What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?
To work on myself….to understand myself….to learn self-love and practice it….to break my co-dependent nature.
I haven’t succeeded because it’s too difficult to start. To start means to move away from the person I know into the unknown.
Today is Hump Day and today I’m posting a picture of something I see on my Monday through Friday travels from my house to my garage workout room.
Some days it’s easy to get there and some days it’s tough. Today I wasn’t excited about it! I went to bed early (fell asleep reading my book!), and I woke up at 1:30 and what felt like every hour after that. Of course I woke up groggy when the alarm went off at 5:30 and I thought about staying in bed. But my brain told me I had Day 2 of Rebecca Kennedy’s 3-Day Split waiting for me and I couldn’t give up on my leg workout. So off I went!
When I round the corner and see this sight, I feel energized. This time of year, it’s chilly in the morning but not chilly enough that I don’t want to linger to take in the view. My phone probably has 100+ photos of this same view throughout the year because every one is different. It’s what keeps me going.
Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.
Picture this –
I’m standing at the kitchen counter in my pretty pink Izod polo shirt with the alligator and a popped collar (hey, it was the ‘80s!) and I am blending broccoli, something, and something else, hoping it will turn into a tasty broccoli soup.
Unfortunately, I failed to make sure the lid was on tight enough! The top flies off and green liquid is flying everywhere – and it’s HOT!
After I freak out and regain my senses, I turn off the blender and begin cleaning up in my pretty pink Izod polo shirt that is now covered in broccoli soup.
Epic Cooking Fail!
When I get involved with ancestry research work, time flies! I get so engrossed in names and making sure the information is correct, that an hour will go by before I know it! I’ll sit down to take a quick look and WHOOSH there goes the time!
How do you express your gratitude?
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Those are two ways I usually express my gratitude for something someone has done for me or said to me.
I think sometimes, for me, I don’t slow down or stop to think about thanking the people who are around me all the time. Family, co-workers. I am go, go, go in the office and expect people to do the same!
I need to stop and reflect what someone does that makes me feel good or happy or satisfied the way something was done. Not just for something they say to me or do for me.
The words will be the same, but for different reasons.
What are you passionate about?
I was thinking of the hobbies I have been really “passionate” about – knitting, piano, making cards, ancestry – and how that passion will be so strong and then wane. None of those have completely disappeared but they move in and out of my life like waves.
That’s when I realized I am passionate about learning. New skills, new ideas, history, people.
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
Fall in New England is the most glorious season of the year.
I catch a hint of its arrival in mid-August. I can see it in the angle of the sunrise through the leaves in the morning. If I stop and let the air wash over me, I can feel the slight chill under the heat. It’s brief, but it’s a taste of what’s to come.
Skip to mid September and I feel the cold within the heat and the heat within the cold. If I close my eyes I can imagine both a fall day and winter is coming or a spring day and summer is around the corner!
October. Now October is the Gem of the season! That’s when we have glorious colors and bright blue skies. Every tree I see, I want to take a picture of it! I’ve been on many motorcycle trips during “leaf peeping” season and my head is on a swivel looking at the beautiful scenery and enjoying the wonderful weather.
What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?
I don’t know what I would do without my IPhone.
I read my emails, the newspaper, gossip, play my games and puzzles, take pictures, print pictures, share pictures and so much more!
Do you remember life before the internet?
I am so grateful I grew up before the internet existed!
I think back to life in my 20s and I would have been a MESS if I had a telephone at my fingertips, never mind being able to text, or swipe, or google, or Find My Phone someone!
Ironically, the internet would have been really handy when I met my future husband in Jamaica in 1987. He lived in California and I lived in Connecticut. We learned about each other through letters and phone calls and at the end of five months I was on my way to live with him. Imagine that! I didn’t learn everything about him on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?
Today’s prompt is a good one!
Can we have it all? Does the pursuit of something you want – money, a home, a family, a high paying job, better health – cause the scale to tip towards that and create an imbalance of “everything else” you want? Or is the thing you are pursuing going to lead to being able to “have it all”?
I think it’s a really big juggling act to be able to get to the point where you can say “YES, I finally have it all!”. And do we even want to utter those words because you know, that’s exactly when the other shoe will drop and then you will say you jinxed yourself. Oh, is that only me who would do that?
Looking back on the past 44 years, I had a career that I backburnered for family, but I became my own boss. I have a home that I love, but it took a circuitous route to get there. I have a family that I love, that had complications both in meeting my husband, and having our son. I have my health which I am faithful to maintain. I have money in the bank but it came at the expense of the death of a loved one.
I don’t want to jinx myself so I will say – I am happy at this point in my life. Is that Having It All? Maybe the answer to the question is another question – Are You Happy?, and my answer would be Yes, I am Happy.
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 