Five hundred and seventy-eight little days ago (but who’s counting these little things?), little ol’ me wrote a little blog post, Day 1790: Thankful for the little things.Yesterday, I was a little perturbed by many little things when I was writing yesterday’s little post, so I sent Michael this little email:
Hello my darling,
I would say we have an infestation of ants . This is based on many of them crawling on me this morning while I was blogging, which is a new experience for me here at Squanticello. Let us research kind ways to invite them to leave.
Much love,
Ann
When I got home from work, Michael was more than a little freaked out at the not-so-little size of the invaders, which turned out to be carpenter ants. He said, “Usually I don’t think of insects as animals, but these enormous winged things are definitely animals.” Michael spent many little moments yesterday identifying the big ants’ little points of entry and applying spray that is kind to little things like children and pets.
I didn’t take any pictures of those little things, but I invite you to spot the little things in today’s little photos.
I don’t see any little or large ants as I’m creating this little post, so I’d say that Michael’s efforts paid off, in a big way.
Here‘s “The Little Things You Do Together” from a little musical called Company:
Here are the great lyrics to “The Little Things You Do Together” by that musical giant, Stephen Sondheim:
It’s the little things you do together
Do together
Do together
That make perfect relationships.
The hobbies you pursue together
Savings you accrue together
Looks you misconstrue together
That make marriage a joy.
It’s the little things you share together
Swear together
Wear together
That make perfect relationships.
The concerts you enjoy together
Neighbors you annoy together
Children you destroy together
That keep marriage intact.
It’s not so hard to be married
When two maneuver as one
It’s not so hard to be married
And Jesus Christ, is it fun.
It’s sharing little winks together
Drinks together
Kinks together
That make marriage a joy.
The bargains that you shop together
Cigarettes you stop together
Clothing that you swap together
That make perfect relationships.
It’s not talk of God and the decade ahead that
Allows you to get through the worst.
It’s “I do,” and, “You don’t,” and, “Nobody said that,”
And, “Who brought the subject up first?”
It’s the little things…
The little things, the little things, the little things
The little ways you try together
Cry together
Lie together
That make perfect relationships.
Becoming a cliche together
Growing old and gray together
Withering away together
That make marriage a joy.
It’s not so hard to be married,
It’s much the simplest of crimes.
It’s not so hard to be married,
I’ve done it three or four times.
It’s people that you hate together
Bait together
Date together
That make marriage a joy.
It’s things like using force together
Shouting till you’re hoarse together
Getting a divorce together
That make perfect relationships.
Uh uh
Kiss kiss
Mmmm mmmmm.
I’m greatly looking forward to all your little comments, below.
Gratitude for the little things helps me deal with all the little and big things every day, so big thanks to those who help me create this little blog and — of course! — to YOU.
Soon after publishing this post, I made up some new little lyrics for that song, more relevant for tall Michael and little me:
It’s battling ants together
Making sure you dance together
Keeping the romance together
That make perfect relationships.
That “SPECIAL ATTENTION” tag is from a dry cleaner, informing me that they gave special attention to a stain on a silk skirt but were unable to remove it. When I picked up the skirt yesterday, I said to them, “Thanks for giving this special attention. We all need special attention sometimes.”
When you pay special attention to that last sentence, do you agree that we all need special attention sometimes? When do you need special attention? How do you get that special attention when you need it? Do you ask for it? Or do you hope that special people will know that you need it without your asking?
I’ve been giving special attention to my second letter from the President for my professional organization’s newsletter. I’ve been working on that special letter for days and no matter how much special attention I give it, I don’t like what I’m writing. Maybe I’m giving it too much special attention.
When I have special trouble writing or completing other special tasks, I especially take breaks and turn my attention elsewhere. Which of my latest photos deserve your special attention?
My first loud action in today’s blog is to share this photo of five words:
I’m just now noticing that “louder” is the quietest word in that sign.
My second loud action is to share many words about when to shut up!?
Are the actions in my remaining photos louder than the words?
This might take several minutes to listen to the words and music in “Nobody’s Perfect” co-written by almost perfect social work intern Nat Shirley and me. Last night, Nat and I took the action of loudly performing our act at an Open Mic.
I look forward to your words and actions about today’s post.
Now, it’s time to take the action of loudly expressing words of gratitude to YOU.
Even though I’m up for anything these days, sometimes I get exhausted, especially on Thursdays, when I
work from 10 to 9,
facilitate two therapy groups,
orient new people for my groups,
see several people for individual therapy,
go to a meeting of social workers,
have about 20 minutes for lunch,
try to decide whether to look at or avoid the news,
practice my latest song, and
practice self-care.
In one of those therapy groups, a person exhausted by a major and unexpected loss shared that she practices self care by taking breaks, even if it’s a break for a moment. I wasn’t too exhausted to hear that she had learned that skill in my groups.
I was so exhausted by the end of the day that I added a new emotion to the emotions chart on my door:
Here and now, I’m exhausted by the possibility that somebody might tell me that “exhausted” is not really an emotion.
Here and now, I’m NOT too exhausted to share my other photos from yesterday.
I hope you’re not too exhausted to share what exhausts you and what energizes you, in a comment below.
Yesterday, when I was building my own adventure, I saw this:
Actually, I need help from others to build my own adventure. How do you build your own adventure?
When my son was very young, he posted a build-your-own-adventure game on YouTube, which I can’t find. Therefore, shall we build our own adventure together, here and now, using forty-eight of my photos from yesterday?
You can further build the adventure if you click on any photo you’d like to more adventurously explore.
Here‘s what comes up on YouTube for “Build Your Own Adventure”:
I don’t have time to make the choices for that scary adventure, because I’ve got to go out into the world and build my adventure for today.
I look forward to the adventures people build in the comments section, below.
Gratitude helps me build my own adventure, so thanks to all who helped me build today’s post and — of course! — YOU.
Are you going to leave a comment? Whatever works for you.
it works for me to express my thanks to all who helped me create this whatever-works post and — of course! — to YOU, for your time, effort, great energy, and whatever!!
Exactly three hundred and seven days/posts ago (but whose choice is it to count?), I published a post titled “Choices” in which I chose to share an exercise about the topic of “Choices” from a therapy group the day before. Today, my repetitive choice is to mention yesterday’s therapy group, wherein people made choices to focus on the topic “Choices” from all the topics discussed and to share (1) important choices from the past, (2) choices coming up for them, and (3) what makes choices more difficult or easier.
My photographic choices yesterday included these choice images:
Note that a patient made the choice of “anticipation” over “hopelessness” from the feeling chart on my office door:
Also, I didn’t make the choice to photograph my list of important life choices, which included:
Going back to social work school to become a therapist in the 1990s,
Deciding to specialize in group therapy, and
Developing my Coping and Healing groups.
What important life choices have you made?
Earlier this week, I made the choice to ask Nat — a social work intern and fellow musician — to write a song with me, which we will choose to perform together, singing close and choice harmonies, at a future open mic.. Together Nat and I have already made some choices including this one: I write the lyrics and Nat writes the music.
My choice is to share these lyrics with you:
Nobody’s Perfect
lyrics by Ann Koplow
Nobody’s perfect
Even us two.
We try to be perfect
But that doesn’t do.
We both make mistakes,
In that, we’re like you.
Nobody’s perfect.
That’s perfectly true.
Nobody’s perfect,
Including your friends.
If you’re looking for perfection
Those friendships might end.
Your friends make mistakes,
In that, they’re like you.
Nobody’s perfect.
That’s perfectly true.
Perfectionism makes us imperfectly judgy,
Rigid, unhappy, refusing to budge-y,
It makes thoughts and feelings uncomfortably sludgey
With harsh self-flagellation even if you’re just pudgy.
Nat chose to tell me he’s glad we’re writing a song together with the choice words “self-flagellation.”
Nat made the choice yesterday to send me some choice music he’s already composed for “Nobody’s Perfect.” Soon, we’ll be making more musical choices together, including featuring the choice fiddle stylings of our talented co-worker, Alice Malone.
Other people have made the choice to write songs titled “Nobody’s Perfect” including this one:
I wonder what choices my readers will make in the comments section, below.
As always, I make the choice to end my posts with gratitude for all those who helped me create this post and — of course! — YOU, for making the choice to visit this blog, here and now.
Since many of us in Massachusetts, USA were voting yesterday, today I’m inviting my readers to think about voting.
What does voting mean to you? Will you be voting this year? What influences your voting?
Voting is now open for your favorite images among these:
No worries about my sharing this photo of my write-in voting for my boyfriend Michael:
According to this site, that used to be illegal in Massachusetts, but now it’s okay to take a photo of your own voting here. In the future, I hope to be voting for Michael for public office.
