Day 3363: Shared Stories

As a group therapist and as a human being, I believe that the more we share stories, the more we connect with each other.

Yesterday morning, I watched President Zelenskyy share powerful, heartbreaking, unforgettable stories about the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the U.S. Congress. I witnessed, for the first time in a long time, American lawmakers unite in response to the shared stories.

Do you see shared stories in my images for today?

In this blog, I have shared stories about my absolutely incredible kid, and I hope to share many more stories with you in the future.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “shared stories.”

I look forward to reading any shared stories in the comments section, below.

Thanks to all who help me create shared stories here, including YOU.

Day 3065: Family members

As more and more of my family members are getting vaccinated, I am now spending more time with them. Yesterday, I attended a surprise graduation party for my husband Michael’s sister Lydia, who was the Salutatorian — the student who ranked second highest in a graduating class of 1000! At the party, we family members watched Lydia’s virtual, on-line graduation ceremony, which included her talking about family members in a pre-taped interview.

Earlier in the day, I had posted a question about family members on Twitter.

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Some of my Twitter “family members” had interesting replies:

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I am not more judgmental of Michael’s family members, as I hope you can see in the photos I took yesterday at his brother John’s house (which always gives me lots of material for this blog).

Congratulations to my sister-in-law and Salutatorian Lydia, a sweet, wonderful, and accomplished family member.

Here’s “The Family Song” from Sesame Street:

What do my blogging “family members” have to say about this post?

This family member is grateful for all her family members, including YOU.

Day 3051: Comfort zones

In all the time zones of the USA, today is Mother’s Day, and I am comforted by good memories of my late mother. My mother tried her best to give comfort to others and created many comfort zones during her long life.

Here’s my mother creating a comfort zone for my late father when they were young…

and for my father and their two best friends many years later:

Memories of my mother are comfort zones for me. And as you can see, we both experienced zones near the ocean as comfort zones.

Trying to make Twitter more of a comfort zone, I posted this tweet a few minutes ago:

Today, I’m getting ready to travel for the first time since the pandemic created so many discomfort zones. I’m expecting some discomfort flying tomorrow to an unfamiliar place in a different time zone — Nashville.

Last night, I had discomforting dreams about singing my original songs in Nashville. One of them — “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready” — is about comfort and discomfort zones. Strangely, I woke up comforted after that dream, thinking, “Well, I doubt things will go THAT badly.”

Tweeting used to be out of my comfort zone, but no longer.

Do you see comfort zones in my photos from yesterday?

Here’s where my thoughts are going — to my debut performance of “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready” when I FORGOT my own words, which always throws me out of my comfort zone:

Sharing vulnerabilities can create comfort zones for yourself and others.

I just increased my comfort zone by booking my 6:30 AM Lyft to the airport for tomorrow.

Also, the person who created Mother’s Day for me just contacted me from Scotland, which really expanded my comfort zone.

Please make this blog more of a comfort zone by expressing your thoughts and feelings in the comments zone below.

Gratitude always increases my comfort zones, so thanks to all who help me get into the blogging zone every day, including YOU!

Day 1998: Good

It’s good that I noticed that my first two photos from yesterday have good in them.

Do you see the good there, my good people?  Do you see the good in other people? Do you see more good than bad?

I guess I see more good than bad:   I’ve written 41 posts here with the word “Good” in the title (starting with Day 3: The Fear of Feeling Too Good) and I’ve written 14 posts with the word “Bad” in the title (starting with Day 263: Bad Day/Good Day, which has good in it, too).

Do you see the good in the other photos here?

A good friend texted me that good drawing, above, with this good caption: “Got your back.”

Last night, at a good board meeting, I sang a small portion of this very good song from Into the Woods,  in memory of our very good friend, Michelle.

The good lyrics I sang were these:

Sometimes people leave you

Halfway through the wood.

Do not let it grieve you

No one leaves for good.

You are not alone.  No one is alone.

It’s always good to end with thanks.  Thanks to all who help me create all my good posts, including this one, and to you — of course! — for being good enough to be here, now.