Brings the dreaded long awaited doctors appointment.
Yes, I am a bit nervous. A new doctor. A new office. A new system…although if the pre-check in text that I got on Friday is a hint, it might be easier!
AND… 20 minutes before my appointment I will get another text with a link to click when I am in the building. Perhaps there is less to be nervous about that I thought… but then, last night, I dreamed that the office was filled with a very C3PO-like staff. Creepy. Very creepy.
Anyways, I am expecting a score of tests and perhaps an idea or two for something “different” to do (not take) for my painful left hip, and Saturday I got my “annual mammogram reminder” so yeah… all.the.things!
After the doctor visit, I am heading to the grocery store… which is conveniently located near my new doctor…a place that is a Bot-Free Shopping Zone! Haha!
See you all back here on Wednesday with some Unraveling!
Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. — MLK Jr.
I have long been a fan of Martin Luther King Jr. and I loved his “I have a dream” speech… and have watched it dozens and dozens of times. It provides the most “cherry picked” quotes by the GOP and I am sure that you will hear their favored line quoted loud and long today. I am pretty sure that Dr. King would point out their lack of understanding… because he had a quote for that as well:
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
This weekend I have spent time pondering what Dr. King would think of the status of the world today and I think he might agree that the more things change, the more they stay the same. We might not have lynchings today but what we have might be even worse…police killings (in a sickening number… The WaPo has been tracking police shootings since 2015. I am gifting this link to the data so you can all look at it, if you’d like – I know, it’s a lot for a Monday morning.)
One person’s name was glaringly absent from the 40 persons who have been killed by police in January… yes, that is in the 15 days of this month… shocking, I know. However, this data does not contain the name of the young teacher and father who flagged down police for help… Keenan Anderson. Why not? Well… the police did not shoot him, they tazed him to death.
This weekend, I have been thinking much about Mr. Anderson, Dr. King, and the 8,124 people who have been killed by the police since 2015 and it all feels like the most overwhelming mountain of despair…
But what about that stone of hope?
I believe, perhaps as Dr. King did… that all of us are those stones of hope….
A daunting task? Yes, absolutely. But together… all those stones of hope eventually make a mountain of hope, no?
And, in case you need a starting point, a bit of guidance… Mr. Anderson’s cousin has written an excellent book to get you on your way!
This morning started a “normal” week with Steve back at the office! Which means my normal routine is being resumed, which makes me very happy. Granted, it will be a short-lived celebration because he has next Monday off. Sigh.
Anyways, I have a good-sized list of to-do’s (because of course I do!) BUT!
I also have a reward list to inspire me to plow through those to-do’s. Perhaps I can set a bit of a record with the cleaning portion of that list… and thankfully the Cleaning Police never come to check all the corners! Hahaha.
I hope your Monday has lots of rewards! I will see you all back here on Wednesday!
Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime. ― Laura Ingalls Wilder
Today, I hope to do a bit of what Halfpint so nobly encourages us to do… but perhaps a bit less reverently, ha! So let’s get RIFFing!
Read (poetry) —
I heard this poem this week and have not stopped thinking about it. A good poem will do that… linger, niggle, inch into your thoughts. Kay Ryan is one of those poets… her work lingers…wonderfully.
Crib
by Kay Ryan
From the Greek for woven or plaited,
which quickly translated
to basket. Whence the verb crib, which meant “to filch”
under cover of wicker
anything–some liquor,
a cutlet.
For we want to make off
with things that are not
our own. There is a pleasure
theft brings, a vitality
to the home.
Cribbed objects or answers
keep their guilty shimmer
forever, have you noticed?
Yet religions downplay this.
Note, for instance, in our
annual rehearsals of innocence,
the substitution of manger for crib—
as if we ever deserved that baby,
or thought we did.
Michelle Obama knit us all together with the image that she posted on IG this week of a sweater she knit for a baby. This wondrous thing we do, that causes us to oooh and aaah over the things other makers knit. We understand… knitting is not quick and so we lift each other up. It is one of the best parts of this community.
For those of you who enjoyed Knives Out (I did for a variety of reasons!) there is a new mystery dropping today on Netflix… Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. More Daniel Craig over the holiday weekend? Yes, please! Hahaha
Festivus —
That’s right… today is Festivus! What is that you might ask? Perhaps this can explain it all better…
And with that… Happy Festivus for the Rest of Us! I will see you back here on Monday!
I hope your holidays, however you celebrate them, are overflowing with every good thing!
I don’t know about any of you, but the Holiday Blues are definitely a thing… at least for me they are. My expectations have often been the trigger for those blues… as in my expectations are HIGH and reality never quite hits that level.
Today, I am giving myself permission to be imperfect.
Today, I am reminding myself that “not enough” might actually be “more than enough.”
Today, I am reminding myself that pausing for some impromptu deep breathing helps diffuse the feelings, the thoughts, the frustrations.
Today, I am simply going to love my perfectly imperfect self and I am going to say it out loud so I can hear it… inside and out!
Be gentle with yourselves… yes to that extra cup of coffee or tea! And a double yes to just one more row!
This week is for all those extras… and more! See you all back here on Wednesday!
Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish
While we were very much a Harry Potter House… there was a good bit of Lemony Snicket to fill the ‘regularly scheduled reading time’… and I very much concur with the above quote! My only addition to the above quote would be knitting!
Anyways, I book marked this page from NPR a couple of weeks ago and have been spending bits of time adding things to my TBR List! The link also includes book lists going back to 2013! Why is that good thing? Well… things that were “hot reads” in 2013 are likely to be available at your local library… just in case you need a new read right this very minute! Ha!
Things that have popped out to me that I have not read from the couple of lists I have gone through:
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Stroud
This House is Haunted by John Boyne
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
I finished a very good book over the weekend… Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher. It is the perfect book to read as the days race on towards Christmas. It has the very best characters and the most delightful outcome. It will warm your heart! If you have not read it, perhaps you should (and if you have Hoopla available from your library, it is always available there!)
There you have my Sometimes Monday thoughts..and with a book in hand my ears, I am off to get those pesky chores started!
