Friday’s 5: August 28, 2020

Five moments of gratitude from this week:

Hurricane Laura did not cause the problems that were predicted in my town. A huge sigh of relief. In the days preceding her arrival, I prepared in ways I never have before. I took stock of things, considered things, thought I might be waking to or watching century old trees bend and maybe fall. But it did not come to pass.

I learned some important truths from those preparation hours. I hope I carry them with me for a long time.

My youngest granddaughter turned one this week. It was a flash of a fast year, and she has made me look closer at everything. She continually breaks into a smile, and I know that deep within her soul must reside some hidden truth. Everyone who spends time with her comments on this special calmness she exudes. I know she will continue to teach us.

Another part time teaching job started this week, and it was a much different start than any previous year, but it was a start with face to face people and no virtual teaching (for the moment), and I am grateful for the time we have to meet and talk and learn in a real space in real time. Sure, it is stressful. Yes, there are complicated scenarios playing out daily. Still, as I entered that college classroom, I felt like I could be real and honest and that my students could, too. We are doing our best.

As much as virtual teaching worlds aren’t my fave, I certainly am grateful for what the virtual world offers me in communication time with my loved ones. Skype sessions with my daughter and my grandchildren gave me cherished times this week. Moments of connection and realization that the word temporary is one I repeat often.

Until face to face time is possible for us, this is a lifeline of love that I am continually grateful to have.

I picked some marigolds before the storm, and as I did I thought oh I’ll be sad to see these blown away. But, no blowing away occurred, so last night before bed, I placed the little juice glass bouquet on the altar in my home, and I felt a moment of mutual understanding between me and the universe. I recognized the miracle of seeds in a pack sent from a friend to my hand. Careful planting and watching with children who cannot be with me at the moment, but were part of the nurturing. A summer of good sun and good rain and growth. Buds, blooms, beauty. A picking and appreciating and then offering to the Unseen who let this storm pass us by.

I’m asking you to join me in prayers of gratitude this week for the smallest things. The things in front of us that we see and the things just out of our sight that maybe we are spared. Likely, this happens more often than we imagine.

I believe a sincere thank you is one of the most beautiful forms of prayer.

This week, I prayed those words a lot. I hope you did, too.

Friday’s 5: August 21, 2020

Today I’m doing a quick flip back…a look through my journal from the past week. Let my eyes land on five random moments and let them live happily here. Memories of goodness from the previous week.

Oddly, I am writing this entry super early in the day. Not so oddly, my schedule is always a bit off in August. I started teaching part time this week. The back to work time generally spins routines around a bit.

This week, it was a literal spin with the unwelcome visitor Vertigo showing up. We all say of course by now. Another #2020 eye roll. Thankfully, I have a set of exercises for that, so it passed quickly and I made it through the day with no problems. Count every good as a win, my friends. And, when we feel good, let’s remember to be grateful, too. Noted. I am planning to do quite a few little things today…things that I couldn’t do if the room was spinning. So, I am grateful.✅

I sat outside a lot this summer, and I hope to continue that practice for as long as I can. Waiting quietly in nature solves a lot of problems and opens our eyes to new possibilities. Sometimes I write outside, or knit, or make art. Mostly, I sit and watch. Time well spent. ✅

The pumpkin seeds I planted last month have taken off, and I learned their lesson: they open their beautiful blooms early in the day. If you wait too long, they are still pretty, but different. I guess I never realized all the adjustments nature makes minute by minute. ✅

My niece left a mailbox surprise this week: zinnia seeds for a future day! So kind…and as I look out toward my happy flower patch this season, I think I will cut a bouquet to celebrate that on this Friday, there is still plenty of beauty around…both in the thoughtfulness of others and in the joy to come. ✅

Finally, I started a new part time job this week. I am a teacher in the adult education program in my town, and I help students work toward their ESL or HSE certificates. As always, meeting my students and learning about them has started this season off well. They showed up in masks, but the masks did not conceal their determination and grit. They have goals. They are ready to work. I am ready to help them. ✅

Have a terrific weekend, dear readers. Find a moment or more to get outside and find the healing in nature. Surprise someone. Pick a flower. Plant a seed. Help someone learn. Live in grateful wonder. ❤️

Xoxo

Friday’s 5-August 14, 2020

Here we are, dear readers. We are on the threshold of fall, and even though I write these words on a hot summer evening, the weather guy promises fall like temps for next week.

Looking forward…

Oh, I am aware we are supposed to live in the moment we are in. I got the memo.

But isn’t it nice to dream? To imagine the autumn breeze ripple through the trees and make us consider a sweater on a morning or evening walk?

Let us be happy in the possibilities today…maybe even let that be a goal for the week ahead. To look forward in hope.

I like the verse from scripture that says I lift my eyes unto the hills from where my help comes. To me, that verse is hope filled. We look up and wait for the good that’s coming. It’s in the hills or around the corner or somewhere just barely out of sight.

It’s actually the 121st Psalm and I had to look it up because 1) I always forget the number and 2) obviously I’m missing a few words in my revision above.

But, here it is: will you read it aloud with me? It’s like a poem, and I believe there is power in the spoken word:

Psalm121

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

² My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

⁸ The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Beautiful words.

As a lot of us continue to or prepare to go out into this strange world, let us go armed with faith and hope. And of course, love.

This week, I had at least five unexpected good things come my way. A friend texted me to see if I had time to talk. She couldn’t have known, but at that exact moment, I was really wanting to talk with a friend. Another friend brought a beautiful bouquet of surprise sunflowers to my door on her way to work. That took some effort and was out of her way. It meant a lot. Another friend and I had our frequent art/cooking/politics/poetry talks that go on for hours. My two oldest grands sent me funny emojis at the same moment I was sending some to them. Two vendors at the farmers’ market filled my bags with way more produce than I purchased.

Little things…a common thread: people.

The power we have to bring hope to others.

I bet you had some good things happen, too.

I’d love to hear them. I hope you’ll look for five more this week. Good things are coming all of the time. Lift your eyes. Look.

Take good care, dear readers. I believe in prayer, but I also believe in masks and science. And kindness.

xoxo

Friday’s Five:August 7, 2020

I almost titled this entry “Friday’s Five and so is Sofia” but decided I would just write it here in the first paragraph. ❤️

My sweet granddaughter makes the top of my list tonight because her life has brought and continues to bring a lot of joy. Children do that, as a rule. We can learn so much from them. Think of yourself on an age 5 birthday. Can you? I really cannot, but I know people were loving me and I was living a great life.

I bet all of us were enriching other people’s lives at age five. Interesting to think about, really.

I wonder what she will remember from today and what will be forgotten.

These days, many of us might like to forget a lot of what is happening. We are waiting for a better day…a day when things seem not quite so hard, not so complicated.

Yet, while we wait, someone puts candles on a cake. Someone sings a song. Somebody says I love you. Someone unwraps a gift. Someone says thank you. So much goodness.

This week, a former colleague wrote to tell me her child still cherishes a simple blanket I made for him years ago. She said some nice words. They warmed my heart.

Then a day later, she sent this picture.

I had forgotten that I had made this little card for her. The back of the card showed 2009. I thought of how much my life had changed since that year. I remembered then I had made little magnetic cards for all the teacher interns that year as a parting gift.

This card meant something to this person, though. She wrote that she keeps it out in her classroom, then carefully files it for safekeeping until the summer is over. She’s been cleaning and preparing her room and sent me the reminder of more than just the card.

All this to say: we do things today that seem like nothing…and find out later, they were something to somebody.

Sofia doesn’t know today how much her smile lifts my heart. How her I love you, Loulou uplifts me. How she stays with me even when we are not together, like during these crazy covid days.

So, keep doing the good things. They come back to us in ways we never expect. Walk on and remember that your gifts do matter, no matter how small. Words on a card, people. And if someone has helped you or lifted you or encouraged you, for God’s sake, tell them. We really do not have time to waste thinking people know anything. Your words could be the lifeline they need.

Do five good things. This is my challenge to you this coming week. Bonus points if they involve telling people their lives have touched yours in a precious way.

Be safe. Honor your life and your gifts. Make your days worth remembering. 🌟

Friday’s Five: Bye, July 7/31/2020

Hey July 31…this was a fast month, especially when I consider I have not been anywhere of consequence 😂…

Still, the days do pass whether we fill them with good or not, so let’s try to find some good, shall we? But safe good. Masked good. Socially distanced good. Please and thank you.

It’s still possible, dear readers. And necessary.

This afternoon, I spent the better part of an hour watching hummingbirds. They dip and dart a lot, but they rest a lot more than I believed they did…hmmm. Lots of lessons in nature.

Earlier this week, I watched (via video) my youngest grandchild clapping her hands to sweet encouragement from her daddy. I’m not sure which brought me more delight: her new skill, his voice, or her moving toward him at the end of the clip.

Unexpected and joy filled texts came this week: one contained a poem from Tupac Shakur…maybe you know it:

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.

https://allpoetry.com/The-Rose-That-Grew-From-Concrete

I don’t know…I read lots of poems and post them on social media…but to receive one from a student out of the blue because of something I said or did…well, it makes the cut this week of five fab things. 🌹

My little backyard raised bed garden has recovered from an evil hornworm that stripped my tomatoes down to stalks. A few minutes of reconnaissance and removal of said critters, and leaves returned, blooms are back, rains came to help out. I may see a few fall tomatoes. Never give up…good things have a way of coming back around.

The marigolds and zinnias never suffered. They likely kept me out there, looking when all seemed lost.

Oh, I’ll end with this one: my daughter finally received a care package I mailed four months ago. Covid seems to have its grip on every little thing…but something jarred loose somewhere along the way, and that delivery gave me hope for future ones.

So, let us keep hoping and living and reading good things and reveling in nature and welcoming all the surprises that are coming.

It’s already August as I press publish. May it bring many more good things to us all…