Gratitude #13: The Canal

Come to find out, I'm getting a root canal tomorrow and I'm super grateful.  If I were unable to get my root canal, I could have serious problems like "stroke, heart attack, or life threatening sepsis." So obviously it's super fortunate that I get to have a root canal.  Root Canals ROCK!

Gratitude #12: The Mayor

Dad and I are watching Mayor Pete talking to a town hall group on Fox.  Dad says he will probably vote for Mayor Pete.  This pleases me, but I'm wondering if Dad's being completely forthright.  If Mayor Pete is the Democratic nominee, I will vote for him, but I'm rooting for Elizabeth Warren. Tonight, Mayor Pete is sporting a blue tie that matches his blue pants.  I wonder how he'll do in the Iowa caucuses.

Gratitude #11: The Impossible Burger

How many of you have tried the Impossible Burger.  Highly recommend.  I had it for lunch at Hamburger Mike's. With the Impossible Burger, you're not killing animals and you're not polluting the environment.  You're basically just having the time of your life on a bun.

Right now I want to watch Pretty Woman again, but Dad says, "Please change the channel to something that people would want to watch."

"Well, thanks for being selfish," was my retort.

"Selfish?  After what you made me watch today?" Dad replied, indignantly.

"Hoarders is a great show," I reminded him.  "Full of pathos and family struggles. It's real world."

So now we're watching Father Brown before the Notre Dame basketball game begins.

Dad 1.  Quality television viewing 0.  As discussed earlier on this blog, we have our differences, but as role models for the rest of the country, we participate in civil discourse.

Gratitude #10: D.A.D.

I'm down in the Southland watching some television with my dad.

I'm grateful that I can be here with this nonagenarian.  We have different political views, but we get along well and we love each other a lot.

Citizens across the land may be divided, but we can all come together and have some fun times.  Case in point:  My dad and I have radically different views on Adam Schiff.  I loved his speeches at the impeachment trial. My dad says he's a liar, thief and a scoundrel.  And yet, we both enjoyed a Liam Neeson movie with many crazy killings today and agreed on how much we love Liam Neeson above all else.

I'm mostly grateful that I have siblings who live with my dad and take such great care of him so he can live in his own house and do things the way he wants.

Life is good.

Gratitude #9: Power of Song

We've been listening to, singing, and reading about, songs for social change.  Fables of Faubus, Which Side Are You On?, Wavin' Flag.  Protest songs help give us hope, raise awareness and promote solidarity.  We played We Shall Overcome on our kazoos while holding protest signs.  Our performance was just for us, but 23 exuberant Thirdlanders in one place believing there can be a better future has been known to generate an attitude of gratitude.

At the end of the day, the kazoos went home in the backpacks.  Another source of gratitude.  See you next time, Kazoos. Thank you for your service.

Gratitude #8: The Growth Bodyset

I'm in my head most of the time, so it's nice to focus on my body this month as I fool around with various sankalpa.  Here are some things my body pulled off recently. Warrior poses at Gentle Yoga.  Original dance steps (created by me right on the spot) as I waited for my papers at the xerox machine.  Moonlight walk while talking to #1 Son on the phone.  Hands high in the air as I danced with the Thirdlanders to K'naan's Wavin' Flag.  Four square demonstrations for the newby Thirdlander.  Ten pull ups on the monkey bars.  Okay, that last one is a lie.  But it would be kind of neat if I could do pull ups.  My body refuses the pull ups, but I'm not holding a grudge. I have an attitude of gratitude.  This body is "precious, whole and good."  So is yours and so is everybody's.

Gratitude #7: The Possibilities

Today was a day.  We worked on the Power of Song centers all afternoon.  Thirdlanders were designing their own unique instruments, and making shoebox guitars and reciting Native American Poetry along with music and making posters about The Lotus Festival.  I had an amazing mom volunteer helping out.  With SuperMom helping at the guitar making center, I was able to work with some Thirdlanders who have trouble finishing work.  An amazing assistant was in there too for a bit.  On her way out she whispered to me, "You are going to need a glass of wine tonight!"  Damn you, Dry January! But any way you look at it, I'm grateful for a productive, hopping day.  And I'm grateful that I'm halfway through the Dry January challenge.  And another thing I'm grateful for is the bluest sky at recess duty.  A Thirdlander talked with me a bit while I was supervising a rowdy soccer game.  I said, "Look at this amazing blue sky."  

And she said, "Yeah, and feel this nice breeze on your face."  

Good times. 

Gratitude #6: The Hydroplaning

I'm super grateful that I didn't get hurt after a hydro-planing incident this morning. Here's what happened.

As I drank some coffee, I saw 4 deer standing in the pouring rain in the backyard.  All facing the same direction. They saw me looking out the window and gestured with their heads and front legs for me to join them.  Happily, I ran out into the rain and mud, eager to stand amongst them.

As I ran across a grassy puddle, I skidded and then hydroplaned into the air, somersaulted over a fence, and landed perfectly upright on my backyard neighbor's deck.  Stuck the landing big time.  The neighbor's dogs went wild barking behind the sliding glass doors.

Luckily, no one seemed to be home, so I walked back around the block to our house, grateful I was able to avoid embarrassing explanations with the neighbor and also grateful that I survived the incident with no physical harm. The deer were gone by the time I got back, so I went in and had another cup of coffee.  I also had a croissant that Husbandman found at the Farmer's Market. He was wondering where I had gone, so I told him the whole story.

Gratitude #5: Steps

I'm trying to be mindful of my stepping this month.  Ideally, I would like to step 10,000 times each day.  Yesterday I got up to 9733 and decided that was enough.  It was 9pm and I had finished grading papers while watching the finale of Flea Bag and basically I was fatigued.

Grateful that my job keeps me moving  quite a bit all day long so I can get near to 10,000 steps without engaging in specific exercise events.

Gratitude #4: The Sankalpa Resources

I went in to Thirdland today and pulled out so many materials. Then I strew them hither thither and yon. The room looks like a bomb hit it. I just left strewn materials on every table so that tomorrow morning can be more chaotic than usual.  Good move, Heffernan!

Ordered some books for support with my sankalpa.  Older, Wiser, Fiercer.  Body Kindness.  Body Respect.  Now that they're here, they don't really look all that fascinating, but I'm grateful that people wrote these books and that they're right here in my house so I can look at them from time to time and perhaps become more body positive during 2020.  Speaking of body positivity, if I were you I'd skip Brittany Runs a Marathon on Prime.  So dumb.

Did I tell you I'm doing Dry January?  I'm not sure why I'm doing it.  Not enjoying it that much to tell you the truth.  Still, I'm committed to the whole 31 days of dryness.  You know me. The sky's the limit when my heart is in it. I'm very grateful to all the funny people tweeting about #dryjanuary. Reading the tweets is a good distraction at the end of the day.

Gratitude #3: The Lichens

Last night I talked to some travelers who have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and have wandered through the Alps. As they hiked through the Alps, they saw cows and heard their bells ringing.  

Another traveler texted today that she was "halfway to Cleveland," which sounds like a good title for a song or poem.  

Husbandman and I are sticking close to home, but we gratefully traipsed through Latimer Woods and logged in over .4 miles. Grey and muddy, but the lichens offered a pop to the wintry woods, shining their bright oranges and minty greens.  

We may venture out again at some point.  It's wet outside, and the crows are causing quite a stir.

Gratitude #2: The Search Continues.

I'm in a little coffee shop.  This place is usually so quiet and calm, but today there are many Chatty Cathies in here.  There are two young men having an earnest discussion at the next table.  First guy shared his great love for his girlfriend. When he gets his tax return this year, they will get married.  He can not imagine life without her.  The other guy shared that he is probably going to break up with his girlfriend soon because she was high when he introduced her to his parents recently.  That really bothered him.

As for me, I've played around with a few sankalpa today.  Haven't yet landed on the one yet.  I want the sankalpa to focus on the physical this year.  I want to remember to appreciate having a body that can move around and get stuff done.  I don't think I've appreciated this body of mine enough. I need to have an attitude of gratitude for this collection of cells that gets me through the day.  Before long, I'll be sitting around in a recliner all day, waiting for someone I barely know to help me into my wheelchair. My sankalpa might be, Thanks, Body or I might snazz it up a bit.

Gratitude #1: Sankalpa Search

Spent some time looking over 2019 with my blog and my notebook.  Some notes about the year:

I made a C25K goal and I did in fact run a 5K with my siblings, but sadly the slogging tapered off soon thereafter.  I made another goal to get something written, and I do have an article, written with pals, out there in SubmissionLand, hoping to be published in 2020. Cross your fingers for us, please.

 I blogged 145 times, up from the past 3 years, but nowhere near my 2005 record of 315 blog entries. Reading over my 2019 entries was a bit ho hum.  I wrote a few amusing entries, but not that many.  I wrote a lot about Thirdland, and I did enjoy reading about some of the projects we worked on in Room 200, but I want to do more creative writing next year.  Maybe I do.  Not sure, actually.

 We saw 61 movies, 31 of them on the big screen.  (Favorites:  Tell Me Who I Am, Give Me Liberty, Honeyland, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Raft, Echo in the Canyon, Yesterday). Definitely want to see more movies in 2020.

My sankalpa of 2019 was kind of a bust.  It had to do with thinking on each day as an adventure.  Really didn't work out since most days I recited my sankalpa in the morning and then followed it up with "Well, I guess."

So it's time for trying out a new Sankalpa for 2020.  I really liked my 2018 Sankalpa which was "I'm a magician lady."  That really brought a smile to my face every day. Do you remember that it came from the title of a painting?  So, I may need to rip something off from the world of the Creatives for 2020. I've a few in mind that I'll noodle around with this month here.  We'll all probably enjoy that quite a bit.

The gratitude challenge is a good idea for the beginning of the year.  Thanks, MM.  I've got a lot of stuff to be grateful for, so why not give those things a shout out here on alittleleeway and start the year with some jubilation?