Happy Monday

This week I feel very sad for my baby brother. Friday morning I awoke to the news that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over the Ukraine. There were thirty-six Australian citizens on board and one of them is my brother's friend. My brother has suffered the shocking, unexpected loss of three loved ones in as many months and I can't begin to imagine the sadness in his heart.

I am so grateful, rather selfishly, that my brother wasn't on that plane. He is a jet-setting corporate and whenever there is a disaster my parents can expect an early morning phone call answered with a panicked "Where in the would is D at the moment?"

It seems futile to make a list of half a dozen things that made me happy when there are so many families out there wondering is they can ever be happy again. Much of what happens to us is outside of our control; what we can do is focus on making our own short time on the earth, and that of those whose lives we touch, the best it can be.

Things that made me happy this week:

:: Running for the train on Monday morning, and making it! It was a real 'Sliding Doors' moment. I'd prefer nothing else to mirror that film though...(pregnancy, death, short blond hair).
In fact I had very good public transport luck every day this week when I had to travel across town for my teaching block; managing to get connecting trains and trams. I know this sounds terribly mundane, but trust me, in Melbourne it's significant. There is also nothing like a 200m sprint to get the endorphins going of a morning.

:: Noticing this enormous clock in Melbourne Central. I am a bit in love with it but have never noticed it before. On Monday after the 'Sliding Doors' moment, it was gonging (is that a word) its 9 o'clock gongs as I ran through to catch the connecting tram. I got up a bit earlier the next day to take a picture of it.

:: Taking time to look up. It's a pretty little city I live in and I don't enjoy it enough.

:: Having the realisation that maybe one of the things I can offer the world is to make others feel better about themselves by admiting my weaknesses/insecurities. As we ploughed through long, incredibly tiring, blind wine tasting sessions in class I was pretty open about my panic that I was all over the place when it came to picking variety and region. The next day a few others told me they were relieved that they weren't the only ones feeling that way. United in noobery! :)

:: Amazing dinner made by The Bookworm. This is what turned up when I requested something low-carb and vegetarian on Thursday night (I usually just stirfry a bit of veg in tamari when I have to cook low carb veg stuff; I believe in potatoes and bread dammit). I think he should be writing the food blog.

:: Getting some absolutely lovely responses from you guys over my last couple of weeks of turmoil. I do feel very privileged to live in a world where it is so easy to connect with people.

Happy Monday.