Gratitude Friday

woodstreetmorningwalk02

1. Morning walks. My foot has been bugging me a bit this week, probably after the marathon week of walking when Eric was in Chicago, but I’m still so glad to be back on a more regular schedule with the morning walks.

woodstreetmorningwalk

2. My mom and dad. Their birthdays are one right after the other, April 12th and 13th, so I got to talk to both of them on the phone for a bit this week. I feel so lucky to have parents that are still married and still alive, and a little sad how unusual that is.

kclovenote

3. Kitchen counter love notes. He’s not any kind of artist and he has terrible penmanship, but somehow he manages to make the sweetest notes.

4. My dogs. I still miss my first two dogs, and in some ways they were easier, didn’t need so much special attention and care, were sweeter with each other than these two are, but Ringo and Sam are just so stinkin’ cute sometimes, so funny, such good dogs.

?

ringoyardlounging kitchenfloorsam springringolory

5. My Saucony collection. If I can’t wear sandals or clogs or flip flops just now, I at least have these. (Just to be clear, this photo wasn’t staged, I just walked out into the living room and noticed them like this, had to take a picture — I’m not so good about putting my shoes away, which is why almost every morning, I can be heard saying “where are my shoes?”).

saucony

Bonus Joy: Friday at the end of a very long and very intense week, snow coming but I have no plans and it’s the weekend and Eric will be home, getting good feedback on my work, butter lettuce, pine nuts, a warm shower, yoga, stretching, napping, good tv, a glass of clean cold water, donuts, lunch plans with a friend, getting our taxes done on time, snow tires just in case, massage, good books, a department retreat on Monday that I helped plan that I think is going to be really good, sometimes knowing what I’m doing, being able to let go of the things that just aren’t going to get done, being okay with not being perfect, sleeping in.

Three Truths and One Wish

From our walk this morning

From our walk this morning

1. Truth: Sugar is keeping me awake this afternoon. I don’t drink coffee, I can’t stop working just now to go take a nap, and I already tried taking a short walk to snap me out of my slump, so besides walking across the hall and asking my colleague to slap me every ten minutes, sugar is my only option left. I’m eating a donut right now, Old Fashioned Sour Creme Glazed Plain from Lamar’s Donuts, and a banana, all washed down with a big glass of water. We had a celebration this morning in the main office for “National Student Employee Appreciation Day,” so there were leftover treats and I’m taking advantage, even though I know it will only buy me another hour or two before I’m dragging again.

2. Truth: We’ve got more snow on the way. Depending on which forecast you look at, it’s either going to be a couple of inches or almost a foot. It’s going to be sloppy, crappy, dreary weather for the next three days. It’s totally normal for this time of year, but I sure was hoping to work in my garden this weekend, maybe even go hiking, and my dogs (well, Ringo) are much happier when they can go out in the backyard (Sam’s just as happy on the couch).

3. Truth: Environmental factors, internal and external, are real. As many affirmations as you throw at yourself, sometimes it’s cold and wet and muddy and sometimes you are super tired and can’t think straight and that’s just the way it is. As positive as you might try to be, there are real conditions that you have to work with, work around, work through. I can’t make myself not be tired just by wishing it (or by drinking a green smoothie), and I can’t change the weather with my good attitude. Which reminds me of one of my favorite Pema Chödrön quotes, “Affirmations are like screaming that you’re okay in order to overcome this whisper that you’re not … maybe you’re not okay. Well, no big deal. None of us is okay and all of us are fine.”

One wish: That no matter what our conditions are, we relax and remember that none of it is that big of a deal, “none of us is okay and all of us are fine.”