Day One
FLIPFLOPS
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TECHNOLOGY
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FALL IN CONNECTICUT
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SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE
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FLIPFLOPS | TECHNOLOGY | FALL IN CONNECTICUT | SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE |
Today’s Vibe:
I had the idea to start this blog yesterday. I was walking in the Town Forest, about 200 acres of gorgeousness in the town in New England I live in. It was a beautiful fall day - 25C at the end of October (you’re going to have to get used to my Britishisms, I can’t figure out Fahrenheit). The sky was that brilliant blue I like to call “Connecticut Blue” - just so damn deep and perfect and intense. The river was babbling gently - just making this soothing trickling noise - I watched as it parted over rocks and as beautiful fall leaves swirled around in little gentle eddies as they meandered downstream. But it was far from perfect. I hadn't done a serious stomp for a while (more on that later) and the paths were over-leaved - like overgrown but actually just buried by all the fallen leaves - so it was impossible to figure out where the millions of rocks and tree roots were - so I was kind of picking my way through the forest, stumble trip, stumble trip - like in the Bear Hunt book. I was actually saying that to myself as I stumbled around looking far from graceful. I don’t know what was going on with the sock in my right shoe but by the time I was about a quarter of the way around the trail, so after about 15 mins with another 45 to go, I had a HUGE blister on the back of my heel, making every step painful. But then I stopped, out of breath and a bit disheveled, and felt the not-too-hot-not-too-cold-just-perfect breeze waft over me and looked at the gorgeous yellow leaves dancing in the breeze as they fell from a tree in front of me, and heard that beautiful babble and saw that blue, blue sky and thought DAMN ,GIRL (I’ve started saying girl a lot in the past 6 months thanks to my daughters) why are you not just GRATEFUL?
So then I decided that I would be.
The plan, the experiment, is to write every day - and I know it will be a challenge for me to sustain this. I want to be real and honest and talk about all the blisters and the crying and the hot flashes and the disappointments and the great moments and the music and the laughter and the failures and the paranoid feelings and the euphoria and pride and exhaustion and the delicious meals and tricky conversations and EVERYTHING. And then, no matter what that day has thrown my way, I want to seek out the positives, find the things to be grateful for, pick a tune that represents the day (music’s kinda my thing) and… I don’t know.. .sleep soundly? Feel as though I made the most out of that day and therefore of my life? We’ll see where this takes me….
So each day: a blog - I accept that some days it might be really, really short, a list of at least three things I’m grateful for, and.. a song!
I guess all that was actually day zero. So here’s…
So…Day One
Sunday October 29. Today I woke up a bit too late. I do that quite a lot at the weekend if I’m honest and I’m always sooo conflicted about it. I love the coziness of bed, scrolling on my phone and having a nice cup of tea in bed (if I’m lucky enough to have one brought to me) but I hate when I do eventually get up and it’s after 9:30am and I haven’t DONE anything yet. Anyway, I woke up and it was POURINGGGG - and about 12C - which was a bit of a shocker after yesterday - and no one brought me tea (sob!) . My middle child is at uni in the UK and she wanted to FaceTime so I popped to the loo, went downstairs and we chatted for ages which was LOVELY. But I was doing that thing where I had the phone propped kind of below me and my face was all puffy from sleep and I kept pulling it taut and yelling “facelift” - which at least made her laugh even if I was kinda being serious - not that I would actually have a face lift, just that someone could make a lot of money giving me one!
Then a little later I was driving to the grocery store and I was listening to something random on NPR about gratitude (freaky, right?) and they were talking about how we don’t really place a great amount of value on what we have, but on what we don’t have (keeping up with the Joneses) - how if you buy a new car and your neighbor gets a new car on the same day and their car is better than yours, it’s hard for you to feel happy and grateful. And also how we should view the ability to feel gratitude as a TALENT - so something that yes, some people are better at that others, but that everyone can try to learn. Anyway, I didn’t listen to the whole thing because I had to go and buy food for the week but nonetheless I thought it was INTERESTING and it made me wonder about the solution - is it best to try to compare ourselves daily to people who are less fortunate - who have a crappy car? Is “comparison the thief of joy” as Teddy Roosevelt said (didn’t know that was his quote until today by the way) or do you just have to compare in the right direction? Does comparing in the opposite direction make you feel grateful or just make you feel awful for other people? Not people with crappy cars, obviously, I’m thinking more people in the Middle East right now, or the 5 remaining Friends who, as I’m writing, have yet to release statements on the death of Matthew Perry and who must be beside themselves with grief. Honestly, isn’t it a bit of a shitty thing to do to make yourself feel better by thinking about others’ misfortune? Answers on a postcard….
Anyway, today I am grateful for:
Flipflops - because my blister is HUGE and there’s no way I’m putting a shoe on
Technology - for connecting me to my family who are all in the UK (including two of my kids)
Fall in Connecticut - because even in the rain it’s beautiful outside
Spaghetti Bolognese - because my husband cooks it every Sunday night and it’s the perfect way to end the weekend.
Idea!!!
If you would like to share with me the three things that you’re grateful for today then I can make daily word clouds that I can share with you all so we can ALL feel all the happy, grateful feels!