Book of D: Certifications

 

Book of D: Thistles and Dungarees

The title of today's post correlates to something that happened today. The title may sound strange, but it popped into my head while I was watching reruns of Young Sheldon and cooking dinner. I was just thinking how quirky life is. Today was somewhat of an awkward day for me at work kind of full of "aha" moments, if you will. I arrived on campus early, but I saw my friend, "A," who is a professor at the University, so I changed my course of direction. She was being chauffeured by her 17-year-old nephew, whom is a novice to the world of driving. I drove around the corner to where my friend was being dropped off instead of heading into the faculty and staff parking lot where I usually park my precious CUV, Chewy II🚗. "A" saw me drive up behind them, and she scurried over to Chewy II's passenger side and asked, "do you have time to talk?" . . . to which I answered with a resounding "YES!" She got into my CUV and off we went. I didn't have appointments scheduled in the morning, so I was down for spending time with her. We went to grab breakfast and talked and talked. Unfortunately, she was/is having marital issues that made a turn for the worse right around the time her mom died over a year ago. Losing her mom was a huge event in and of itself, but my friend and her husband had also just bought their first house together. Sadly, on the day my friend's realtor called her to announce their house bid had been accepted (my spouse and I were with her, so we yelled and went to celebrate), my friend's sister in San Antonio called her later that same evening to tell of their mom's demise. "A" never got the chance to tell her mom that she had bought her first home - nor would my dear, sweet friend have the opportunity to bring her mom for a visit to enjoy the house and the lovely garden in the backyard that helped with the decision to buy that particular house. Anyway, "A" and I went back to campus after a couple of hours; we didn't stray too far - location wise, that is. I was going to drop her off at the "Welcome Center" entrance and head over to my usual parking lot.

But, she inquired about my office situation: I told her that my new office wasn't ready yet, and that the current one was giving me the creeps (long story for another post), so she suggested I use her office, which is a mere 50 ft. from where my new office will be on the 4th floor. I accepted. "A" had meetings all day, so I would not be disturbed (she does not have office hours on Tuesdays for students). I canceled an appointment I had in Big Spring, and I just stayed in her office. I took an occasional break and looked at the many pictures, degrees, and awards she had on the walls and the other scholarly artifacts she had strewn on the credenza; it looked like she had been cleaning and had not put the items back into place. Then I saw a figurine that we had given her a few Christmases ago. It was a Willow Tree with three women (sisters) hugging. I was reminded of friends, friendship, and loyalty and how often we take all those things for granted. Sometimes, much like a thistle, we don't tend to them because we think they are strong enough to survive without much care and attention. But, thistle is delicate once you remove the spines. The spines in friendship, to me, are the walls we put up in order to mask loneliness and pain. As for the dungarees, well, I just like that word and wanted to use it. 🤭 It inspired my drawing for the day. LOL.

Book of D: The Art of War

I love this book. It is telling of many things. I wrote the following on Insta and other social media timelines:

... This copy of @theartofwar_suntzu is exceptionally beautiful. I've read "The Art of War" and reviewed it several times, but I never owned a copy - until yesterday. Honestly, I was fascinated by this particular edition because of how it was beautifully bound (scarlet canvas with black wax cording and folded pages). The "maker" in me appreciates how things are crafted; there's true art everywhere.

Moreover, learning about the art of war in Tzu's eponymous novel is just icing on the ole proverbial cake: "war should be avoided with diplomacy, but if it cannot be avoided, it should be fought strategically and psychologically to minimize damage and the wasting of resources." #TheArtOfWar #TheArtOfWarIllustrated #SunTzu #PickYourBattles