Hey, You Guys! Thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving, if you are celebrating today! If not, happy fourth Thursday in November! Either way… I wanted to drop in briefly to say thank you. Thank you to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown and inviting me to join. Through them, I met this incredible online running community, which has been a source of inspiration, encouragement, and pleasure over the past year. Thank you to San for organizing our group for NaBloPoMo. Who knew people were blogging about crafts, poetry, reading, writing, cats, and the fascinating details of their lives in such insightful and hilarious ways? I discovered all sorts of new blogs that I love. Lastly, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog and kindly leave a comment. You put up with my meandering topics and blurry pictures, and I truly appreciate it. I hope you have a marvelous, fantastic, and astounding day!
It’s Almost Time for Holiday Themes!
It’s already day 24 of NaBloPoMo and the day before Thanksgiving. This means, of course, that it’s time to start thinking about our themes for the holiday. But first a quick update… After I wrote this post about my least favorite Christmas songs, several people chimed in with their support of “Last Christmas,” Nicole was possibly the winner, saying that she has a playlist of all the different versions of the song by different artists. Well, with all the discussion about it, now I can’t get it out of my mind. Arg! It reminds me of a story my mom told me years ago, about a friend of hers who actually needed some sort of therapy because she couldn’t get “It’s a Small World After All” from going through her mind incessantly. Even though I knew I shouldn’t laugh because it sounded like an actual mental health issue, I snickered a little over that. I hope, as a punishment for being so insensitive, I don’t end up in therapy because I can’t get “Last Christmas” out of my mind. ANYWAY! Every year around this time I somehow convince my family to join my in choosing holiday themes for the year. I got this idea several years ago from Gretchen Rubin’s podcast, Happier. She’s big on choosing themes. In this case, we take a phrase from a holiday song to be our theme for the season. Three years ago my theme was “Joy to the World.” Two years ago it was “Joyful and Triumphant”- I was having a really good year. My brother-in-law’s theme one year was “laughing all the way” and my son likes to make reference to the fact that we live in Florida- “all the way home I’ll be warm” and “roasting on an open fire” have been two of his. Then- 2020, sigh. My sister’s theme was “In the bleak midwinter.” Not exactly cheery! I decided on a phrase from the “sad” version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”- “next year all our troubles will be out of sight” was my theme for 2020. The problem is, I can’t seem to pick my theme this year. Usually something pops out at me, but not this time. I think it’s because I’m not sure how to feel about 2021. Is it better? Should I be joyful and triumphant? I can’t tell. You’d think with all the Christmas music I’ve been listening to in my car, something would have come to me. I thought about, as a joke, choosing my theme from the lyrics of “Last Christmas” but it really doesn’t work. “What a fool I’ve been?” No, that doesn’t seem right… “Once bitten, and twice shy.” No. Not very Christmas-y. Well, there’s still time! My goal is to pick my theme before NaBloPoMo ends. We’ll be decorating our tree on Friday, and my son has made a special playlist for the occasion- I’m hoping my theme will come to me then. In the meantime… I’m off to make pies! Do you ever choose a “theme” for the holidays? Do it with me this year!
5 (Unusual) Things I’m Thankful For
It’s day 23 of NaBloPoMo and two days until Thanksgiving! I know we’re all thinking about what we’re thankful for, but sometimes those lists are fairly predictable: of course we’re all thankful for our health, our families, having a roof over our heads… etc. Lately a few things have come to my attention that I’m truly thankful for- and I’ll bet these won’t be on anyone else’s list. 1. My right foot. I think I’ve written plenty on this blog about my “difficult” left foot. The plantar fasciitis, the peroneal tendinitis, the shockwave treatments, the pain of stepping down first thing in the morning. Last time I was at the podiatrist, he was telling my about a patient who had plantar fasciitis in both feet at the same time. I can’t even… how did this guy get out of bed in the morning? I rely heavily on my good foot, as I can hardly put any weight on my left foot for the first several minutes. If both my feet were affected I would literally have to crawl. Ever since my doctor told me that, I’ve been marveling at how perfect my right foot is- I mean, considering everything that could go wrong. It’s working perfectly! Thank you, right foot. 2. Sidewalks We live in an incredible area for running. We have miles and miles of wide, asphalt sidewalks. I can do a three mile loop, a four mile loop, or a six mile out-and-back without ever having to run on concrete, or the street. I’ve combined loops to make a long run, and I can also run on these sidewalks almost all the way to a trail (I do have to run about .5 miles on either the street or concrete if I want to get to the trail.) I can also run on the grass next to the sidewalk if I want- I haven’t been doing that lately because I feel like my foot needs a more stable surface. Thank you, to whoever had the brilliant idea to build these sidewalks in our neighborhood. 3. My left thumb. What? Another body part??? Well, you see… around the same time my foot issues started (April of 2020) I developed “trigger thumb” in my left thumb. It’s a condition where the joint locks up and you either can’t bend it, OR, if it does bend it gets stuck in the bent position. Arg. The only treatments I know of (that work) are steroid injections or surgery, so I decided to do nothing and see what happened. Well… a year passed. How in the world, you might be wondering, did I live with that for a year? Well, I could still move my thumb towards my other fingers- I just couldn’t bend it. Some people wear splints so their thumb (or finger) doesn’t get stuck bent, but my body took care of that for me- my thumb looked like a fat little sausage. The swelling kept the thumb from bending at all. Luckily I still had my good right thumb. Texting was probably the hardest thing, but other than a lot of typos, I managed to function. Just as I was starting to think I needed to go to the doctor, my thumb started to slowly, slowly loosen up. I started doing a little “therapy” on my own, because after not bending for a year, that joint was REALLY stiff. And now… it’s totally normal. I’m in awe that I have two working thumbs! Every time I bend my left thumb, it’s a reminder that my body can heal itself. Thank you, thumb! 4. Sunshine Autumn is hard in Florida because… well, we don’t get one. Everyone else is talking about amazing weather and leaves changing, and usually it’s still in the 90s here. But now that everyone’s talking about the cold up north, I’m reminded why I live here. I need lots of sunlight to be happy. I grew up in the midwest and I’ll never forget those cold, gray days. Thank you, sun! 5. Denis Morton Ha, well he might be on a few people’s list. The Peloton app for sure is making a lot of people happy. If I had to actually leave my house to go to a yoga class, there’s no way I would be doing it every day (or at all, to be honest.) The fact that I have hundreds of classes to choose from and can do it in my bedroom, for only $12.99 a month, is crazy. But Denis deserves a special shout out. I haven’t tried all the yoga teachers, but I tried a few and when I found Denis I just stuck with him. He understands me! He understands that my hamstrings are super tight, and that my adductors have no flexibility at all. Thank you, Denis! Do you have anything unusual you’re thankful for? Anything on my list that’s also on yours? (I doubt it!) I hope everyone is having a fun and festive week!
A Word Upgrade
Hello everyone and welcome to day 22 of NaBloPoMo! Lately I’ve been thinking about how powerful words are… how the simple act of using one word rather than another can change everyone’s mood in a moment. A couple different times lately when I’ve asked someone, “How are you?” they answered, “Fantastic!” I noticed that hearing the word “fantastic” gave me a little jolt of pleasure. Either the person was extremely happy in that moment, or they had made the conscious decision to spread positivity (I suspect the latter, because in one of the instances it was the person taking my order at Chipotle, and I don’t imagine that’s a job that sparks spontaneous joy.) Either way, I’m trying to incorporate “fantastic” into my vocabulary. And another word I’ve been embracing is “perfect.” To start with, I use it every time I do a massage. At some point in the massage, I ask the client to turn over. They also have to slide down to a slightly different position on the table, and you’d be surprised how difficult this is for people. They drag half the blanket with them, they frequently end up diagonal or way over to one side of the table. Some people have trouble turning over at all. When they’re finally turned they’ll usually say “Am I okay?” and (if they’re anywhere near the position I want them in) I’ll respond “You’re perfect!” Again, it’s funny what a little jolt of pleasure that gives me. I think it makes the client feel good as well- sometimes people will respond happily, “Oh! Good.” Sometimes they’ll even say “Oh, I’m perfect!” I could have said “you’re fine.” But why say “fine” when you could upgrade it to “perfect?” A third word I’ve been trying to incorporate is “astounding.” This one is a little more difficult. My Peloton yoga teacher used it the other day. He was explaining different ways you could modify a difficult pose- basically he was saying to do it in whatever degree you’re capable, but if you’re able to do the entire pose, “astounding!” I thought, ooh! I want to be astounding! And I want to use that word! The definition of astounding is “surprisingly impressive or notable” so it’s a little harder to insert into an ordinary day- I can’t really tell the Starbucks barista that my drink is astounding, or tell my client that they’ve turned over “astoundingly” without sounding like a kook. But I’m trying. What about you? Do you have certain words that you love to use? Have you ever noticed someone using a certain word and the effect it had on you? Have an astounding (heh heh!) day!