Day 1532: What are you grateful for?

What are you grateful for?

I’m grateful for bumper stickers that help me think and blog.

I’m grateful for people who question  assumptions and for the National Park Service.

I’m grateful for dishwashers, dogs, and funny pictures of animals.

I’m grateful for doctors, nurses, and other medical treaters who have kept me alive for sixty-four years of  happiness, kindness, love, and treats.

I’m grateful for cats and cucumbers, which appear together in several videos on YouTube including this one:

 

 

I’m grateful for not being afraid of cucumbers.

I’m grateful for all  who help me create this grateful blog  and I’m grateful to YOU!

 

Day 1498: It’s not over until it’s over

I’m still not over the New England Patriots’ unprecedented come-back win last night in the  Super Bowl, which reminded me of a lesson I’ve learned over and over again:

It’s not over until it’s over.

It’s not over until it’s over, despite experts saying “It’s never been done before” and quoting numbers demonstrating the extreme improbability of the task.

Earlier in the day, I  was reminded of that lesson over and over again when I drove over to Boston and walked over to Chinatown to see an old friend who finally  became a father when he was over 60 years old.  As we talked over the past, we discussed how I had my first and only child when I was well over 40. The opportunity of becoming a parent was not over for me at that advanced age, despite my having a congenital heart condition.

My posts aren’t over until I show how I’ve recently snapped photos, over and over.

Sundays aren’t over until my boyfriend and my son, who is over in Edinburgh, cook a meal together by communicating over the phone. Last night, they both cooked a super bowl of soup which we ate while watching the Super Bowl.

My blog posts aren’t over until I share music  …

 

… and express gratitude, over and over.

Day 1456: Guess What’s Inside

Guess what’s inside this post!

Photos that I took yesterday, of course,  on Christmas/Chanukah  Day.

Guess what my boyfriend Michael’s wonderful relative, Sharon, said  when she gave me that very good gift.

I am giving you that tree of encouragement because of your heart operation,  all you’ve gone through this year, and because of the way people on your blog support and encourage you.

What’s inside Sharon is beautiful.

Guess what’s inside the rest of this post!

More photos.   Can you guess what’s inside each of them?

 

Guess what’s inside YouTube?  My choice for today’s music.

 

Guess what’s inside my heart, here and now.   Besides a new mechanical valve, there’s  gratitude for all who helped me create what’s inside this post and for every one of you!

Day 1431: Have you got what it takes?

Have you got what it takes to make your way through yet another daily blog post from me?

Have you got what it takes to guess how I came up with today’s title?

Have I got what it takes to write a blog post that’s worthwhile enough for me and for you?

Have we got what it takes to  …

• make it through today,
• make it through this month,
• make it through next year,
• connect with each other,
• treat ourselves and others with respect,
• love,
• keep our senses of humor,
• be strong,
• be weak,
• have all our feelings,
• accept what we can’t change,
• change what we can,
• have the wisdom to know the difference,
• show up,
• be gentle, and
• tell the truth?

Have you got what it takes to look at other photos I took yesterday?

Three years ago, Dr. Sidhu Gangadharan, pictured above, had what it takes to help us — my son Aaron  and me — breathe easier when Aaron had a collapsed lung. If you’ve got what it takes to read a little more about that, see here.

My cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. N.E. Mark Estes, also has got what it takes to make the list of top doctors in Boston Magazine this year.  Dr. Estes  — who says he thinks I can live (almost) forever — has got what it takes to have conversations like this with me, yesterday:

Dr. Estes:  Ann, you look better today than I’ve ever seen you.

Me:  You always say that!

Dr. Estes: But I always mean it.

Have I got what it takes to find music that’s got what it takes for this post?

 

Have you got what it takes to leave a comment?

I’ve got what it takes to express my gratitude to all those who helped me create today’s blog and to you,  who has got what it takes!

Day 1423: Strange

During these strange times, is it strange that I

• wake up writing my next strange blog post in my strange head?
• am solving lots of strange jigsaw puzzles online?
• consult with  doctors every week to make sure my strange heart is doing its best to extend my strange life?
• work on letting go of strange feelings from lots of strange experiences I’ve had this fall?
• have some strange fear about the future?
• surround myself with strange but wonderful people?
• take comfort in seeing movies like Dr. Strange?

Here are recent strange photos I took with my increasingly strange iPhone:

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s what’s strange about that last photo: that “6 ft Santa Claus” was shorter than me, and I’m 5 ft 3 in.

Also, I could have sworn I took a screen shot of my phone yesterday when the time was 11:22 on 11/22, but apparently not.

What seems particularly strange to you, here and now?

Is it strange that I’m having trouble deciding which strange music to include now?   There are so many strange choices!

Here‘s my strange decision:

Is it strange for me to ask for a comment below?

Strange days, my friends.  But it would be a strange day indeed if I forgot to thank all who helped me create this strange blog post and you — of course! —  for helping my world seem less strange.

Day 1417: Tough

The tough title of this post is inspired by the first photo I was tough enough to take yesterday, while I was doing some tough exercises at cardiac rehab:

Based on my understanding  of (1) the word “tough” and (2) the staff at cardiac rehab, I assume they meant  I am “strong and resilient” rather than “difficult.”

If you want me to provide citations for those two definitions of ‘tough,” one word:

Tough!

The last few months have been tough for me, as I’ve undergone several  tough cardiac-related surgeries and suffered other tough slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Apparently, I’m tough enough to take it,  because here I am, writing this tough post today.

Now, some of my tough readers probably want to know how tough my day was yesterday, since I mentioned in yesterday’s tough post that I’d be seeing lots of tough doctors and getting some tough tests at my tough hospital.

I hope it won’t be too tough for you to tough it out through several other tough photos from yesterday, first.

 

For those of you tough enough to make it through all those tough images, here’s my news from my tough day:

The news is good.  My tough doctors told me that all the tests show that I am exactly where I should be, after all the tough things I’ve been through.  As a matter of fact, my tough doctor, Mark Estes (not pictured), said this to me:

We’re going to keep you going until your 90s.

While recent events have shown lots of tough people that it is VERY tough to make accurate predictions, that was not tough for me to hear.

It’s tough for me to decide which tough music to include for this tough post, so I will leave that to my tough readers.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The tough writer of this tough blog does need to get going, but not until I express thanks to all, with three more tough photos:

Day 1392: Depends

What’s my attitude about life?  Depends on what’s going on around me, how I’m perceiving things, and people I depend on.

How am I feeling as I recover from my recent open heart surgery?  Depends on how much sleep I’m able to get, which depends on how much pain I’m having.

How do I answer questions from myself and from others? Depends on the question, my attitude, my experience, and what I know.

How  do  I come up with a title and topic for each of my daily blog posts?  Depends on what’s happened the day before, usually.

How do I decide which pictures to share here?  Depends on which ones I think you might like.

How well do I quote other people in this blog?  Depends on my memory and what they have to say.  Yesterday, the dependably hilarious, brilliant, and charming Mel Brooks responded to a question from the audience as follows:

Question:  Boxers or briefs?

Mel Brooks:  Depends!

My choice of music for each post depends on several factors. Here‘s the theme song from Blazing Saddles  — the movie Mel Brooks showed and discussed yesterday:

 

Will you comment on today’s blog post?  That probably depends on what you have to say.

I depend on others to create every blog post and on you to read them, so many thanks to Mel Brooks, to my neighbor Karen for driving me yesterday to a realtor’s open house AND to see Mel Brooks, and to you — of course! — on whom I depend more than you know.