Well, I've been a little scattered to the wind lately. We left last Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving holidays with the family in Florence. When we go to Florence, we always stay with my grandparents. Somehow I always end up sleeping in the strangest of places. With all of the beds occupied, I either find myself on the couch (which is too short), in a recliner or on the floor. My grandfather is the Gadget King of the Southeast, and he has an inflatable mattress that I have also tried. Only problem is, the mattress has a slow leak, so by morning the mattress has deflated itself.

This year I went to Linens -N- Things and bought my own blow-up mattress, twin size, with a little pump and everything. It was interesting. This one had no leak, so it stayed inflated all night. I think I may have inflated it a little too much. It was so tight that you could bounce a quarter across the room on that thing. It was a little like sleeping on a beach ball. If I moved my feet, my head would bounce. By the third night, I had started to adjust, but alas, it was time to come home.

The Friday after Thanksgiving I took my dad shopping. This was his first time to experience Black Friday. I tried to tell him that we needed to be out and about by 5am, but he was foursquare against it. So we arrived at Kohl's at 7:15. It took each of us approximately 15 minutes to find what we came for, and we got in line to check out. At 9:00 we finally reached the cashier. He was appalled. I tried to tell him. People go crazy on Black Friday. It's like a full moon or something. You risk life and limb to save a dime. Actually, we calculated that we saved $1 per minute that we waited in line. Either way, it's a mad, mad world.

Yesterday my parents came over and helped me drag the Christmas decorations down out of the attic. We put up trees and strung lights. We even put some lights in the bushes out front. It was a good time. In the process, I also got to meet my new neighbors for the first time. I am ashamed to say that they have lived next door to me for a few months now, and this is the first time we have met. They seem sweet. A newlywed couple. It's sad to me that we have become so seclusive as a society. Even among families, gatherings seem to be smaller and less often.

I watched a few minutes of Diary of Mad Black Woman yesterday, and was touched by the scene where Madea is on house arrest and the family is having a BBQ in her front yard. Kids running everywhere, people dancing. I long for a community spirit like that, whether it's in the form of a biological family or simply a gathering of close friends and neighbors. I can remember growing up, we spent so much time with family. We were always at each other's houses. Every Mother's Day, we all descended on my great-grandmother's house. There would probably be 40 people spilling out into the yard. Kids everywhere. It was great. We've moved so far from that place in our society.

Speaking of seclusion, today I had what I call a "me" day. I spent the entire day hanging out with myself, celebrating me and relaxing. Today is my birthday. I slept late, got a facial, pedicure and mini massage. I blasted praise music in the car, browsed at the camera shop, bought myself a present, and took a nap. All in all, it was a fantastic birthday. I feel refreshed and renewed.

Yesterday's sermon at church was about taking a Sabbath for ourselves, slowing down, saying no, etc. I have been so frazzled lately, going to Atlanta and back several times this month, being backlogged at work, eating unhealthy crap, letting the housework slide. Today has been so nice. No fast pace, no one asking me a million questions, no demands. I have even decided that I am going to attempt to fast from TV from now until Christmas. I believe TV only adds to my stress because it allows me to waste so much time. I want today to be like my own personal "new year's day." I guess for me is, it truly is! This year I am going to try to take better care of myself. I'll make no grand proclamations, because I always seem to fall short of those. But I discovered today that I actually enjoy me. I enjoy hanging out with me. I'm fun to be around! I deserve to be taken care of and treated well. And I owe it to others to give more of myself.

Maybe this year will be about the quest for balance. Seclusion does have its place, but service does as well. This year I hope to learn new ways of focusing on myself, while fine-tuning my ability to focus on others in a healthy, unselfish way.