Day 2624: Needs

Yesterday, in a Coping and Healing therapy group, which people attend as they need, we talked about needs.

When somebody in the group said they needed kindness, I needed to ask, “Who else in this room needs kindness?”  Everybody needed to raise their hand, including me.

If you were in that group and I  asked you, “What do you need, here and now?” what would you need to answer?

Kindness?

Appreciation?

I don’t know what I need right now, so I need to think about it?

Something else?

My needs (in case you need to know) include blogging and sharing photos.

 

Now I need to

• take my little yellow car in for the 40,000 mile check up it needs,
• meet my friend Barbara, who I’ve needed for over 60 years,
• continue celebrating my birthday weekend, and
• share this song about needs and wants:

If you want or need to comment, please do so below.

As always, I need to express my gratitude for all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU.

 

Day 2597: Fabulous people

Even though I’ve met so many fabulous people in my life (and please see every one of my previous blog posts for fabulous proof of this), I’ve never written a post with the title “Fabulous people” before.

Why that fabulous title on this fabulous day?

Last night, I met a fabulous person at a fabulous The Great Gatsby/Roaring Twenties-themed birthday party planned by my fabulous niece Laura for her fabulous daughter, Victoria. I told that fabulous person  that my blog featured fabulous people and that “Fabulous people” would probably be the name of today’s post.

Here’s that fabulous person, pictured with fabulous host Laura and then with her  fabulous husband:

She told me that she thought that “The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally” was a fabulous name for a blog. It would be so fabulous if she reads this!

Another fabulous person in today’s blog is Widad, who is my fabulous son Aaron’s fabulous girlfriend and who is also a fabulous artist.

Also pictured above is my long-time, fabulous friend Ada. She and her fabulous husband Johnny brought over a fabulous wedding cake for me and my fabulous husband Michael yesterday.

Johnny, who did not want his picture taken, kept telling me that he thought my hair looked fabulous.

I’ve got more fabulous fotos of fabulous people from yesterday. Are you ready, my fabulous readers?

My fabulous niece Laura made the fabulous food in the foto directly above.  And doesn’t fabulous birthday girl Victoria ….

… look FABULOUS?!!

Last night, I kept asking people where they got their fabulous outfits and I kept hearing this fabulous answer: “Amazon!”

I think it’s fabulous that one fabulous person was dressed as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock in The Great Gatsby .

I also think that fabulous blogger (and fabulous reader of this blog) Christopher Waldrop will especially appreciate that fabulous Great Gatsby reference, which brings me to my last fabulous new foto for today:

Fabulous Christopher has a fabulous story in that fabulous book, which I think is soooo fabulous (and so fabulously deserved).

Is there any fabulous moral for today’s fabulous story?  Maybe just this: Spend as much time with fabulous people as you can in your fabulous life, because life is short (no matter how fabulously long it seems).

Here‘s “Young and Beautiful” by the fabulous Lana Del Rey, from the 2013 movie The Great Gatsby:

I can’t say whether that film is fabulous or not, because I haven’t seen it.

Fabulous thanks to all who help me create all my “fabulous people” posts, including YOU!

Day 2592: New Year’s Eve

For a long time, my New Year’s Eve tradition has been to compile  a list of my personal ten best and worst of the year.

This year’s best includes

• my son Aaron (top of the list for the 22nd year in a row!),
• my 12/27 wedding to Michael,
• my friends,
• my therapy groups (which include sharing and mindfulness exercises),
• blogging,
• the cats, and
• Michael’s cooking.

This year’s worst includes

• the death of close friends,
• how divided my country is and
• all the time I spent on worry and dread.

Do you see any evidence of  my best and worst in these new end-of-year photos?

 

 

 

I also put musician Jacob Collier on my personal best list for 2019 and it’s the best that I’ll be seeing him perform live in 2020!

It’s best to start planning for the best of 2020 and not to worry about a thing.

What’s your personal best and worst of 2019?

The best way for me to end this post is to express gratitude to all  who have supported me through another year of daily blogging, including YOU!

Happy New Year!

Love,

Ann

Day 2589: Why we love weddings

Why we love weddings is the topic of the online article “Science Reveals the Age-Old Secret of Why We Love Weddings So Much” which includes these quotes:

“When there’s a bit of uncertainty in the world,” Norton told Mic, “looking for a little bit of order is something humans like to do. It could be by doing a private ritual. It could be by doing a social ritual. Rituals make people feel like they have a handle on things. We know from lots and lots of research that feeling in control is a huge predictor of well-being. People who feel they don’t have some control over outcomes in their lives tend to suffer.”

…

It’s easy to think that rituals like weddings are pointless and overdone. But that big cake, sparkling white dress or bouquet toss are helping us move through life in a positive and healthy way. There’s no need to apologize for embracing it.

People seemed to love our wedding yesterday, even though there was no big cake or sparkling white dress. However, there WAS a bouquet toss.

If you love any of those wedding pictures, you can click on them to enlarge them.

Immediately after the wedding in the City Clerk’s office, Michael loved pretending he was the City Clerk  …

… and his brother Martin loved pretending he was exerting some influence in city politics.

I loved that the City Clerk, Nicole Crispo …

… loved those goofy photos of Michael and Martin.

I love everyone who was at our wedding, including my friend Carol …

… who took many more lovely photos of our wedding, which I love.  If you love weddings, I’ll include those in a future post (if I can figure out how to get them here).

I love that Aaron’s long-time friend Clark …

… caught the lovely bouquet.

I love that my son Aaron looked so handsome in his tuxedo …

and I love that Michael and Aaron love each other so much.

Do you love weddings enough to watch yesterday’s entire ceremony, taped by Michael’s loving and lovely sister-in-law, Tammy?

I love that I was thinking about this wedding scene from Best Friends with Burt Reynolds, Goldie Hawn, and Richard Libertini when Michael and I  said, “I thee endow.”

I would love any comments about weddings or love, below.

Thanks to all the lovely people who witnessed our wedding, including YOU!

 

 

Day 2588: We

Over the past seven years, I have written many blog posts with “We” in the title, including:

• Day 26: What we can and cannot change
• Day 103: We don’t have feelings until we’re ready for them
• Day 118: We really don’t know how we affect other people
• Day 130: The more we let go of fear, the better we can connect with each other
• Day 140: We cannot control other people
• Day 284: We never know how we affect other people (The Ta-Da Pose)
• Day 311: Shall we dance?
• Day 349: How We Are Doing
• Day 374: We’re doing the best we can
• Day 622: What we keep
• Day 651: What have we got?
• Day 759: We go on *
• Day 833: We’re all just trying to figure it out
• Day 917: How we touch the ground
• Day 1200: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
• Day 1220: We Live Here
• Day 1240: Things we don’t know
• Day 1245: What we choose to see
• Day 1314: We decide
• Day 1351: Things We Love
• Day 1458: We’re still alive
• Day 1489: When we wake up in the middle of the night
• Day 1545: We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be
• Day 1620: Why do we exist?
• Day 1638: We accept
• Day 1673: Are we there yet?
• Day 1697: Merrily we roll along
• Day 1734: How do we work together?
• Day 1753: When we die
• Day 1794: Where we will end up
• Day 1801: What’s bothering us? What do we do about it?
• Day 1906: We fear what we can’t control
• Day 1952: We Are One.
• Day 1975: How we make each other feel
• Day 2060: We are in search of greatness
• Day 2097: Will we ever agree on anything again?
• Day 2280: Are we having fun yet?
• Day 2286: What we are trying to tell each other
• Day 2304: What do we value?
• Day 2358: We want to know what you think!
• Day 2444: How many lives do we have?
• Day 2461: Here we go again!!
• Day 2472: What do we want to remember?
• Day 2479: Why should we care?
• Day 2519: What we’re holding
• Day 2524: Who are we?
• Day 2552: That’s the way we roll

Do we agree that I’ve written lots of posts about “We”?

Here’s a short poem titled “We.”

We

by Ann Koplow

“We” is my favorite pronoun.

It’s much better than “I.”

We are taking vows today

Which will last until we die.

Are we ready for my photos from yesterday?

We (Michael and I) love Jane, the realtor who helped us find the home where we are so happy and who sent us a card, flowers,  gingerbread cookies, and cookie-decorating materials yesterday to celebrate our wedding, which is today!

We wish you could all be there to celebrate with us, but we’re told that we can bring only twelve people with us to the civil ceremony.

Here‘s the “We” song I choose for today’s “We” post.

 

We belong together and I am so grateful for you and for us!

---

* We** are particularly proud of Day 759: We go on.

** We are comfortable, sometimes, using the royal we.

Day 2587: Kind of a Big Deal

It’s kind of a big deal

• that Michael and I are getting married tomorrow and
• that my kind and kind-of-a-big deal niece Julie gave me this t-shirt for Christmas:

  It’s kind of a big deal that Julie wants to use the lyrics I wrote four days ago for her 10th annual Women’s Getaway Weekend on March 21 & 22 in New Hampshire.

It’s kind of a big deal that

• The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally is still going strong here at WordPress after seven years of daily blogs,
• my boyfriend/fiancé/soon-to-be-husband Michael  supports me in so many ways  (including being my substitute blogger after my open heart surgery in 2016),
• my therapy groups are thriving,
• I’m President of the professional organization that’s been sustaining me and many others for decades,
• I’ve performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (and may be performing there again next year),
• I gave a speech at the 45th reunion of Harvard’s class of 1974,
• I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life,
• I no longer worry about bragging and many other things I used to worry about,
• there’ll be a Presidential election next year in the USA,
• my son’s girlfriend will be visiting us from Jordan after the first of the year,
• my son will read every post I’ve written after I’m gone and (I hope) realize this blog is a love letter to him and many others, and
• YOU use your precious time to read this blog.

It’s kind of a big deal that I took all these photos yesterday:

It’s kind of a big deal that I won that book at Michael’s family‘s Yankee Swap.

Here’s somebody else saying “I’m kind of a big deal.”

Here’s a big deal number from a big deal musical:

If you leave a comment, it’s kind of a big deal because YOU are kind of a big deal.

It’s kind of a big deal that there’s so much I’m thankful for this holiday season.

Day 2586: Happy Families on Christmas Eve

Tolstoy said,

All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

 

 

Do all happy families resemble one another on Christmas Eve?  Let’s see …

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if tiny tardigrades have families as happy as mine.

This photo …

… shows the father of Aaron, “my excellent ex” (on the left) and  my husband-to-be, Michael, both happy on Christmas Eve. That makes me very happy.

There are lots of videos on YouTube about “Happy Families on Christmas Eve.” I’m happy to share this one:

 

To all the families out there, I wish you happiness today and every day.

Finally, thank you SO MUCH for being part of my blogging family!!!!

 

 

 

Day 2582: Celebrating with you!

For the past seven years, I’ve celebrated many things with you, including

• birthdays,
• anniversaries,
• my son Aaron,
• my successful heart valve replacement,
• writing and performing original songs,
• serving as President of the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy,
• my therapy groups,
• appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe,
• speaking at my 45th college reunion, and
• the gifts of being present and alive, every day.

Now, I’m celebrating my upcoming marriage to Michael with you!

That celebratory card is from my thoughtful and celebrated co-workers, who celebrated with me yesterday by giving me these cupcakes.

I am celebrating with you that cupcake ring, which I might need on Friday since one of the his-and-hers wedding rings we ordered online IS the wrong size, just as I feared.  I like celebrating  mistakes, but some mistakes can be a shock to the system. If I get the wedding ring resized quickly, I’ll certainly be celebrating that with you!

As usual, I’m celebrating with you many moments from yesterday:

Celebrate good times …come on!

Thousands of people are celebrating with each other on YouTube in the comments for that video, including:

• celebrating because my mother has now been declared as cancer free
• When your crush asks you out
• Passing my exams that I didn’t study for brought me here
• When you write one word for your 200 letter essay
• When the weekend comes along
• IM NOT PREGNANT HELL YEAH!!
• I was inspired to listen to this song because I saved my neighbor’s cat
• Celebrating because my brother got accepted into college
• When they are giving out free food
• When you successfully make up a “when” joke
• I finished the dishes. I freakin finished the DISHES!!
• I WON THE LOTTERY!

Please share what YOU are celebrating with us, in a comment below.

As always, grateful to be celebrating with you,

Ann

 

Day 2560: Look what I made!

Look what I made!

I made a life filled with

• creativity,
• curiosity,
• puzzles,
• welcomes,
• friends,
• wonderful connections,
• sweet things,
• hopeful signs,
• love,
• cats,
• joy,
• purpose,
• appreciation,
• wonder, and
• images like these:

 

Look what my future in-laws’ cats are doing — making out the smell of our cats on my boots (which I didn’t make).

Here‘s “Hey Look Ma, I Made It” by Panic! At the Disco.

 

Look what I made!  Another blog post!

Thanks to all who help me make it through every day, including YOU.

 

Day 2521: Double takes

I did a double take, just now, when I realized this is my first post about double takes, defined as ….

noun
a rapid or surprised second look, either literal or figurative, at a person or situation whose significance had not been completely grasped at first:
His friends did a double take when they saw how much weight he had lost.

I’m doing a double take at that definition because

1. I don’t know what a figurative double take would look like, literally or figuratively.
2. I don’t know how much weight I’ve lost recently because, as I discovered yesterday, our scale in the bathroom presents two very different weights, depending on where you move it on the floor.

In case you haven’t completely grasped the weight or significance of today’s title, here are some visual double takes:

 

Did you do any double takes at any of those photos, literally or figuratively?

Yesterday, Michael & I were trying to remember supermarkets that were around when we were young.  We remembered Stop & Shop (still around today) and A & P (no longer with us).  I asked Michael, “Do you remember the old joke that Stop & Shop and A & P are merging and the new name is ‘Stop & P’?” I did a double take when Michael said he’d never heard that.

I also did a double take when I saw how few views “Double Take” by Blondie has on YouTube:

Here’s a double take of gratitude for (1) all those who helped me create today’s blog and (2) YOU.