Purpose

What is my purpose?

This reverie is the result of a dream fragment, fueled by leaving "The Bishop's Wife" on the TV streaming as I was waking up.  Those of you who may not be familiar, this is an old Christmas movie in which Cary Grant plays an angel, sent in response to a prayer by a Bishop played by David Niven.  The wife's role is played by Loretta Young.  (It was remade into "The Preacher's Wife" starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston in 1996.)

I usually watch this old black and white classic at least once during a holiday season.  This morning as I was starting to stir, a scene toward the end where the angel tells the others that they will not remember that an angel gave them thoughts, or even that he was there.

This took me dreamily down the roles one plays in life.  We may start out as children envisioning ourselves with large roles on the world stage, making the world a better place.  But very few of us ever get placed in such a position.  Some of us grow to loathe the very idea of that kind of attention.

However, we all influence those with whom we come into contact:  co-workers, family members, friends, whether we like the idea or not.  We are just living our lives, but our attitudes, our efforts, the way we approach living our lives *do* touch the lives of others.  If we are kind, if we are hard-working, if we add a sense of humor to a difficult situation (remembering kindly, of course), if we lend a hand, anticipate a need, we create ripples in the lives of others.

It is not our job to live the lives of others.  But a word of encouragement is never awry.  You never know who might need one, so distribute those words liberally!

So what is my purpose?  To encourage!

Daily happenings

We have sunshine this afternoon, and mild temperatures by January standards.  It's 39℉ out there.  The Prisoner is holding a party on the deck for one of the cheekiest of the cats who come over as visitors.  

Nowadays, this skittish kitty even lets me open the door and take his portrait!  I wonder who his human family is?

Reading progress:  it looks as though the book I will likely finish first of the three is Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens.  I am in the "Feast" section now, and so far, no surprises.  All things I've learned over my many decades of weight management followed by my athletic years.  I used to have on my Spark page, that no one diet program was the solution for me.  Some interesting references are made in the book to fairly recent research into bio-individuality, which is a formal way of saying the same thing.

A diet profile that works for me may NOT work for you, and vice versa.  So the IF lifestyle allows you to listen to your body and use whatever style of eating works best for YOUR body.

Calorie counting is out the window.  Eating until 80% full the food you find delicious and nutritious is in.  There are no "bad" foods but there may be foods that you feel bad (as in body feels bad) after eating, and you need to pay attention to your body when it says so.

Like I said, no surprises.

Intermittent Fasting is not a free pass to "eat as much as you can stuff in during your feeding window".  

That's about it in my corner of the world for Thursday.

Life is good.  Spark on!  📑📗📖✨💖

Seussical the Musical and other trivia

A competing "show" up the road, a political rally got postponed due to the weather, but this one was inside an auditorium.  Before and after we chatted about shows we had been to in the past, before the pandemic shut us down, for caution.  

In the lobby we were unmasked and feeling free, but when I saw a few members of the crowd, including some children start to put on theirs, I opted to put mine on when seated.  It's kind of a social compact around here, we look to see if others are masking, and if they are, we put them on for social support as much as for health reasons.  Kind of like the farmer who put on his overalls when the homeless guest they invited to church had only overalls to wear.

Kindness to others.  Not judgement.  Acceptance.  These are social values, not political ones.  We are feeling our way to the "new normal" in terms of that social behavior, aren't we?  We want to be free and maskless... but we don't want our fellow humans to feel left out, either.  I have been maskless at the personal trainer, but I have yet to drop the mask at the grocery store.

The other half of the masked bandits, before curtain up!  I was the thorn amid the roses, "the kids" on one side, so I could sit next to my son on one side, and my fellow mom of one of "the kids" on the other.  We moms did most of the pre-show talking.

None of us had ever seen a production of Suessical the Musical before, so it was a new experience.  Most everybody is familiar with the children's books that Dr. Seuss published.  And this of course was based on them.  The major theme is the story of Horton Hears a Who,  mixed together with Horton Hatches an Egg, and even a bit of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and just a bit of Green Eggs and Ham.  

Other Seuss originated characters were present in narrator and chorus roles.  It was delightful.  The young man who sang the part of Horton had a wonderful voice.  And the gal who had the part of the Cat in the Hat was a wonderful dancer, as were the chorus.  The finale featured a tap number, which was a lovely surprise to us.

By the time we left, the rain had been through, leaving the streets wet and everything smelling that ozone fresh of Springtime.  We walked to our respective vehicles, exchanged hugs and went home.  We'll see one another again in about a week, for Mother's Day at "the kids" place.  

Meanwhile, I have tomorrow's local marathon to think about, and hopefully hike over to be a spectator at the far turnaround point.  I have someone to track, as my dentist's husband is going to run the full marathon, attempting to get himself a Boston Qualifying time.  That's one of the topics we always return to when I get my teeth cleaned and checked... she's not a runner, but she's entrusted with the care and feeding of one.  I promised her Boston recommendations should he qualify.

I'll close on this drippy Saturday with the usual pep talk:  it's a great day to take good care of yourself, of your health, mental, physical, and spiritual, and all the advice we used to get on Spark is in support of that!  

• Hydrate today.
• Get some activity in, outdoors if possible.
• Do something that fills your soul.  Be kind to one another.
• Remember to breathe.
• And at the end of the day, let it all go.  Whatever steps you took, are enough for the moment.  You deserve that well-earned restful sleep.

Life is good.  Spark on!

🔥💖

Three down, one to go.

 The title references the "annual" medicalizing.  I've had my fasting labs, my medicare "wellness" visit / interview, and my doctor's visit.  Yet to come, the mammo.

The Prisoner proclaiming ownership of the house.  

On Friday the same gal that did the Medicare interview over the phone last year had me in person this year.  She told me she'd already had omicron!  Even with her three shots.  But we were both masked, me in my N95, her in surgical.  

I was mildly amused as the little "remember 3 words past distracting activity" test used the same three words as LAST year.  I remember the words:  sofa, orange, sunshine... because last year I put them into an image in my mind, of sitting on the sofa eating my orange as the sunshine streamed through the window.

In today's visit with the doctor, he went over my lab results, which were satisfactory.  No med changes, just as there were none with the eye doctor.  The sad thing about today's visit was that the nurse that took care of me had just lost her mother to Covid last week.  Her mom was only 54!  Unvaccinated.  The little nurse had tried to convince her mom to get vaccinated, going over the possible things that could happen, but respecting her mom's right to choose.  What did happen was that her mom got the virus, and it uncovered an underlying pulmonary condition she had not previously known was there.  My heart goes out to every family that goes through this.  It's not over, people.  Be careful out there.

Carl is soaking up Lacey's warm spot, beside her glass and book.

I saw where Sidney Poitier died, at 94.  Same age as my dad would have been, if he lived through today (his birthday). This time of year seems to be rife with celebrities passing, every year.  They save up the whole year's worth to announce them at the end of the year... and it seems like a whole bunch.  

You always knew the actors that you admired coming up were a few years older than you, but... when they start dropping like flies, the difference between your ages seems to shrink!

Saturday was bill and tax-paying day.  I got really frustrated with the IRS website, because I had successfully paid estimated taxes on line using it during the past year, but they have changed their system to supposedly make it more secure.  However, the way they have secured it made it impossible to verify my identity!  Seems my driver's license uses only a middle initial but the IRS has my full middle name and the "primary" documents that are supposed to scan and be used to verify are split between the two.  Sigh.

I've had this kind of problem with some so-called secure systems before.  In the end I just gave up and wrote them a paper check and walked around the block to a "real" mailbox to send it.  If they can't verify it's me, I guess they can't verify anybody else to be me, either, so paper, pen and ink it is!  Glad I tried on Saturday, because if I waited for the due date, there would not have been time for the snail mail.

On Sunday I worked on my annual digital "clean-out", fueled by my experience with the IRS website.  It took a while to root out the "how to" but I finally unlinked the Instagram from Facebook, and deleted that Instagram account.  In the process, I found out that some "bot" had logged on as me, from Fort Worth, TX.  Given the linked nature of the accounts, no great wonder the "hack" leaks I've seen.  This could explain some of the goofy things I have seen in terms of "friend" requests that are obvious social attacks.

That's about it for news from here.  I figured I'd best get a blog out there as I haven't had much to write about.  I still have not formed any "restaurant lotions" as we are jokingly calling them this year, thanks to Alicia's voice to text auto correction of "resolutions".  

With or without those lotions, let us take up the notion that the goal of life is to take care of the one and only body and mind we've been issued for existence on this plane, best can do... so that we will be able to do some good for others around us.  Above all, be kind... you have no idea what burden someone else may be carrying at the moment you encounter them.

Life is good, savor it, and Spark on.🔥💖

Grateful for neighborly kindness

 

The little drifts on the steps was about as bad as the snowstorm got.  The photo is from shortly before the snow started tapering off, New Year's Day afternoon.  At that point, I went out and cleared the steps.  

I also cleared a narrow strip of driveway, down to the sidewalk.  That is my normal method of determining the depth of snow I will have to deal with, as it covers where it drifts.  

This morning when I arose the phone told me it was minus 5 Fahrenheit.  For those of you who speak Celcius, that works out to minus 20.  Brrr.  Luckily, the steps, being protected from the north wind, stayed clear.  The driveway strip... not.  Drifted right back in.

After session 1 this morning, the driveway strip and the front sidewalk are cleared, but I came back in to thaw my hands.  I have the North sidewalk, and the driveway to finish, and I want to get out before the wind kicks up.  Raw temperatures are not so bad when the wind is calm.

I shall return for the next warming break!

Turns out, the next warming break was when it was done!  I cleared the North sidewalk and started in on the remainder of the driveway.  As I was headed out with my shovel, the man across the street came out with his snow thrower.  

He proceeded to clear his walks and driveway.  I had only about half of the drive to go, and was getting close to deciding to come back in for the next warming break, when my neighbor wheeled his machine across the street gave me a hand signal that he'd work on my remainder!

He not only helped me finish, but when he got that cleared, he proceeded to go clear off the other neighbor across the street.  These folks are on a trip, not there to take care of it themselves.  I didn't talk to them before they left, but I do hope they are seeing the grandmas!  It's hard to live half a continent away from your grandmas!

There is something so peaceful about the sky being blue, the sun being out, the wind being calm, and the temperatures being frigid.  Great skiing weather for those who enjoy that activity.

Yesterday's soup is re-warming for lunch, the cats have been out and are back in, and the church service is on YouTube Live.

It's time to remind ourselves that we are starting a brand new year.  Fresh start.  Renewed hope.  Another chance, just as we have every day, to take care of ourselves.  Let's do our best, this one and only Sunday, January 2,2022 we'll ever get.  And when the day is done, let us declare it as sufficient, release it, and give ourselves the gift of a good night's rest.

Life is Good.  Spark on!  ✨🎇💖🔥