Monthly Perspective
Where am I going with this?
Last year I wrote a piece on varied perspectives. How we see the world as we look back, look ahead and look down at our feet. I thought I would try something new this month sharing exactly that from the past month. Hopefully this will become a regular practice as I aim to maintain some perspective.
Looking Back:
It’s Halloween today so let’s start with looking way back to Halloween costumes of the past. I am not a giant fan of Halloween. Not because I have anything against it. I just really do not enjoy dressing up. Sorry, not sorry. So every year of parenting was a challenge to create what my children, who were all in with costumes, dreamed up and be excited about it. John actually came up with more of their costumes than I did. But, when my mom first became a grandma, in her enthusiasm for the job she sewed elaborate costumes. A mouse, which I think almost every grandchild has worn. We moved the bow tie up to make it a hair bow when for the girls. And then a lion, also worn by most of the grandchildren. Both adorable. Then when he was 3 she went to the Disney store and bought an elaborate and expensive Tigger costume, also worn by most of the grandchildren. And that was the end of grandma costumes. A few years later Jake wanted to be a werewolf so I bought some fur fabric, grabbed some old clothes and brought them over to grandma’s to see if she would resurrect her costume sewing skills to sew the fur into some large holes we would create in his clothes. She tells me she can help me with that and then proceeds to grab a bottle of fabric glue, glue the pieces into the holes, and send me on my way. I was so disillusioned. But 10 years later when my daughter wanted to be a creepy werewolf I was ready with my own bottle of fabric glue to create the costume of her dreams.
Looking slightly less far back:
This month we finally put to rest the question of whether or not I got my blood clot due to a clotting disorder or if it was a random result of the surgery. Answer: random result of the surgery. It wasn’t really a shock. Pretty much everyone agreed, including me, that the surgery was the likely cause but once you have a blood clot you do not take any risks, you MAKE SURE there is no chance of randomly getting another blood clot. And if I every have surgery again you better believe I will be leaving the hospital on blood thinners. Just saying…
I also started pelvic floor PT this month. It is interesting, I am enjoying it. The conversations get a bit personal but it has been good information. I have never talked so much to strangers about the personal workings all things related to my pelvic region before. I don’t know if it is working but even just having good conversation with someone who cares about what is going on and wants to help me get back to normal has been a blessing. My body is making slow progress and I have decided to embrace the laxative while I wait for things to heal. It definitely puts me in a better mood.
Looking Ahead:
My birthday is next month! Not on Thanksgiving this year but every few years my family can be reminded they are thankful for ME. :) I’m a queen for a day type birthday girl. Not obnoxious Lord over the realm type queen, more like queen in my mind. Birthdays growing up were never elaborately celebrated at our house but always celebrated. We were special that day even as we often went about our usual routines. And as an adult I still wear an imaginary crown (although Riss has some lovely ones I have borrowed over the years) while I work and play and largely follow my usual routine. I know I am extra special and loved that day. I will be 55 this year and am feeling some goals related to the number 5 coming on in the new year…
We are also all looking ahead to the Holidays. When I wake up on the 1st tomorrow it will officially be the holiday season in my world. Earlier for some, later for others. I will start the slow transition in my mind tomorrow and my home right before Thanksgiving. I don’t host Thanksgiving and we will go up north the day after so I am thinking I will decorate the day before Thanksgiving this year. I have been simplifying my holiday decor the last few years and loving how a few simple pieces stand out and feel more special than an explosion of every Christmas decor piece I have every accumulated. Both fun but I am loving simplicity in this season of life. I wonder which pieces I will pull out this year.
Looking at My Feet:
Where am I standing right now? If the first 2, looking back and looking ahead, help give perspective to this one then I would say I am standing with confidence in my health I haven’t felt in a while, although still with help to stay here. And, I am a couple steps into launching a season of celebrations. Lists are starting to be made.
Tonight my feet took me to pizza with my family as they do most Friday nights. Life goal right now is to get my 15 month old great niece to know and love me. I don’t see her often enough to be fully recognizable but enough that she has a vague sense I might be safe. So after eyeballing me from the laps of everyone around me and agreeing to take some food from my hand she finally reached up to sit in my lap a few times. With grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, not to mention parents, all in attendance she has a lot of laps to sit and be loved from on Friday nights.
My daily inspiration lately has been listening to the morning and evening prayers on the Daily Office Podcast. I don’t quite do it every day but am enjoying the practice of regularly turning my mind and heart to God with simple prayers and readings that have been said for hundreds of years by believers around the world and are being said today by believers around the world. My simple moment of participation in this worldwide church.
I am re-reading the Two Towers, the second Lord of the Rings book. And no, I did not start with the first one. Why did I jump right to the second one? Well, 2 reasons. First I was flipping through TV one Saturday when John was working and the Two Towers was on TV. And I found myself thinking, as I often do, about how long it has been since I read the books and how sad I am that I have never purchased the series. Then I started thinking I might be able to get it right away for free on the Libby app for my kindle. So I went on the app planning to get the first book but that one had a wait and the second one I could get right away. So I did and here we are. Merry and Pippen have just gotten away from the Orcs. What I love about the books is getting some of the additional details the movie leaves out and noticing the little and big differences between the two. I have read the books once when the movies were originally coming out, I have seen the movies probably a dozen or more times.
How about you? Does considering the past, future and current moment help you maintain some perspective on your life?