A taste or food I am grateful for…
is there a difference between “gratitude for a food or a taste ” … or the inability to say no to a food? I am apparently unable to say no to chocolate.
But gratitude for a food: warm freshly baked bread with a little butter. The making of bread, the kneading of the dough, the baking, and the tasting of this bread soon out of the oven.
A freedom I am thankful for…
to follow the faith of my choice. And to have the freedom to not follow any faith.
A color I am thankful for…
Blue. All the shades. Blue feels calming to me. I love blue (and white) dishes, and blue skies (with white clouds). Tea in a blue cup. Blue.
e. 
A memory I am thankful for…
I’m grateful for MEMORY. That is cheating, I suppose, but our relationships are made of shared memories. Who we are is all we’ve been through, and the memories of these experiences, and who we have experienced these times with. Favorite memories would be simply time with family.
But one specific memory comes to mind – standing on a beach in Bamburgh, UK with my husband, taking in the vastness of the sand and water with a castle in the back of us.
In three months, will you ask me about…..?
How’d that 90 days with no sweets go for you? (my personal reset – except Thanksgiving and Christmas) And what’s your plan now?
My magical reset button is….
…. I read, I journal, I listen to music, I take a walk and enjoy nature. I wander around a library or a bookstore. I thrift. I call my sister. I play piano (badly). I listen to podcasts.
My best reset – sitting and sharing a cup of tea with my husband, talking to or listening to him, spending a day together in nature (Williamsburg, Ireland, or at the ocean).
I sound as though I need a lot of resets. Or do I sound mentally healthy, recognizing that I have many ways to reset? (Notice that exercise is not yet a “reset”….)
Right now I’m struggling with…
….my new diagnosis as a Type II diabetic. The life changes I’m trying suddenly are not about a smaller size in jeans, but in living a healthier life to have a long term quality life. This is actually daunting.
I am making use of the dietitian counseling, trying to learn how to manage foods, portions, and blood sugars. I now take a med to keep blood sugars lower to avoid the damage that consistent higher blood sugars can cause in my body.
I’m going to take advantage of classes and support systems and for the next 90 days, as my own “reset”, doing the no sweets plan – except on each of the holidays. (Fruits are my new snack.)
This diagnosis is yet another shift in my life, I suppose. It is not curable but it is controllable.
A recent discovery I can’t stop talking about is….
… podcasts, although it’s not entirely “recent”. I used to read blogs daily, but it seems that many blogs have morphed into podcasts. I have some favorites (What Should I Read Next?, On Being, The Daily, The Moth, The Popcast (Knox and Jamie), This American Life, and quite a few more).
My entry podcast was Serial and it was compulsive to listen to. I did it a week at a time as they were uploaded.
Podcasts are my cure for insomnia – because if I can’t sleep, I can listen in the dark to someone tell me a story.
Any recommendations?
A defining moment in my life was…
…actually I think there are a few defining moments, or decisions, that have directed my life down a particular path.
*Saying yes to a date with this young red haired guy because I needed to figure out how dating worked. (3.5 years later – we married) I think that finding a compatible life partner, and to continue to grow and learn new things about each other after over 40 years together is an amazing thing..
*Saying to that red haired guy that, ok, we could think about moving to another state in a few years with our four children. (9 months later, we moved from CT to VA) This decision changed the direction of our lives, even as we sadly left close friends behind. (but the decision to move impacted other family members who also came to live in Virginia)
*Deciding to return to school at age 39 to pursue a nursing degree, after many years at home with children. This was scary and intimidating, but I was a very good student and loved learning.
*Ultimately deciding to work with moms and babies has changed my life, and although I enjoy helping moms learn how to breast feed, mostly I want them to just feel good about the journey in becoming a mother.
*And making a change to a non-denominational church felt like waking up. I’m still waking up.
(and agreeing to let my daughters homeschool…. but maybe that’s a defining moment in their lives?)
