I hit the Kroger yesterday. Masked up. Rode my bicycle. Brought my bag that transforms from sack to backpack. No car keys needed. A trend I would like to continue this Spring and Summer. The grocery gathering would become smaller and more often.
The Fresh Fare folks are awesome. Very helpful. Good eye contact. Have you noticed that yet. Are you looking people in the eye when you speak and listen to them? All eyes on you. Back to the helpfulness of the Fresh Fare elite managing the goofball grocery gatherers like me. Without my car keys I was without my Kroger card, without my Kroger card I could not use my coupons, without my coupons I am nothing. The self checkout savior got to button punching, having asked if I had my Plus card. My tale of forgetfulness was one more from the multitudes for her that day. Her override knocked the $’s off my spring-mix and for that I am grateful. Sacked and strolling and still clueless, it did not hit me when I pulled my phone out to pay. Not when I bagged my food loot into my transformed backpack. But when I walked out the automatic door, being sure to properly space myself from the gal entering, did I realize I have my Kroger Plus card in my “wallet.” By wallet I mean my phone. The apps I am apt to miss in my keychain, those that I’ve placed there to make my life easier, have sometimes eluded me. One way or the other I always have my keychain. Remembering that would be a plus. We can do more with less. Make it a beautiful day.
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Hey everybody! Hope you are well. I have been on a kick of coming up with ways to help curb bad habits and create new ones if we are willing to move forward with a new normal. I miss sports. I miss my wife wondering why I am watching "sportsing" while she has reruns of the Kardashians to escape to. She refers to their show as 'her football.' Meaning I am welcome to stay in the room and watch but it is unlikely I will enjoy myself and will also bother her with questions about the people involved in the action on the screen. From first-downs to put-downs we do not let each other down by watching our 'sporsting' together. Anyway. I ideated a couple of PSA campaigns that I would like to see come to fruition. Elbows are for Coughing and Facemasks Protect You from Me. Because. Well. They do. And those that use them best may be able to help us, help ourselves. Be blessed today. We don’t need you telling us to do something, we've always done a certain way, differently. We don’t want anything new to do. We want to keep doing it the way we’ve been doing it. We want to keep doing it the same way, preferably from the same place. We cannot possibly do it any other way then the way we were doing it especially when we are in a different place. An uncomfortable space. An all too familiar place. No. Nothing new. Thank you!
The easier way to do something is not the way I have been doing it simply because it is the way that it has always been done. The easier way to do something is not the way it has always been done because that is the way I was shown how to do it. The easier way to do something could possibly be a different way than the way I have been doing it all this time. Possibly. If only there was a way to figure out if another way is easier, better or just different. There is. Try. Try an alternative. Not once. But, two or three times. Carry your coffee cup in your opposite hand just to give yourself a sense that discomfort isn't so bad. My discomfort in trying something new, or doing something differently is usually just the signature of growth, the soil parting for the sun to shine on that reaching root. Plant the seed. Break new ground. Create the discomfort of opportunity and growth because the worst that could happen - you are shown the old way was best. But now, where will it lead next? Sun. Snow. Sleet. Sun.
Michigan today. The weather's escapades have offered a way to gamble, what with the casinos closed, placing bets on what will happen day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. Place your bets on what the day brings. Whether it is sun, snow, sleet or all three, know that you've won. Hey everybody! Hope all is well in your world.
This morning presented an opportunity to be reminded that I am my roadblock. Chatting with a friend we came to the conclusion that nothing has gotten in the way of our daily routine - except ourselves. Choosing not to stick with the usual, normal, everyday get up and get at it routine has been a choice. So how do I take action on a different choice? Wow. That. Is. A tough one. I went through previous to-do lists and found something that was unaccomplished, but completely accomplishable with a minimum amount of effort. That little checkmark was big ol' wink that it is now ok to go knock the next thing off the list, and so it went, ad infinitum. My morning routine has resurfaced, not with an exceeding amount of vigor trying to catch up for lost time but with the proper amount of positivity to sustain it long term, or until I present myself with me - my roadblock. In any case the phrase that pays today is, "lead with love, follow with forgiveness." This applies to me first - how I think of me and how I act on those thoughts so that I may lead with love for others in my life and follow them with forgiveness. Be blessed and make it a beautiful day. When is the last time you spoke with someone you never really speak to regularly. I am not in the social media universe so am unable to follow along with the wall postings and insta pics and tick-tocking timelines.
I was given a suggestion a while back that if the thought of calling someone pops into your head, do not delay, if not for you - for them. How much do you miss getting a letter mailed to you from some far away place? Receiving birthday cards, anniversary wishes, Easter sentiments via the snail mailbox is still, shall we say, exhilarating in the existentially appreciative-of-being-thought -of reminder sort of way. But what of the phone call, with or without video. The tone of voice carries so much more weight than intoning our own emotions onto the text or email or Hallmarkian code we read. Hearing the smile or the frown, we feed our soul with the sound of another human being. Measured by the music you listen to that draws your attention to your thoughts and your heart, the sound of a loved one has the power to carry you out of yourself. The same holds true for a friend, a colleague, heck even the off-shore support for technical issues lends an opportune ear to escape a day cast in doubt or glorified in grace. If the thought of calling someone comes up, do not delay - if not for you for them. Be your best today. If you walked out of your house each day to go to work or visit family or get your errands completed with a smile on your face. Chances are you still have that smile today.
Use it to help someone else. Your face has muscle memory and that smaller needs to show up when you are on the phone or talking to your new found isolation family. That smile will change the tone of your voice. It will pick you up and keep those around you grateful. Smiles are infectious. There is no better time to build muscle memory. Smile and make it a beautiful day. I will start by reminding myself how much I love my parents. They’re fun. After 7 decades of rockin’ out life as it comes they get some leeway, some freedom to explore the nether regions of fear and news and epidemics. They missed the Spanish Flu so maybe they are just suffering from FOMO on our most recent virus veritas.
My family snowbirds in the Redneck Riviera, also known as the Gulf-Coast-Flobama-Alarida. A wonderful place with relaxing beaches and zip-lining and restaurants. Having the opportunity to escape the doldrums of winter, while also insisting that your family visit you so that they to can get out of snow banked depression, is cool. Unless an epidemic strikes and people start freaking out and you’re fed daily news that there won’t be any food or gas or toilet paper. First and foremost. Toilet paper being hoarded is the perfect symbolic statement of what a shit-storm is when you don’t wash your hands and listen to whatever garbage news feed pops up in your timeline. If you are self-quarantining some extra rolls are worthy but why would there be a production shortage of paper. It stinks just thinking about it. Blessed to be directed to stay put. Bummed to miss out on beach time. Directed to gather supplies in case of an early return by the snowbirds. I don’t have a Costco card. Nor do I have a desire to stock up on the canned goods and hunker-down supplies. Luckily if you do have an account you can have your supplies shipped anywhere. Thusly, we have become the distribution hub of the family fear factoring. It surprises me that they would want to be home early. Enjoy the beach and your last breath. The reason given for the early return was that there could be a shortage of gas. If no one is going anywhere why would there be a gas shortage? A surplus is in order. Side note - folks not going anywhere has literally cleared the air in China. The fear of not being able to get home sucks. The fear that once you get home all you have to survive on is SPAM and toilet paper, personally that is much worse. I look forward to seeing my parents again, sooner or later, but just in case I take solace in the fact that SPAM was the only remaining canned meat they could purchase and so I shall have an everlasting memory of their sacrifice. I'd rather march on than be carried away by the corona conversation. My hopes is that we will look back on this deadly outbreak years from now and say, "Can you believe no one has gotten a cold in, like, ever bro." You know because everybody started washing their hands and not touching their face and took daily measures to be as healthful as possible.
That outcome is just as likely as extinction. Death has a way of sneaking up on us, so make today the absolute best you can for everyone in your realm of influence. |
AuthorComedy Store trained, World-travelled, Cul-de-sac-living recovering comedian, husband and tinkerer of tools talking about time well spent! Archives
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