μῆνιν

μῆνιν (mainin) -

Ancient Greek vase with Achilles(left)
playing a board game with Ajax (right).

 One of the greatest words in the Ancient Greek vocabulary! The opening word of the Iliad. It means anger or wrath. I had a very long post written as to why I've been thinking of the Iliad and of μῆνιν. It was entirely too self indulgent. I decided instead to replace it with the these thoughts. I am conjuring up images in my mind of me as the warrior Achilles, decimating any and all obstacles that come into my path. I have for many years believed in the power of mental imagery. I am the great warrior Achilles which makes me virtually unstoppable. (Not even by my Achilles heel, that myth does not develop until years after the Iliad was written.)
 Achilles' greatest asset was not his brute strength but his complete lack of fear. Obviously I AM afraid or I wouldn't have to keep imagining that I'm not afraid of anything. The near future is quite uncertain and I feel pretty anxious. I'm the type of person who needs to have my life plan written out on paper; preferably color coded and in chronological order. But life is not so neat and tidy. I'm trying very hard to just roll with the punches but that's not my strength. Which really means that faith is not my strength. 
We are so blessed. We have been surrounded by so many guardian angels!  My visiting teacher Suzana (I love her!!) gave me a gift for my classroom that says"Angels Gather Here". But it really suits my home even better. I can't think of a better way to describe it. My home truly has been the gathering place of angels. I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of us and knows us. We've been looked after during these hard times. I'm so grateful to my sister, Jay. She'd been telling me for months and months that we should come live with her. She's been going on and on about how easy it would be, how much space they have for us (including the dogs), how happy I would be if I just waited until next school year to go back to work. She'll never know truly what it means to me. It broke my heart when I realized I would not be able to return to work. But all I had to do was call Jay and say "we're coming". She made it so easy that I didn't even have to ask. In fact my mom and my sister Dondi had both been making the same offer. I spoke with my wonderful grandma a couple of days ago and she also made it clear she would love to have us. I've received multiple phone calls already offering to help with the packing and loading. Wow. Just wow. All this love and support really does make me feel like an epic warrior! I feel like a need a superhero catch phrase...

Cowabunga! 

I've got the power!

If you haven't read the Iliad leave your computer screen right away and go find yourself a copy!

(thank you for indulging my classical whims! Some times I can't help myself but most times I don't want to help myself.)

The great "warrior" Ajax who had to stretch his head forward and lay it
on Matt's shoulder the entire ride home from Mexico. Mighty Warrior!