Day 3072: Strong Encouragement

Today’s post is titled “Strong Encouragement” because (1) we could all use some and (2) I captured these two images at my local supermarket last night:

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Do you see strong encouragement in my other images for today?

In college, I needed strong encouragement to read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which included horrific scenes about how the sausage is made.

Do you need strong encouragement to watch and listen to the twins hearing Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” for the first time?

If so, I strongly encourage you to read this comment:

What does strong encouragement mean to you?

In case you didn’t know, I’m always grateful for the strong encouragement you give me to keep on blogging, every day.

Day 1476: I haven’t been the same since …

When people get into therapy, they often say, “I haven’t been the same since …” and they name some life-changing event.

Personally, I haven’t been the same since …

• my first heart surgery at age 10,
• I got my first cat,
• I got my first car,
• I rode a bicycle for the first time,
• my heart valve replacement surgery last September,
• my son was born,
• my son went away to school in Scotland,
• my son returned home for Christmas,
• my son went back to school yesterday,
• I took my first disco dance lesson,
• I met my husband,
• my divorce,
• my cardiac pacemaker was recalled in 1975,
• my cardiac pacemaker/defibrillator was recalled two weeks after my valve replacement surgery in September,
• President John F. Kennedy was killed,
• Bobby Kennedy was killed,
• Martin Luther King was killed,
• John Lennon was killed,
• I went away to college,
• I was attacked by a rapist outside my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
• I first got into therapy,
• I went to film school,
• I became a therapist,
• Barack Obama was elected President of the United States,
• Donald Trump was elected President of the United States,
• I met my boyfriend Michael,
• I first saw Gene Kelly dance,
• I heard my first pun,
• I made my first pun,
• I attended Berklee School of Music for a summer program when I was in high school,
• I worked on the recruitment tape for Berklee College of Music in the 1990s,
• I did stand-up comedy at an Open Mic,
• my son performed stand-up comedy at an Open Mic,
• I had my first cup of cocoa with marshmallows,
• my father died,
• my mother-in-law died,
• my mother died,
• my father-in-law died on Friday,
• I encountered Mexican food for the first time,
• I had my first black raspberry ice cream cone,
• I saw my first palm tree,
• I started blogging,
• I got my first comment on this blog,
• I bought my first personal computer during the 1980s,
• I wrote computer manuals in the 1970s,
• I slept out under the stars in Monument Valley,
• I went cross country by bus,
• I attended the Edinburgh Festival Fringe,
• I heard Pat Metheny play guitar,
• I sang in front of people,
• I met every person who is important to me,
• I saw my first Stephen Sondheim musical,
• I first heard the band Steely Dan over the sound system at a Cambridge store, playing this song …

• and countless other events.

I haven’t been the same since all those things happened and yet I’m still the same person.

I haven’t been the same since I took all these photos:

Give the happiness of a comment and I will end up happy.

I haven’t been the same since I first learned to express gratitude, so many thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — for being changed and yet the same, every moment.