Do you ever feel two ways about something at the same time? I am staring at a painting, that was created by an individual with a developmental disability at my old job. It is a really beautiful painting of 10 elephants on a green and yellow background. I purchased it about 10 years ago and love to look at it. At the same time though I get a little upset looking at it. We had hired a teacher to help people create and sell art but looking back he did too much. He wanted things to look a certain way and would get overly involved in the person’s work. I remember this client asking me if the teacher had to touch his stuff!
I don’t know how Mother Fran and Papa Jack did it but they managed to raise 9 kids who all love to read. How does that happen? In 2019, I had a goal to read at least 20 books. I am happy to report I easily met this goal. At the beginning of the year, I tracked the days I read for at least 5 minutes but no longer bother to do this. That helped me get in the reading habit and now the habit is firmly established! I thought I would share the books I read and put them into my favorite categories. Yup, you guessed it! Health, wealth and happiness!
I like to think I am a simple person, someone who is not complicated. Someone who puts on no pretenses and what you see is what you get. I lived in this fantasy world for most of my life until I went through a particularly challenging time and those rose colored glasses were scratched and then smashed. At least that is the time that I believe I started to wake up to my own complexity.
About 10 years ago, I went through a 1-2 year span where I lost five important people in my life. They ranged in age from 29-62. I felt numb for a long time and then I went through a difficult break up. Until that time, I was always able to put on a happy face. I could pull myself together and present myself as a composed, happy, easy going person. But by the end of that 2 year span, after losing 5 people who were too young to die and having my relationship crumble, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
Regardless of whether you are bold, strong, arrogant or brash. Whether you are meek, mild, timid or passive. Whether you are foolhardy, risky, daring or crazy. Life is going to knock you down. Other people are going to pull your kayak off-course. People you love are going to hurt your feelings. Your boss or co-workers are going to bug the living crap out of you. Accidents will happen, mistakes will occur. When life knocks us down, some of us whimper and cry, some of us swear, some of us yell. Some of us shrug our shoulders and move on.
I get knocked down but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down.
On Thanksgiving Day it easy to get caught up in the meal preparation, the company, the house cleaning, and the football game. It is hands down one of the best meals of the year and it is hard not to get pumped up for that. But Thanksgiving is really all about sharing and community; it is a great time to express some Tude (with a capital T). No -not attitude but gratiTude.
Thanksgiving is here and that means it is time to express some gratitude. One of my goals for this year was to keep a gratitude journal and write down at least three things every day that I am grateful for. I have done a good job writing in it every night before bed and the more I write in it, the easier it gets to think of three things.
I worked outdoors this morning in a steady but light rain. For four hours and fifteen minutes, I raked leaves, I piled leaves on tarps, I dragged leaves and I blew leaves all over the place. The temperature was 48 degrees and the sun was nowhere to be found. By the time I stopped, I was hungry, exhausted and rather wet!
Do you know what else I was? I was happy. Yup, happy. I am not the type of person to go to the gym. The thought of running scares me and taking an exercise class is not my idea of fun. Working hard in the fresh air until my muscles burn is my idea of exercise. Getting paid to do it is like icing on the cake. Would I have preferred some sunshine and a bit of warmer weather? Of course – but I can’t control the weather so why complain about it?
Fall is here and I have mixed feeling about it. On the one hand, I love how the leaves change on the trees and how this transforms the hills from solid green to shimmering shades of orange, yellow and red. I love how the days can still be comfy warm but the nights are chilly. The acorns are falling like crazy and Mother Fran keeps swinging her cane at them to push them off of the deck. Fall is a great time of year to go apple picking, pumpkin carving and hiking in the woods.
Fall is also when Mother Fran and Child #7 pack up and leave the lake to return to Florida for 8 months. I don’t like closing up the cottage and how the decks slowly look more and more empty. My little condo goes from being my bedroom to being a home for the furniture, kayaks and umbrellas. I don’t like as the days and nights grow colder and the trees become bare.
Never stop learning. I mean it. Never stop. It is the most critical factor I can think of that is required to live a meaningful life. I don’t know about you, but I believe living a meaningful life is way cooler than living a mediocre one. I have tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to build a few new habits this year. I wanted to blog for 5 minutes every day in order to post on My Little Blue Kayak 5x per month. Instead, I have been in a major slump all summer and am now kicking myself in the pants! I wanted to earn at least 1 CEU (continuing education credit) per month in order to earn 15 for the year. I believe I have earned 6 so far.
It is easy to write goals and even easier to promptly forget to address them. Writing this blog is one way I push myself to do better, to be better. Let’s face it, having to share one’s failures has a way of motivating one to do better. I know why I didn’t blog for 5 minutes every day, I know why I didn’t earn 1 CEU per month. I don’t need to make excuses, I need to do better. If you want to read about my goals, check out these posts. 5 Minutes is Easy, 2018 Goal Review, A Year in Review. As you can see, writing goals is important to me and finding ways to push myself to do and be better is critical if I want my life to mean something.
I wonder if my Nana knew on July 22, 1927 that she was giving birth to such an amazing person. Mother Fran will turn 92 in a few days and I am honored to be part of her family. My parents had nine kids, yup NINE! Each and everyone of us turned out to be pretty well-adjusted, happy adults. I think that is quite an accomplishment. My Mom is not super affectionate, she isn’t the type to brag about her kids, she isn’t even the type to tell you when she is proud of you. That being said, I have never doubted her love for me or for the rest of the extended family.
Mother Fran isn’t the only one to have a July birthday in my family. My Fenway turns 11 this month! I adopted her when she was 4 months old and as no one could give me an exact date of birth, I thought she should share with Mom. I can’t say that Mom was honored but she didn’t complain! Fenway has always been a bundle of joy (and energy) and has plenty of love to share. We are getting ready for a birthday brunch with 5 of the 9 kids, 1 grand child and 4 great-grandchildren. This family knows how to party!
When I tell people that Mom is turning 92, they usually respond with “bless her”. Personally, I think she must already be blessed to have reached her 90’s with her mind and body in pretty good shape! She keeps herself active by wearing her fitness tracker and playing cards with her kids. She says it is funny to walk into a room and know you are the oldest one there! In human years, even Fenway isn’t close to Mother Fran in age! If it wasn’t for the shades of grey around Fenway’s snout, you would think she was a puppy.
Mother Fran told me once that her love for me was “unconditional”. Isn’t that an amazing thing to say to your grown up daughter? I have never forgotten that or taken it for granted. Now Fenway can’t talk but I am willing to bet that her love for me is unconditional as well. This 92 year old woman and 11 year old dog have a whole lot of love to share and I am blessed to be firmly planted within that circle of love.
Who do you get a whole lot of love from? Go give those people and pets a great big hug, they deserve it! Today seems like a good day to make sure the people you love know how much they mean to you! There is no guarantee that you will have the opportunity to tell them when they reach age 93 or 12! If the person you need to recognize has passed away or is no longer reachable, writing a letter could be a good way to express your feelings and generate some happiness!
It is officially summer! Yeah! One of my yard work customers is 96 and yesterday she informed me that she was going to be outside working in her yard at 10 PM on the longest day of the year. I didn’t check in on her but I have no doubt that she met her goal! She makes me crack up laughing every time we talk; I am grateful for her.
I have been incredibly busy between yard work and my work at the nursing home. I have been working six days per week and really love my Sundays off. The funny thing is when I work at my yard work gigs, it barely feels like work. I am out in all kinds of weather, rain, sun, wind, hot, and cold. I do laundry pretty much every other day because I get so dirty. Good thing we have a washer and dryer in the basement! I am grateful for my yard work and for my washer machine!
One of my goals for 2019 was to start a gratitude journal and I am happy to report I have been writing in it pretty consistently. It sits on the nightstand next to my bed and every night when I crawl under the covers I jot down 3 things I am grateful for. I have noticed that the more I write in my journal the easier it is to identify 3 things to be grateful for.
I now find it easy to truly express gratitude for things that once would have been simply irritating. I am getting better and seeing the positive side of every day events. This is a skill that will help me for the rest of my life! Here are a few things I am grateful for today!
I am grateful I didn’t break my pinky finger when I slammed it in the folding table. I am grateful that the tree that fell into the lake didn’t hit the neighbors boat (it was really close). I am grateful that the cottage didn’t flood and Child #7 and Mother Fran didn’t need to evacuate in the storm. I am grateful my honey made it safely to Connecticut and is on her way home. I am grateful for my health, for my wealth (what there is of it) and for my happiness.
I believe gratitude has the ability to grow like compound interest! But in order to do that, it must be shared, it must be expressed. Let’s fill each others buckets by expressing our gratitude to our loved ones. It is one way to help save the world! When we quarantine gratitude it can not grow, it can not multiply. That is like the opposite of saving the world.
Go save the world by expressing some gratitude today! Happy Summer.
