It was a damn good letter, after minute 50 in the podcast, though I'm not sure if it would be as impactful without listening to the whole podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/243-oprah-shares-the-letter-from-glennon-that-freed-me/id1564530722?i=1000628652758
I went to my first cross country running race today. When I pulled in I thought I must be at the wrong spot, it looked like a festival with food trucks etc...
First my nephew ran a mile race. He doesn't regularly run (well beyond the way a 8 year old runs all the time playing), but because it was the home race I guess they had something for the elementary kids? I was grateful he had a different color shirt on than all the other kids so he was easy to spot. I also learned I need to dress to run at these races, unless you only want to see them go by once. If you want to see them multiple places on the course you need to be ready to move. Luckily, I'm usually dressed pretty movement friendly, however next time I will also wear running shoes.
My niece is really fast. She ran a 2 mile race and placed 4th (she missed 3rd by less than a second). When I got there I thought, "I'd rather watch her play soccer," which I haven't got to do yet this year because the games have been overlapping with my park and rec tennis. I also thought, "In a couple years she is going to have to choose between this and soccer, I hope she chooses soccer."
That was my thought before the race, after the race I thought,
"I hope she chooses what she loves."
#1 - I stopped doing anything with my photos (besides taking them) in 2016 when I filled up my last album. One thing I want to do while I'm single/have lots of time to myself is catch those up. I am surprised how much I am enjoying creating photo books. I have to be careful when I start working on it (like tonight when I gave myself an 8pm cut off, and that was 45 minutes ago). I am now caught up to middle of 2021. So I've made a lot of progress.
#2 - We had our first staff meeting for one of the jobs I do during the school year. One of the ice breaker questions was, "What was your favorite/most memorable vacation?" I didn't have to think long before writing my most recent trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (in 2020). I think everyone else in my group mentioned an international trip, and my director said to me, "Even more than Japan?"
"Yes," I replied, "even more than Japan."
It could be a painful memory, but so far it's still a treasured one.
Even more light would come in if I could replace that white door with one with a window, as a number of people in this complex had done. I told my Realtor, "In a year or so, when I think I've moved thru the majority of my grief, I'm going to get a new door to let in more light."
So it's been a year, and I was really HOPING to do this before fall/it gets cold. Someone came out to give me quotes in late July. He said it would take about a week and I still don't have them.
So maybe I have more grief to move thru this winter?
I don't know, but I called another place today and they are coming out to give me a quote on Tuesday. And I suppose either way, hopefully I'll get quotes from both now to make a more informed decision.
#4 - Grace is my word of the year. In the beginning of the year I definitely found a few examples of it, however sometimes I was wondering where to find it.
Lately it seems to be everywhere.
Today I was sitting outside eating and someone scooted up to a car. At first I thought it was a teenager just because of how she moved and the little scooter. She made some comment about what a pain it was but that it would be better when it's done. (They are redoing the main parking lot in my complex.) When she came back around I asked, "How long is the lot closed?"
"Til Sunday,"
"You are welcome to park in my spot until Sunday."
"What spot are you...do you park in your garage?"
"Yes."
Then she asked how long I lived here and I asked the same. She bought it in 2008. "Wow you've been here a while."
"Well, I got married..." and then a story began about how she got married and rented the condo out and was in an abusive marriage and then moved around a lot and her ex-husband followed her around and...she told me quite a bit for never speaking before. But the long story short was, I had wanted to offer my spot to someone in the other buildings. And I did offer it to the one person I know over there, but she was going to be out of town. So I just let it go. And then the universe said, "I am going to scoot another option right in front of your nose..."
#5 - "I am whispering in your ear Tammy...Imagine that the deepest, deepest, most soulful part of you is about to be increasingly welcome, welcome in collective group mind." Caroline W. Casey
#1 - I enjoy living alone, fairly often however when I sit down to dinner I think that it would be nice to talk to someone. This happened today and then I recalled I had seen in the mail preview I get in email (and usually ignore) that there was something from a friend. So I got up and went to the mailbox.
#2 - The letter in itself was a gift, but even more so it sparked a conversation/response in my head on things I was just thinking about the last couple days.
I've thought quite a bit about how essential the audience is. What I mean is I won't write the same letter to different people, the recipient evokes part of what I write.
Or if you are at a concert, how much the audience is captivated by the musician affects the performance.
We give our power away or maybe a better way to say it is
we allow our power to be used, or
what we focus on grows.
#3 - I was hoping to get a new door before fall, with a window to let more light in the kitchen. Someone came out the end of last month to give me some quotes. He said he'd send them the next week. This was a month ago. I've tried following up a couple times, and am starting to wonder if this will be able to happen this year (before it gets cold). He finally answered today. Maybe the door will have to wait, maybe I should go with someone else... I'm trying to be engaged and move along the process, while also not being too attached to my own timeline.
#4 - I emailed my manager for the job I do during the school year about my availability the next couple weeks. She ended her email, "Looking forward to seeing you
soon!" and I genuinely feel the same.
#5 - Song on repeat this week.
Zach Bryan - I Remember Everything (feat. Kacey Musgraves)
#1 - I listened to a podcast interviewing a woman who lost her legs due to toxic shock syndrome from using tampons. (The Diary of a CEO). I remember reading the warnings in tampons when I was younger but I've never heard anyone talk about it. I'm completely in agreement with her concerns about chlorine bleach, dioxin and synthetic fibers in tampons, what I was confused by was her saying that even organic tampons contain pesticides.
It is true there are pesticides just inherently in our environment, but the whole point of the "organic" label is that the cotton is grown without pesticides.
I just looked this up and I can't attest to this website but this corroborates my knowledge
"Because they don’t contain synthetic and toxic ingredients like pesticides, herbicides, bleach, chlorine, and other disinfectants, they are certainly the more natural option, and will break down quickly and more safely for the environment."
https://www.greenmatters.com/p/best-organic-tampons
I am not saying you can't get TSS from organic tampons and I completely commend the work Lauren Wasser is doing, it was just one thing I was perplexed by that she said.
#2- A friend of mine hurt her foot this weekend, she went in to urgent care and was potentially on the road for surgery and a really long recovery. That may still be the case, however it also may be a broken toe and Mayo Clinic says, "Most broken toes heal well, usually within 4 to 6 weeks" which is a long time, but shorter than the original scenarios.
#3 - One of my plants has developed a crop of fungus gnats. However the three things I employed from the internet seem to be working. -Letting the soil dry out. -A apple cider vinegar/water/dish soap mixture - and some yellow sticky traps set on top of the soil.
#4 - This gratitude is a fingers crossed gratitude. When my offer was accepted on this condo a little over a year ago, I had a few days to review the HOA documents. One of the items in that document stated there was the potential for an assessment for hail damage from a storm. So I asked the seller to either:
A. Reduce the price $2000 or
B. Put $3500 in an escrow account for a year for any pending assessments on the roof hail damage.
He chose B. Nothing happened last summer, or over the winter. Once spring arrived and they could look at the roofs I thought it would be decided. I listened to the board meetings each month. Nothing. So I emailed the management in May (which was a year since the storm) asking for documentation if there would be a bill.
They asked me to contact them again in July. I asked the title company if there was anything I could do. They said the seller is already asking for the money, but he has to wait the year. That is the agreement.
I contacted again in July.
I listened to the the board meeting in July. They said there would be an assessment and we'd have the numbers the next day.
I emailed a couple days later and got the response, "Accounting should be wrapping up today with the spreadsheet."
Well, time was ticking, a couple weeks later (last Friday - when I didn't know if my final day was Monday or Tuesday), they said they'd have it in a couple hours. They didn't.
Fortunately it wasn't Monday because despite my pleading for a bill, yesterday I had nothing.
Today they did send me an estimate I could send to the title company. And the title company sent myself and the seller something to sign to release the money to pay my assessment.
I'm grateful it was enough for the title company and the responsiveness of the woman that works there.
What I don't know yet is if the seller is going to attempt to dispute it.
#5 -
"We've come in modern times
to believe that we need to do more to be more,
and it's broken,
it's fundamentally broken.
The idea is that we need to be more
and let the doing flow from that."
Dr. Michael Gervais
