don't save something for a special occasion.
every day of your life is a special occasion.
~thomas monson
love your people.
hug your people.
set out the good dishes.
use the favorite blanket.
make a special cup of coffee for your best friend.
buy an ice cream cone for your kiddo.
sit and talk.
hold hands.
do what your heart is telling you to do for the people in your life.
because every day of your life truly is a special occasion.
gratitudes today ::
the cup of fresh, warm coffee my friend stacy brought me tonight when she picked me up for our city council meeting
a friend who shares clothes
sunshine on a day that i thought was forecast to be cloudy
my tuesday morning meeting group
reasons to be up and away from my desk often today
sweet potatoes
people who offer sincere compliments
friends who ask hard questions and have real conversations
finding ways to share our home
all four of us plus one at home, ready to settle in for the night
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being thankful is not always experienced as a natural state of existence,
we must work at it, akin to a type of strength training for the heart .
– larissa gomez
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but thanks be to God,
who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession,
and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
2 corinthians 2:14
this month is full, full, full
but a lot of the things are going to be very happy things
some paid days off {for ben and me}
some days off school {for madi and isaac}
a choir concert {that madi will sing in}
a rock concert {to be preformed by some schoolmates - our tickets are purchased!}
the first hockey games of the season {that isaac will play in and ben will coach}
ben's birthday {not his 43rd, as he keeps telling me - i don't know why he wants to add a year?}
thanksgiving {accounting for some of the days off and reminding us to be thankful always}
the 20th wedding anniversary of b+e {yes. that says 20. ben and i just keep looking at each other and commenting on this fact in amazement.}
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at times our own light goes out
and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude
of those who have lighted the flame within us.
–albert schweitzer
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"you will be enriched in every way
so that you can be generous on every occasion;
your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."
2 Corinthians 9:11
i feel like i am swimming upstream.
or like i am slogging through thick, deep mud.
or that i am on a beach of loose rocks that make every step shifting and difficult.
there is so much on my mind - and not enough room to process all of it. so where to even start.
the to-do list at work. it feels awkward because i don't have an assistant and there are multiple zoom and conference calls schedulued for this week.
the 1,451 COVID tests that were done in our community on friday and saturday are weighing on my mind - what might the results do for our slowly reopening way of life?
also, so much to read and learn and process about how people live and move and share space - thoughts to think, words to write, books to read, history to unlearn and learn.
it is fire season, and all that entails - stretches of time apart from each other, reunions to look forward to and process.
isaac and maddie are 15 and almost 17, and parenting is amazing and hard and wonderful.
my parents were going to come visit us in a few days. now, because of all the unknowns with COVID, they aren't.
this evening, i sat in my backyard for a couple hours and moved with the sun, like some creature intent on staying in the warmest, brightest slivers of light. my skin is warm and brown and salty. summer is my best habitat.
two lists that have been in my notebook for just over a week now:
the one on a yellow post-it is all instagram accounts - some i have followed for a long time, some i have found recently - all of which have helped me learn and learn and learn. i can tell you, from experience, that having variety in my feed has changed me, in a lot of really good ways.
please consider following some, any, all of these, and reading and reading - listening. if you have questions - scroll back in the feed - read more - follow the thread, the rabbit-trail, do the work of learning. allow the feelings. search your heart.
i taught myself, some time ago, to read reviews / comments with the intention of hearing why those who like something or agree with it - why they do, and then why those who don't like it or agree with it - why they don't. this is a really great way to search out why you may or may not like it or agree. if a post brings a lot of emotions or thoughts to the surface - examine those, sit with them, and sort through the why.
the list of names is all women i know who either have a husband or partner and/or children who are Black or Indigenous, or People of Color. these women are people i know, who have names, who are REAL in my life. these women are a tangible expression of the reason my heart aches and i write and i speak and i act and i work toward the recognition of and changes for BIPOC. these women and their families matter to me and are worth my emotion and my time - also my work and my effort. these wives and partners and mothers should have many, many moments of true peace and pure joy when they think of their loved ones.
please, my friends, continue to learn, to go, to love fiercely, and to be wonderful.
with so much fierce love, e
1. i have been writing a list of ten almost every day since april thirteenth. i was inspired by @alisha_sommer on instagram.
2. it is fun/funny how writing the heading sometimes creates the first sentence i write.
3. for example: ten. four. 1. writing ten. four. reminded me of riding with my dad in his work truck when i was a kid and hearing him check in on the radio. 2. federal firefighters and dispatchers don't say "ten-four" they say "copy".
4. and today: ten. thirty-nine. 1. 1039. (ten-thirty-nine) the maximum number of hours in a six-month seasonal hire for the feceral government.
5. some days, i don't quite get ten. sometimes just nine. one day only two.
6. once in a while, it's eleven or twelve. or i pick up my journal and add a quote or something that i want to remember.
7. on april 28, there were only six. but number six was "time doesn't matter - only presence" (alisha sommer) and i felt like the number of items didn't matter, only that i had written a few.
8. this exercise has been helping me get back into journaling consistently, and i like it.
9. it seems that when i am listing, i give myself permission to write snips and bits and get a broader picture of my day than i do when i feel like i need to write whole paragraphs and complete sentences.
10. writing a list lets me say the hard things on a line or two, process them, and then write a good thing on a line or two. i like this practice.
{out for a snowy, cold walk with ben and isaac}{fresh haircut; i still cut my own hair. i have for 8 years.}
{good words and coffee, always and ever.}
{more snow, more sunshine. i document the sunny days . . . }
{purple, purple, and more purple birthday gifts for my sister. she is one of my february people.}
{evening light and some favorite knick-knacks}
{winter blues - working on chasing them away with fruit and exercise and a few go-rounds in the tanning bed}
{more good words and coffee. and chocolate.}
{more chocolate - find the recipe to this invention on my instagram.}
hello my friends,
and hello to this space.
i have been remembering when i used to feel terrible for missing one day of blogging . . . i posted pictures and wrote something almost every day for the first years of this blog . . . as life has moved along, my posting has become every more sporadic . . . and now, i have missed a full month . . . nothing from me here in january.
that certainly doesn't mean that nothing is happening! i do post something on instagram most days - little snippits and tidbits and bits of sunshine. and that link should work whether you have an instagram account or not. and i am telling myself that it is ok that i have not blogged so regularly over the past few years.
but! i am also reminded of how much i really do love to blog. the act of taking pictures and choosing pictures to share is good for my mind, my heart, and my soul. the act of putting words together and publishing them is also so good for my mind, my heart, and my soul.
i am joining 30 days of lists for the month of march. i will be writing in a beautiful journal that my mom made for my birthday last year, i will be posting on instagram, and i will blog here. every day. in march. as a gift to myself.
there will be coffee and treats, sunshine and grey skies, joy and certainly some bumps in the road, realness and rawness, gentleness and fierceness, evenings at home and evenings on the road, words read and words written, music and laughter, conversations and silence, hugs and kisses, and so many bits that make up a month - so many bits that will make up the month where exactly mid-way, i will turn from 38 to 39 - the month in which i will make a list of 40 things to do before i turn 40 (with a nod to a friend of mine who is ticking off her 40 before 40 - and that seems like fun!).
so - friends, here's to 30 days of pictures and writing.
go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful.
love, e
one morning, drinking my coffee outside, i heard a crazy chittering.
there were three sparrows in the parking lot.
chase. chitter. flutter.
then toward my car. two under. one up and over.
then around the corner and away.
i doodled my way through election judge training
i have SCOBY eating sugar and growing me good bacteria in a big jar on my counter. i have little jars filled with kombucha tea, fruit and fruit juice to make my tasty pro-biotic brew.
my friend beth saves me the starbucks rewards starcodes from all her bags of coffee beans.
she gave me fifteen of them the other day.
starbucks.com only allows two starcodes to be entered per day.
i've been entering two at a time . . .
i'm getting to the end of them . . . and i'm close to earning a gold star!
(and find out what that means, exactly.)
two friends in the past two weeks have told me that they actually picture me with a nose ring
ben would smile about that and say, "see! you should get one!"
skype is weird
so good to see his face in real time, but made me want to cry
. . . so close, but 1700 miles away . . .
i like talking on the phone and texting better
the kids' room had looked like a total bomb went off in there.
we spent quite a few hours on it over the course of a couple days. now, it looks grand!
that was a job well-done - and, so far, they are keeping it that way!
they've been cleaning up after they play - it's wonderful!
i finished giving myself a haircut at 1:30 am . . . after talking to ben one night
the tree windchime? i gave myself permission to buy that
i've had my eye on it since last summer
there are two little birds at the top, sitting in the tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g
i love fresh air and cool water.
jumping in, climbing out. jumping in, climbing out.
the sandy bottom beneath our toes.
the moving-right-along of the river. a clear-glass wind-less night on the lake.
good friends. laughter. the wonderful work of playing and enjoying.
play and enjoy and be wonderful, my friends.
love, ~e
here's a silly meme to try
go to google.com
type in
Unfortunately, (your name)
read what comes up
laugh
be thankful that you aren't so unfortunate as your namesakes
here are 10 of mine ::
Unfortunately Elizabeth didn't win yesterday on Celebrity Jeopardy! but in my opinion she was great and obviously she gave her best to win!
Unfortunately, Elizabeth
died from heart failure at her home in New York City on 26 October
1902, nearly two decades before women were granted the right to vote in the U.S.
Unfortunately Elizabeth
did not long survive (dying in 1841) and her work was translated into
lithographs by H. C. Richter and published under his name.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth soon found that the demand on her resources outweighed the supply.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth's busy schedule prevents her from being able to respond to individual inquiries about feline health problems.
Unfortunately Elizabeth II is a moron, her son is a fool despised by the country
Unfortunately, Elizabeth and the rest of the family hold him in utter contempt.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth finds her father to be dull as a dishrag, and begins spending her time with the rakish artist.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth doesn't want to finish her latest book because she'll have to finish off her hero, too.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth makes a fatal mistake.
These made me laugh. And made me thankful that I am alive, I have the right to vote, my father is not as dull as a dishrag (though my husband is a bit rakish - in only the very best and most exciting sense of the word!), and as of yet, I haven't made any fatal mistakes!
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Thanks for all the coffee cup love yesterday! I thought it would be fun to tell you about the items in the picture.
That fun cup was my grandma's. The napkin is one of a huge pile that I got on clearance and used as curtains in one of my college apartments (I folded them in half - triangle-style - with the flower corner pointing down, and double-side taped a row of them up over each window as a valance.); now they are napkins again. The plate I also bought before I headed off to college. Green glass. I think they were 2 bucks apiece at Target. The table cloth is from the dollar store and it is stapled to the picnic table so it won't blow away.
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Here's wishing you all a very fortunate day!