signe wanted me to remind you to "keep checking it when you go back there, to see if the juice (wine) and chocolate are gone." Signe thinks you did "a very very very very good job."

My roomie went back to that spot another time and so I texted Signe's mom to tell Signe that my roomie said the chocolate & "juice" were gone.  Signe, being a super smart 5 year old said that an animal could have eaten it so I had to check inside & suggested I put out more food but cover it so animals wouldn't get it.  I texted my roomie letting her know Signe wanted to know if she had checked inside and my wonderful roomie said this "Yes I did...they are very sneaky and it looked like a good home, but they didn't want to be seen yet."  Upon relaying this message back to Signe she smiled, laughed, & jumped up & down.  I have gone back a few times since and always leave something for them.

And for fun, after I was a fairy for Halloween-

I had a photographer friend do me a little photoshop favor :)

So one book, someone sharing their own story and journey, brought back childhood memories and dreams, led to me connecting to the imaginations of young girls, created a lot of fun for me, and has had a great spiritual impact on me.

So even if you don't believe in fairies (I'm clapping as I say this!), I'm sure you can appreciate aspects of this story and see again how "the little things are the big things."

Christmas Carol Dog

This happened awhile ago, but I didn't think to put it here until now.

One day my roomie and I had gone somewhere together and when we got home we got out of the car and the neighbors dog was barking. Funny thing was though, it barked a familiar tune- "Woof-Woof-Woof, Woof-Woof-Woof, Woof-Woof-Woof Woof-Woof!" With a bewildered look on my face I said to my roomie "Did that dog just bark a Christmas carol?" To which my roomie responded "Yes, Jingle Bells!" Yep, the dog had barked Jingle Bells. We both heard it. My roomie thought it in her head, but doubted the possibility, but the fact that I heard it too and expressed it aloud proved it was not a figment of our imaginations.

Ani in Carmel

I nanny in Carmel, IN. It is one of the richer towns (and all that goes with that) of Indiana, especially in the Indy area. While driving the woman I work for around, I noticed the car in front of me had Ani DiFranco and her record label Righteous Babe Records stickers. I was pleased to see even in Carmel there is at least one Ani lover.

Walmart Kindness

I don't really like Walmart. Sometimes I am a terrible person though and shop there.

Anyway...

On Tuesday night I go to my friends' house and spend the night so that I can get up early and go to Carmel to nanny 2  children for twelve hours. This is not a normal nanny job. The mother is there. I am there because she has epilepsy. This means in addition to watching the children, I am also driving them wherever they need to go and helping with house work. After that I go back to my friends' house, sleep another night, then get up early and do it all again for another twelve hours.

Yesterday after I finished my second 12 hour day for the week which consisted of screaming children, potty training, cleaning up soiled children and their clothes, vacuuming, mopping, taking down a Christmas tree, etc, I had to pick up dog food on my way home. The closest store on my way home that was still open and had it was Walmart.

As soon as I walked in I saw a former refugee client that gave me quite a bit of trouble (one example- calling me on a day off leaving a message that it was an emergency for me to find out they simply wanted to find out how to get cable tv and knew I would only answer on my day off if they said it was an emergency...this is the same family that had their neighbor call and yell at me that they were starving and had no money for food and I was doing nothing to help them...). So I went in the complete opposite direction I needed to and luckily avoided her seeing me.

Then when I walked to the checkout 3 lines were open, insanely long lines. This led me to think..."hmmm...a bottle of wine would be a very nice thing considering all of this to take home for me and my roomies." Went back all the way to the back of the store to the alcohol section only to see a sign stating "Looking for wine? For your convenience we have moved our wine to our new liquor store at the front of the store." Convenience? Ha. Went to the front, didn't see a liquor store, gave up, got in super long line.

I know what you're thinking. "Jill, this is a lot of complaining. I thought this blog was supposed to be inspirational." Well, you are right. I feel this long, drawn out description of the woefulness of my day is necessary for you to see why this "little thing" that happened meant so much. So here it is...

Shortly after getting in line a worker came out and told 3 of us in line that had only a couple things that she would take us at the jewelry counter. The other 2 had been in line in front of me, but let me go first because I had less items than them. And the worker told us she was about to get off, but came out of the bathroom and saw the long line so decided to do this real quick before going home. These little sacrifices these people made that really didn't take much effort on their part, but are things many people wouldn't do, meant a lot to me that day. It helped me to get home a little earlier, boosted my faith in humanity a bit, made me stop being annoyed, and made me get over feeling sorry for myself.

So next time you can go out of your way a little bit for someone else, do it. You never know the day they had and how it might help them and make them feel.

Nannying

I am now nannying for 2 families. While I haven't posted on here lately and can't really think of specific "little-big" moments lately, I believe due to needing to reconnect with a lot of things (mostly myself), I am seeing how I come to notice and feel this way about the "little-big things." I point out the little things to the kids- how the shadows get bigger and smaller depending on how close to the light the object is, a bird's nest in a tree, a hot-air balloon floating through the sky,a squirrel scurrying up a tree, the light reflecting off of something and making rainbows on the wall, etc. I don't normally think twice about it. Just comes naturally for me, but sometimes I realize that the things I point out to them are things a lot of people would just overlook. It comes so naturally to me though because my mom and grandma always did that with me. They taught me to notice and appreciate these things. So I guess, we can thank them for this blog. :)

A Dog's Reflection

The other day I was stopped at a red light and beside me was a man in a car with his dog in the passenger seat. Where he was parked there was a window on a building on the other side. What made me notice this man and his dog is that the dog started barking. When I realized why the dog was barking I started laughing. The dog was barking at his reflection in the window. The owner of the dog started laughing too. He pulled up a little so the dog couldn't see the window anymore and the dog stopped barking and acted as though nothing happened. The man never noticed me, but we were both still chuckling as the light turned green.