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Monday, May 1, 2017

Positively Monday

A while back I began tracking the best things that happened every day. Before that I had begun
noticing before bedtime I had a mental list of what was wrong rather than recounting what was happy or made me smile.  When I started actually thinking about it at the end of each day I realized even one of those absolutely "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" days had at least one thing I could find to smile about. And so this weekly post was born.

Monday: Many years ago I had a wonderful friend and neighbor who lived across the street then moved when her then husband was transferred to Nashville. For the first few years we visited back and forth and kept up via monthly phone calls.  Then, as so often happens, the visits stopped and the calls became less frequent. Now we only talk every year or so. Today out of the blue she called which was funny because I had dreamed of her the night before.  In the dream we were driving all over Nashville covertly seeking a document her father had left for her but I woke before we found it. I enjoyed  the conversation, catching up and laughing.

Tuesday: Dinner out with my book club pals.  We ate at the gas station on Lorna which seemingly overnight changed from a gas station/convenience store to a gas station/Thai restaurant. Then one day (again overnight) the gas pumps were removed so they no longer sell Thai and gas, it is just a straight up Thai joint. It is small with virtually no parking and has the most delicious Thai food I have ever eaten. Son1 and his family live in Portland where delicious Thai is found everywhere and even they think this is the best they have eaten, but I digress.
I had fantastic food, fantastic fellowship, and we discussed a really crappy book, but we all bought a digital version for 99 cents so no one was upset if they put it down halfway through. (But mainly we discussed S-Town!)

Wednesday:  Got the house in order for a luncheon on Thursday.  It sounds like work and it was but it left me with plenty of time to get the food prepared the next morning without having to do anything to the house  but a quick touch up.

Thursday:  Had the participants of Independence Place (young adults with special needs) over for lunch.  At about a quarter till eleven 13 people arrived via a bus at my front door for a barbecue. I had no idea how much fun they would have, but they stayed until ten after 3 and were griping because the IP director made them leave. (It seems none of them have a fez on a shelf, a monkey butler in their foyer, a golden snitch on the buffet, and Amazon Echo  or a wind up nun carrying a ruler who spits "fire" from her mouth. They loved my "toys" and I am glad they were entertained even if it did mean listening to "Paranoid" by the Jonas Brothers about a thousand time)
I love volunteering there and having them here and watching them have fun here at my house was a personal bonus.  I am very lucky to have such a special group of very special people in my life.

Friday: This is going to sound like a weird positive but I am secretly so pleased.  The a/c at the lake place was on the fritz last week and it is overly warm here now.  We called the hvac guy who met TheHub there one  afternoon.  He did not have the part  he needed and can't get it until Monday afternoon at the earliest.  It was about 85 degrees in the house and TheHub declared it was too hot to spend the weekend there.  After the debacle of last weekend I really did not want to go anyway and I had planned to just spend one night there, so this let me totally off the hook.

Saturday: Spent some glorious time reading.  I have been cleaning my Kindle Cloud and reading all the books I began but never finished before I delete them. (Or just deleting the ones I began and have no intention of finishing. Now that I have gotten older and there are free downloads daily I no longer feel obliged to finish anything I doesn't teach me something or I simply don't enjoy reading.)
In addition to the reading time I received a thank you card form Independence Place. The card was printed in different colored pencils by each participant thanking me for whatever they liked best. I am going to share a couple of there here.  "You sweet, I ate to muck food" "I am having fun with you are the best." "I like your alexa"

Sunday: We had a much needed rain to knock the last of the pollen down.  Nothing clears the air like a windy thunderstorm. In addition to the day of rain, TheHub and I watched Billions.  We both really do love that show and I was stunned with the ending tonight. TheHub saw it coming.


And because I heard this 1 million times Thursday after I am sharing it with you compliments of Youtube


21 comments:

  1. Sounds like a lovely week for a very special person.

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  2. I am so non-special, but the week did have some special moments along with some not so great moments too. Look for the crazy train post and you will see what I mean.

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  3. I could relate to your Friday. As glorious a place as your lake house probably is, not having to pack things to head for just a night, then pack to come back probably was a nice change up. And, I'm now hungry for Thai food.

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    1. I was just not in the mood to do the lake thing and was relieved I did not feel obligated to go.

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  4. Now you know why I love my job so much- I coordinate services for those special folks. Some live at home with family, some have their own apartment and some live in group homes. Many attend day programs and I have a few who have paid employment- I just love visiting them and many times after a visit I have the biggest smile on my face. Michael Jackson is still the big draw here! PS I love Thai food and the best I find is in SF where DD and family live. My kids claim a little deli here has the best subs though- run by an Italian family from NYC.

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    1. Those at IP are the definition of sheer joy. I get so much from being around them

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  5. It sounds like a week with some truly precious moments in it. That card in particular...
    Volunteering gives us so much doesn't it?

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    1. I need to volunteer because of what I get from it. Plus this is the only place I ever go where everyone is happy to see me.

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  6. God bless you for inviting those young people to your house. What fun! I'd love to see your toys, too. They sound great.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. It was great fun and one of the young men has already asked the coordinator if they can have a sleep over here.

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  7. "I ate to muck food"
    isn't that everyone's definition of a good time?

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    1. I loved that it was to muck! Mark is the IP curmudgeon and always has to let you know what is wrong, but he does tell me I am his favorite.

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  8. Oh, you do have the best toys! What fun!

    I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again, anyway - I love the fact that you are able to find and focus on the special, positive things that happen each day, no matter how difficult a day it was.

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    1. Every single day has goodness, but sometimes it takes a magnifying glass to find it!

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  9. It sounds like your party was a success!

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    1. To be honest they are such a sweet group I could have served peanut butter on crackers and they would have loved it.

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  10. Always good to hear about positives. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Can you believe I can walk to the Thai place/gas station from my office...and I haven't been yet? What do you recommend?

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    1. Laap! It is the best thing on the menu. Any day you want to go for lunch and want company give me a call and I'll meet you! It is fantastic!

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  12. I love your blog so much! This post is so fun, happy, uplifting. You're my favorite Anne!

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