Finding light in times of darkness.

• What is your gut reaction when bad things happen?  Mine seems to be this:  It’s a sick and scary world we live in. 
• I don’t know how many times I said those exact words as the news of the bombings at the Boston Marathon unfolded on Twitter yesterday afternoon.  It makes me feel ill to know that such senseless violence took place at a spot where people should have been experiencing feelings of joy and victory.  I hate that whoever did this took that away from them, placing terror in our hearts, shattering us all once again.

• And yet, in the aftermath, I have found faith.  Faith in humanity. Faith that the good people still outnumber the bad.  Comedian Patton Oswalt seems to have said it best here.  Marathon runners heading straight to hospitals to donate blood.  Police and volunteers charging in to the area where bombs had just been detonated to help people.   Boston residents opening their homes to out-of-town marathon runners who couldn’t get back to their hotels because they were in lockdown.  It may be a sick and scary world we live in, but the good is still out there.  We’ve seen it. We know it.

• This image has been floating around Facebook, and it’s the one that has brought me the most comfort at this very unsettling time.  Look for the good.  Look for the helpers.  You will always find them.
• Despite this dreary day and my somber feelings, I’m choosing to move on to lighter things…
• This past weekend was a fun one.  While our plans to take my mom out to celebrate her birthday on Friday night were postponed due to the weather, it still ended up being a wonderful weekend!  We ended up going out for Mom’s 65th on Sunday night instead, and it was a great evening.  Earlier in the day, we had gathered at my cousin Donna’s to celebrate my Uncle Reid’s 80th.  And my mom had also been at her aunt Margaret’s 90th birthday luncheon on Saturday.  Talk about a weekend of milestone birthdays & great times with family & friends!
• I wish I had pictures to share…but they’re not uploaded yet.
• One of my fave moments from the weekend:  On Saturday evening, Mom and I went to my sister’s place for dinner.  I was goofing around with 4-year-old Danica.  She was showing me her ballet moves, so I decided to teach her “the Dirty Dancing move”.  I would dramatically sing “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” while she ran towards me and I’d lift her up over my head.  (She was Baby, of course.  I was Patrick Swayze.)

 Yes.  We looked exactly like this.

• The next day, at Uncle Reid’s birthday party, I told Danica to show off her dance moves for our cousin Kayla.  Dan was tippytoeing around like a ballerina, arms up over her head and doing the odd arabesque, when suddenly she says, “Hey Jilly, can we show her the dirty move?”
• As you can imagine, Kayla and I both burst out laughing.  And then I had some explaining to do!!!
• Saturday I went to Renfrew with my friend Stacy, as she wanted to get her little guy Tanner his first haircut and pick up some groceries.  While we were there, we went to McDonalds.  I had my first taste of French fries since I gave them up for Lent.  I had a terrible weekend with food, once again (just too many parties!! haha!) but I don’t regret that Cheeseburger Happy Meal… especially the fries!  They were heavenly!  (Oh, and for the record, I ate Stacy’s fries, too.)

• Why didn’t I go for the Big Mac, you ask?  My all-time McD’s fave??  Still saving it… for what, I do not know.  But I knew my weekend was already going to be filled with too much food, so I need to save the Big Mac for another time.  It’s all about balance.  And to be quite honest, I really kind of enjoyed just the Happy Meal.  I was absolutely OK with it!
• Alrighty, I think that’s about all I have for day.  In closing, I’d like to share my new favourite song.  Here’s Train featuring Ashley Monroe, with “Bruises”.

Happy Tuesday, friends. :)

Linking up with Impulsive Addict & Shawn for Talk To Us Tuesday as well as Stacy Uncorked for Random Tuesday.