Five on a Monday 6/28/21

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to a new week.

Last week of June (hard to believe) and summer hasn’t really been a resting respite yet…busy days, but no complaints.

Since I failed to post Friday, I thought I’d start this week off with five good words:

Helpers

Word bringers

Readers

Givers

Show-uppers

Each word embodies some element of surprise that found its way to me last week.

Helper:

Early last week, I opened the back of my vehicle to retrieve papers for class, and a wind captured them and spun them in a white whirlwind up/over/down/all across a parking lot. As I shook my head and began trying to get them all, a young man ran out of the building to come to my assistance. We laughed and introduced ourselves and I give thanks that coming to one’s aid is still happening in 2021.

Word-bringers:

Two loves give them to me every time I see them, and they obviously know two of my fave places:

I love you all the way to Santa’s workshop.

I love you all the way to Prague.

Well. That’s abundance. ❤️

Reader-Writers:

A dear friend met me for coffee, and waiting was a new (to me) poem and handwritten quotation she’d brought as a welcome. How lovely to know a friend who makes the ordinary extraordinary on a regular basis.

Givers:

A new Madonna made its way to my hands late in the week—this gift from someone who is walking a hard walk right now, but looked beyond herself to give to me. She will be ceremoniously welcomed at our outside altar this week.

Shower-uppers.

Oh, Ollie. A week ago I didn’t know her, but a little stray cat found her green eyed way here. And she has given us smiles and a reminder that there is always something good waiting right around the bend (literally).

The common thread: surprises. Surprise-ers. The gifts we bring by being ourselves.

Good news has already found its way to this week, but I’ll save it until Friday.

Have a good one, folks. I know there is a lot of hard. Seeing the good doesn’t make the hard go away, but it’s a nice traveler to accompany us on the way.

✌️🕊☮️

Friday’s Five-June 18, 2021

You know that little tone most vehicles have these days that reminds us when our fuel is low? That’s leading my list tonight. I usually don’t forget, but this time the fill-up slipped past me. Life happens. Luckily, there was no shortage of gas stations nearby. Easy fix. What could have been a problem? No problem.

Air conditioning is a close second. We are sweltering in Texas right now. My AC stopped working for a brief time earlier in the week, but thanks to good repairmen, we are back on track.

Grocery drive ups. This order, park, and nice people load your groceries is a process I had to come around to, but I’m around to it now. All the ways life can be a bit easier, if we allow it.

A belated birthday celebration with a dear friend. We, like most good friends, have witnessed each other through years of good, bad, and weird days. Add a pandemic to our history now. To have someone you can be real with is seeming remarkable to me lately. I’m not in the business of taking the good people and things for granted.

Airplanes. I see more of them in the skies lately. Sometimes I snap a pic of one as it flies over. Yeah, kind of strange to some of you, but airplanes are my portal. My reset button. My respite symbol. I’m happy to say for the first time in a long time, the places I want to go to and come from are opening up.

Gratitude in abundance for little and big blessings this week.

Possibilities

And…

To all my USA friends who are cheering the decision to make Juneteenth a national holiday. We know it’s overdue. But finally, a step. May the decision lead us all to look back and learn or relearn what is necessary.

Take care, dear readers.

Remembering the fathers and other men walking among us and beyond us this Father’s Day weekend. Thankful for the ones I knew and know.

🌟

Friday’s Five —6/11/2021

Hi everyone,

Have you noticed that children really do live life?

I’m not saying it’s always fun…and I’m pretty sure most kids would be able to tell you that is an understatement, but if we ever get to a point where we are wondering where the joy is, where the purpose of life is, one sure way to rediscover it is to spend time with a little one and take their lessons to heart. They are all in.

This week I was witness to several things that little ones get happy about:

🌟Mashing the potatoes.

When was the last time you delighted in running a spoon or fork around the inside of a pot of steaming hot potatoes? Knowing you wanted to help, asking for what you wanted, delighting in setting a table and serving someone else? Making patterns and designs in the spoonful on your plate? Enjoying every bite?

🌟Riding with all of the windows down.

Yes, it’s noisy. Yes, it ruins all the cute hairstyles. Yes, I’ll still do it for as long as they request it. A simple push of the button that brings giggles and handclaps and smiles. Cute hair is so overrated. Go wild, honey.

🌟Experiencing adventures and field trips and all kinds of surprises.

Today the going was good: blueberry strawberry smoothies from a new place in town. I ordered two smalls, knowing the youngest with me could share sips. For some unknown reason, the worker gave us an extra one when he returned with our order. Enjoy it … this one’s on us. Oh. They thoroughly did. And that unexpected gift led me to think about how little kids, for a period of time, pretty much have to take what’s given to them. No words or specific directions for others = no choice. Even when they do have preferences, they’re not always honored. But today, through someone else’s seeing of the children, we all were fed, literally and figuratively.

🌟Jumping in the muddy puddles.

For lord above, we still have remnants of those. One place on the old patio holds extra water, and I’m often asked to not sweep that off. Because jumping. And splashing. Also—boot wearing. Every child I know owns boots. They are the symbol of adventure/safety/fun year round here. Few places are off limits outside when we are wearing our boots.

🌟Running to the dog.

Youngest grandchild makes a beeline for my grand-dog every time they see each other. She checks every porch-doorway if we are inside. I’ve watched this play out with my own children, grandchildren, and so many other little ones. The power of the animal world to soothe us, center us, delight us.

All the living in the moment. Enjoying the gifts of that specific moment. Giving voice to the needs and desires of the day. Sharing the light of our being.

A new little love was born this week, and while it may be months before I hold her, her birth has already caused so much joy and attention in my heart. Because life, friends. We are here to respect the wonder of it. Someone shared a passage this week that included the words look low. And here, today, I can look down and see lots of littles offering lots of goodness.

So, keep on walking and being part of the mystery, remembering all the truths are not in things or events or artificial entities. The truths are in us…the children remind us. ❤️

(Welcome to the world, Anna Jo. I’m so ready to learn from you, too.) 🌟

Friday’s Five- June 4, 2021

June already, dear readers! Time is flying fast to me these days. How about you?

This week I’m once again reflecting on five good things from the past week. I hope you’ll do the same. Look for the small decisions, small moments, small victories along with me.

For the past few years, I’ve participated in a daily art challenge called ICAD (index card a day). Its host and creator Tammy Garcia offers a lot of inspiration over at her blog Daisy Yellow. Look her site up for cool ideas and ways to participate:

https://daisyyellowart.com

While I’m choosing to keep my cards private this year, I am participating in a solo way. Actually, it’s hard to post cards and interact with so many other artists when working on a goal of less social media use, so while I will miss it, my personal goals win this season. ✅

Three little granddaughters are sleeping over at my house tonight, and while they started out together, currently each is slumbering peacefully in different rooms/areas. But sleep. Yes, yes, yes to blessed childhood sleep. And adult sleep on the horizon. ✅

I laughed when I looked at my to-do list a little while ago. I must have extremely high expectations of myself to think I’d accomplish much at all today besides playing, cooking, and talking. It’s ok. I’m learning most of my recent “to-dos” can be postponed a day or two with no big problem. That’s good. ✅

I started teaching a new class of college students this past week, and on the first day they participated in an icebreaker activity that resulted in some stories being told that were really moving. I’m reminded once again of the power of our stories. We are writing those stories, and that is a gift. ✅

I think my last thing to list is a culmination of a lot of small things from my journal that I want to remember: saw some California cousins who always inspire me (and don’t we all need people to motivate us?!), killed a poisonous snake in my front yard (not my fave moment, but I’m damn proud that I still have whatever it is that could make that happen), sat and stared at wild roses growing in my backyard, cooked fresh squash and zucchini, held some babies, sang some off key songs. ✅

Good night, dear readers. Here’s to always at least five moments worth remembering not only on Fridays, but every day. ❤️