He Died for Me

The other Sunday during the morning service at church, a visiting Pastor from Chicago gave a sermon about God´s covenant with us. The way he spoke as he told the story brought tears to my eyes and chills up my spine, especially the moment that he talked about the Crucifixion. All I thought of was, so much love in such a painful act and he did it for me.  In the Pastor´s words: “You know why He did not hop off the cross and save Himself, after all He was the son of God and He had performed so many miracles prior to that moment? It would only make sense for Him to come off of that cross and destroy all the people around. But no! He did not do that, simply because He saw your face in the future. He obeyed the covenant He had with The Father and died so that you and I could have eternal life.”

So much love.

So much care for others.

No selfishness.

In all of God´s greatness I am just a speck of sand, such a tiny speck that can be swallowed up by the mass of different paths in this life. So much love is shed onto me every day when I open my eyes and take in a breath of the new day with new opportunities to appreciate each moment and be grateful.

There are days when He is walking beside me and there are other days when He is carrying me in His loving arms.

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

Written: October 8, 2015 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

Photo: Google Images

Sushi & Muffin

My days have become brighter since these two furry kittens walked into my life. A week before they were given to me, I had told my nephews that very soon I would adopt two cats, for it had been a whole year since Cookie had passed away. Although I did not have a clue as to when it would happen, I had chosen the names and the colors.

On a Monday night, a colleague of mine sent me a message with a picture attached to it saying that her daughter had found two small black kittens a male around two months old and a female around a month old. The male was very sweet. Along with the picture there was the question: Do you want them? I did not have much time to ponder. My heart jumped into my brain and I answered: Yes, both of them.

That night I couldn´t sleep. The next morning I would meet those two little creatures that would be sharing my home and which I would be responsible for. Although the colors were different from my original idea, actually only 50 %, I wanted a black one and a gray one, but I was getting two black cats.

I arrived at school real early and there they were waiting for me. On this day I only had two classes to teach, so taking them home meant just a couple of hours, still there was the question of where would they stay until the time I was able to leave?

We asked the guards at the gate if they could keep an eye on them. They were in a rabbit cage so it was not like they would be crawling all over the place. The guards agreed but after half an hour I was called and they told me they were going to keep them in the bike stalls because the tiny one wouldn´t stop meowing and it would get in the way of the classes that were going on in the classrooms near the entrance gate.

The meowing was driving me crazy. It was so loud that I could hear it from any spot in school. Finally, my classes ended and I drove them to the vet. After all, they had been abandoned and I wanted to make sure everything was alright. Besides I needed to leave them somewhere so I could go out and buy the necessary supplies to make them comfortable in their new home.

When I took them home, I kept them in the TV room. They were very tiny and a three-bedroom apartment can be quite adventurous and dangerous for such tiny curious creatures. As time went by, I started opening the doors to the other rooms for them to get used to, except the kitchen and my office. There are just too many things in those rooms for them to knock down. Yes, they knock everything down. I had to redecorate my apartment and get rid of plants and anything that could break and hurt them.

The first three months were filled with rough times; visits to the vet, medication, baths every week for fungus treatment, staying home with them to make them feel secure. When they recovered from all of this, it was time to have Muffin spayed.

They were used to going to the vet in the same carrier, so it was easy to get them in. On this day, however it was different, Muffin walked in first and I closed the door. He started to meow. Sushi stayed behind and meowed too. I cried. Muffin never meows. He likes to talk. (only cat lovers will understand). But on this day he hollered. I spent the whole day at home to calm Sushi because she was really stressing.

Same thing happened when it was Sushi´s turn a couple of months afterwards.

Sushi and Muffin are always together. Wherever one goes the other one follows along. I have seen some incredible scenes that only cat lovers will believe. I will tell you anyway because they are just so amazing.

One morning I saw Muffin sitting at the bathroom door. I looked at him and asked: Where is your sister? He looked at me and actually pointed up at Sushi who was on the bathroom sink. I was in awe. I tried it again, this time with a camera in my hand, but big fail. He is very smart. He looked at me as if he was saying that he had already answered.

Another time was one afternoon when Sushi was choking on something or was going to throw up. Muffin and I were in my bedroom while Sushi was in the hallway. He stopped, ran over to Sushi and started to pat her on the back as if to help her spit out whatever was bothering her.

Their favorite spot to rest is on top of me. But the only time both of them can get on top is when I am lying down. Muffin always needs to be closest to my face and if Sushi is there, he literally knocks her down and makes her move.

Sushi likes to play catch. She will bring a small ball to me and drop it on top of me while I am in bed. I throw the ball into the hall; she rushes to get it and brings it back. This can go on for a half hour. Then she gets tired and falls asleep. When this is happening, Muffin is just watching.

Muffin likes to drink running water. Whenever I am pouring water into their bowls, he hits it with his paw or tries to drink from the bottle. In fact, I had to by sturdy and heavy water bowls because he was knocking over all the light-weight ones.

When they sleep, most of the time they sleep hugging each other. What amazes me is that they sleep in the same position if they are apart. The heads turned to the same side. If one is lying on its back, so is the other one. It is actually an amazing sight. I have been getting some amazing pictures.

Today we celebrate seven months that they found me/ I found them. They were rescued just three days before a Friday 13, which is a day that people love to kill black cats to use in voodoo rituals ( now this is a whole story by itself ).

It is just so much love that has filled my home. I am truly grateful.

PS. Muffin has caramel eyes and Sushi has green eyes.

Written: October 10, 2015 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion ( MUFFIN)

Photo: Meire Marion

Photo: Meire Marion (SUSHI)

Immigrants

I am an immigrant, indirectly speaking. I was born in Brazil but my mother is from Portugal. My dad´s parents were Italian and Portuguese. And if we go back a bit further we will find ancestors from France and if we look way back even from an Asian country.

I am sure if everyone who is against immigrants reflected about it, they would come to the same conclusion: we are all immigrants except for the natives and even they could have migrated from other lands, so why all the commotion about immigrants nowadays?

If someone helped and accepted your ancestor in the past, why not help those who are coming to your country nowadays? I have read a lot of hateful remarks towards the issue. Stop being hateful towards others! Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to move and experience life elsewhere. We all live on this planet and we think that we are the owners, but I am going to tell you something which you may not know and is very important: we are not!

In my opinion, we are roommates sharing this beautiful planet. That’s what we are and not the owners of this blue ball. If we just learned to respect everyone and lend people a helping hand, I have a feeling that it would be a better place. I know you must be saying that I am a dreamer, as John Lennon once said and was, but the bottom line is that we are all the same and deserve the same opportunities.

I am going to share an episode that happened to me the other day in my neighborhood at the drugstore. My neighborhood is the place for the Haitians who are immigrating to Brazil nowadays. All around the neighborhood you see loads of Haitians speaking French, opening small businesses, hanging out together, walking around, and just enjoying life. Personally, I think they make the neighborhood a more beautiful place. Anyhow, I was at the drugstore and a woman had dropped something, I really did not see the object. A Haitian boy picked it up and in pigeon Portuguese and some French, tapped the lady on the shoulder and tried to return it. She screamed and instead of noticing what he was doing thought that he was trying to rip her off.  At the checkout line, she turned to me and said that she couldn´t wait to move out of the neighborhood because it was infested with “those kinds of people” (she pointed at the boy). I looked at her and wanted to tell her off, but calmly I said “Oh you mean helpful people, generous people, like the boy who returned what belonged to you? Hope you move away soon so more people like that young boy can move in.” She didn´t know what to say. Some people in line laughed and she felt embarrassed.

I do realize that there needs to be a certain control as to how many people should be in a place so that there will be equal wealth and health, however, if each one of us just helps those out around us, imagine how much better the whole world will be.

Written: October 7, 2015 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

Photo: Google Images
The Biggest Concentration of Immigrants in Brazil

Not Being Able to Go Along

Mixed feelings are running in and out of this mind that overthinks, according to specialist in the area of the brain. But then again, the feeling can be tagged as guilt. Guilt- for not being able to accompany a group of students on their week field trip. Nonetheless, it is not as if it was a personal opinion not to go. It was a medical demand. Guilt, guilt go away come back another day!

By going with the students, there is a load of stress that goes along with the job: the responsibility that everyone comes back in one piece, safe and sound; the lack of sleep because these teens have a different schedule and need for sleep; the bathroom schedules due to personal limitations; the special food that has to be taken along also because of personal limitations or should they called handicaps?

By going with the students, all the laughs, the pictures, the stories, the experiences and informal situations that tend to bring people together or make them grow apart, nevertheless, important for evolution and self-development.

By not going, there will be a lack of integrating with the students and colleagues in moments outside the classroom and work place. Not to mention the fact that while all the other colleagues are working extra hours, you get the time off.  Guilt has come back into the mind. Or is it the heart?

Therefore, by not going, there should be less stress during these days. Should be, but it is not like that at all and the bottom line is the helplessness of not being control of one´s own life, body and mind.

Written: October 6, 2015 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

Foto: Google Images