Two of the words I live by, every day, are “Thank You,.” Thank you for helping me create two thousand and five hundred daily blog posts with (I hope) some words to live by.
What helps me is blogging every morning. What helps me is sharing my experience.
Today, I’ll be sharing my experience at my college reunion in a five-minute speech about living with my very unusual heart. It’ll help if I can record it, so I’ll do my best. If I can’t record it, I’ll help you experience the speech by sharing the full text here, tomorrow.
Yesterday, it helped for me to facilitate a Coping and Healing group at work and then to spend the day at my reunion with my long-time friend Lawry.
It helps to have friends. Here’s part of today’s speech:
So as I tell my story to you today, I wonder, perhaps along with you, what has allowed me to survive, so intact, through all this? What has helped me pick up the pieces, over and over again? As when I was a child — the love of my family and friends sustain me. Also, seven years ago I expanded my network of friends by starting a daily blog. Every morning, including today, I’ve written about my heart, my son, my passion for the healing power of groups, my song-writing, my cats, my hopes, my fears, this speech — whatever helps gird me and prepare me for the day ahead. The day after my heart valve surgery was the only day I needed a substitute blogger — my boyfriend Michael let my thousands of followers know I had survived the complicated procedure. Their comments included “Fantastic news! I’m in public but I’m dancing all the same,” and “’She’s going to be alright guys’ is the best line ever!”
I’ve asked the coordinators of the Jam’n Java Open Mic if I could be a featured performer some day and they replied, “We usually book people who’ve had a show elsewhere.”
Definition of tell me about it
informal
—used to say that one understands what someone is talking about because one has had the same or a similar experience
“Something is wrong with that computer.” “Yeah, tell me about it. I can never get it to work properly.”
I don’t know if something is wrong with my computer, but I can’t post a shortened version of this video (in which I seem to be saying “Tell me about it” for 18 minutes) (and which I first told you about in this post) to YouTube.
Let me tell you about what happens when I (and perhaps you) click on that link. I receive a message that says “Unable to process this video.” However, I could still download it, although I got a message that told me “Google Drive can’t scan this file for viruses. Free.mp4 (1.4G) is too large for Google to scan for viruses. Would you still like to download this file?”
Too complicated or too much trouble? Tell me about it.
Once my son returns from teaching English in Jordan, maybe he can tell me about how to post that video (which he shot in our gazebo two weeks ago) to YouTube. If you do look at the video, tell me about which title you prefer:
“Tell me about it.”
“Free therapy with Ann.”
“I’m listening.”
I can also tell you about the original, unedited, noisy, uncentered version of that video, which is here:
At this point, when I’m looking at a preview of this post, I’m telling you that video has this message: “Please wait. We are converting this video.”
Tell me about it.
In the meantime, I’m going to tell you about these recent photos I haven’t told you about before.
I want to break free of more technical problems, but I won’t tell you about it. Instead, I’ll tell you about my gratitude to all who support my telling you about it, every day, here on WordPress.
Thoughts about those ways of expressing gratitude? Tell me about it.
What would I do without you, my readers, who have supported and sustained me through 2,345 consecutive days of blogging?
What would I do without my iPhone and my eye for interesting images and connections all around me?
What would I do without wonderful people like Ryan Gee, sales manager extraordinaire for Boston Roofing and Gutters, who helped us quickly fix our leaky roof and also told us about the best local Thai Restaurant EVER (Thai Noodle Bar in Quincy, Massachusetts)?
letting you know I’ve never written a “Responsibilities” post before,
facilitating two Coping and Healing groups at work, and
sharing my photos from yesterday (which has recently become more difficult, for some unknown reason, and I don’t know if WordPress or my laptop are responsible).
My responsibilities, here and now, include telling you that “Responsibilities” was the topic chosen by yesterday’s Coping and Healing group, and that this is what I wrote in response to the question “What is your personal experience of responsibilities?”
I can be over responsible, which can get in the way of enjoying the present moment. “What do I have to do right now?” “Nothing except be here, now, as best I can.” I am going to ask myself that question, with that answer, more often.
What is your personal experience of responsibilities?
I have a few more blogging responsibilities right now: inviting you to be kind,
sharing this photo of Michael’s delicious chicken parmesan from last night,
Today’s blogging love letter is inspired by a lovely conversation with loving WordPress blogger Debra, whom I loved meeting in Los Angeles on Friday. I told Debra that my son, Aaron, whom I love, does not read my blog and how he has told me that he will read all the letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs in my blog after I die.
I told Debra that I love that, because after I’m gone Aaron will discover that this blog is “a love letter to him, as well as to many others.”
In this daily blog, over the past six years, I have written love letters to
my son Aaron,
my boyfriend Michael,
my sister Ellen,
my parents,
my therapy groups,
group therapy,
my readers,
my ex-sister-in-law Deborah,
my ex-sister-in-law Diane,
my other ex-in-laws (including my nieces Laura, Julie, and Victoria)
my sister-in-law Linda,
my cousin Lani,
my friend Barbara,
my friend Deb,
my friend Carol,
my friend Jeanette,
friends and ex-college-roommates Marcia and Maria,
many other inspiring and/or ordinary subjects and objects.
I sometimes love linking to past blog posts and sometimes I don’t, especially when my love letter list is so long! I also don’t love leaving people off of loving lists, so I may be adding more love letters to this post, later.
