Clay Balls A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out int o the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock .. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of do llars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.
APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE
THING YOU HAVE, ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS!
LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW!
Pass this on to another Clay Ball!!!
Do not ask the Lord to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing to MOVE your Feet'
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
Quite a bit of drama lately with the GF or XGF as it is now. I just can't seem to put into words how to post right now.
Suffice to say i'm very torn right now, not in a pained heartbroken way but more discouraged and disappointed.
On another front, I talk to XW a bit and it feels really good. A good friend even said he wouldn't be surprised if we got back together again. It does make me think.
She is very busy with her daughters wedding, and apoligised to me for that and asked me to be patient with her and give her a few weeks. Patient?? Not sure where that comes from as we just started speaking after two years. I do get the impression that she might want to see and interact a bit more with me after the busy part of her summers over.
So, what I prayed for three years ago when I came here and subsequently let go is a part of my life again. Then we have the GF that I love and care for acting and behaving awful.
A conundrum surely. God has a plan i'm hoping he let's me in on it.
cire
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
Some people DO reclaim their M's...I'd be curious to see what happens here. FIB
Me 55; XW 47; 2 kids (S13, D11) Bomb 05/19/06 Original thread http://tinyurl.com/yg2ou2t Last anniversary 04/25/10, Divorced 5/12/10 Status: Loving father of 2 beautiful children;
Seems that GF and I are finito! She has lied repeatedly and stood me up without contact or an explanation. She didn't contact me for almost 3 weeks and then she texts me nasty s**t.
I was nice in my replies but i'm angry at how i've been treated and used. I also found some pretty disturbing stuff in her belongings that are still at my house, i.e. (5 broken crack pipes)!! They were broken from use and still had residue in them. Along with that i've found out she's been sleeping with a very nasty drug dealer, someone she use to say repulsed her.
Even though I need to run from her it still hurts when I think of the person I met and who she was. The meth has turned her and she can't see it. SAD!
On another note, the XW and I do still talk a bit and I like it. She is still in a R and it's the 4th one since we've D'd. She goes through them. This one has been going on for about 10 plus months, I understand.
Funny thing is I think of her quite a bit and I suppose it's because of loneliness. I miss companionship.
New happenings in the fact i've decided to go back to college again, GAL baby!
Sad note; I just learned yesterday that my fathers cancer has come back. He had been in remission for 11 years. This time it's terminal. 3 months or less i'm told.
It has been a very bumpy ride this past few years and I don't see the pavement yet. I'm keeping my seat belt on!
cire
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
A Well-Planned Retirement - From The London Times:
Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England , there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 coaches, or buses.
It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars £1 (about $1.40) and coaches £5 (about $7).
This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years. Then, one day, he just didn't turn up for work.
"Oh, well", said Bristol Zoo Management - "we'd better phone up the City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant . "
"Err . . . no", said the Council, "that parking lot is your responsibility."
"Err . . . no", said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed by the City Council, wasn't he?" "Err . . . no!" insisted the Council.
Sitting in his villa, somewhere on the coast of Spain (presumably), is a man who had been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at £400 (about $560) per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over £3.6 million ($7 million - or $280,000 every year for 25 years)!
And no one even knows his name!
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
Eric...I am truly sorry about your dad. 11 years in remission is an amazing feat (what type of cancer does he have).
As for you, you need to change your selection process my friend. Being attracted to drug users and women who have multiple men is, well, I think it's a sign of poor selection for companionship.
Are you getting some counseling my friend? FIB
Me 55; XW 47; 2 kids (S13, D11) Bomb 05/19/06 Original thread http://tinyurl.com/yg2ou2t Last anniversary 04/25/10, Divorced 5/12/10 Status: Loving father of 2 beautiful children;
Eric...I am truly sorry about your dad. 11 years in remission is an amazing feat (what type of cancer does he have).
mantle cell lymphoma
Quote:
As for you, you need to change your selection process my friend. Being attracted to drug users and women who have multiple men is, well, I think it's a sign of poor selection for companionship.
Agreed! Thing is i'm not attracted to that, these traits came out later after I gave my heart to her.
Quote:
Are you getting some counseling my friend? FIB
Just the school of hard knocks!
I received a text on saturday from her asking if I was racing and wishing me luck, I didn't respond. Then another one this morning asking if I was going to ignore her forever and if we'll ever be friends again? WTH I responded by telling her she had said some pretty hurtful things and we needed to talk. The reply was something to the effect of (hows it feel to hear that from someone you love, not good). Guess she's still mad!
I still hurt at times when I think about her but she is definately damaged goods and she can't see the path she's on.
cire
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
Dad is felling ok considering but I see him really giving up and just lying in bed most of the day. This is really sad because it's not him. He was always on the go and he could still do some things but doesn't. Makes me sad...
I get to spend time helping mom and dad out now because I lost my job last week. What timing eh? Lemonade out of lemons right?
Drama continues with XGF, I don't contact her and after about a week she seems to always text me. This happended again and she starts off friendly but it always goes down from there. Even if I don't respond she gets nasty about that. Yesterday this happended and she got very personal and mean after I tried to be lighthearted and funny. The texting crap sucks, I wish she would just talk to me if she had things to say. So I check mail today and theres a card from her. I'm guessing from the past few days, no postmark. It blathers on about how she once felt but I ruined it and now we would be better off as friends, blah blah blah. Ironic considering I called her out on that in texts yesterday. I said friends of course, but now she had to look at herself and ask if she has been acting like a friend. Guess that's what made her mad... hehe!
On the XW front, she called me while I was racing on saturday asking the name of my realtor. She said her BF needs to buy some property, glad I can keep facilitating...cough cough. I gave her the name and said i'd call back because of racing. The next day I called and left a message to which I still haven't heard.
I keep plugging along I just wish I knew a bit about the future!
cire
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
TEN WORDS THAT DON'T EXIST BUT SHOULD 1. AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks'trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub tap on and off with your toes. 2. CARPERPETUATION (kar'pur pet u a shun) n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.
3.DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of confection (lolly) you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow 'remove' all the germs.
4. ELBONICS (el bon'iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater.
5.FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug. TEN WORDS THAT DON'T EXIST BUT SHOULD 6. LACTOMANGULATION (lak' to man gyu lay' shun) n. Manhandling the "open here" spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the 'illegal' side. 7. PEPPIER (peph ee ay') n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want fresh ground pepper.
8. PHONESIA (fo nee' zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.
9. PUPKUS (pup'kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.
10. TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay' shun) n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away
Me 48 X's vary S 27 S 18 Back with high school sweety after 30 years..
