If you want to hear Anna and Valerie — both wonderful mothers of children with congenital heart defects — and also your daily blogger discuss our experience of COVID-19, click on the link in the previous paragraph.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our world. And yet, our socially distanced world still has so much beauty, as I choose to see in my photos from yesterday.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our world, but
Yesterday, I noticed this big roadmap on the office wall of our Senior Director of Social Work and Patient/Family Engagement at the hospital:
Respectfully, I realize that parts of that important roadmap are difficult to read. I hope this helps:
In case it doesn’t, I respectfully submit this list of behaviors promoting a respectful culture:
Intentionally engaging and including all constituents by participation and information sharing
Spending time with people
Introducing new employees via walkabouts through the department
Saying thank you
Asking questions
Listening more, talking less
Paraphrasing to check understanding
Coming up with at least 3 possible rationales for an action
Making eye contact
Saying “hi” to everyone
Helping those who are lost
Smiling
Show gratitude frequently
Asking for and accepting help when needed
Asking for feedback across, down, up
Yesterday, I met our neighbor Will Isenberg, who is offering a roadmap for a respectful culture …
I’m voting for Will on September 10 because I believe his roadmap will lead to a more respectful culture.
Today, I will be respectfully appearing on the podcast Heart to Heart with Anna, in which Anna Jaworski and I will be intentionally engaging and including all listeners by participation and information sharing about my very unusual heart. I don’t yet have a specific roadmap to my episode, but I’ll insert that link later today.
Here’s the link to the podcast. The first airing will be noon USA Eastern time.
And this link lets you listen at your convenience.
I respectfully submit all my other photos from yesterday, wondering which offer a roadmap for a respectful culture:
What music comes to mind when you think of a roadmap to a respectful culture?
Now I’m asking for feedback across, down, up, with a respectful roadmap to the comments section, below.
Since gratitude is such an important part of a roadmap to a respectful culture, thanks to all who helped me create this blog post and — of course! — to YOU.
Yesterday, on a special day, I noticed “Special Operations” on a parked police motorcycle.
I thought, “I’m going to be interviewed for a special podcast tonight about my special heart and several special operations, including open heart surgery.” As I was taking that special photo for today’s “Special Operations” blog post, I heard somebody speaking to me and that turned out to be special operations officer Hicks:
I explained to Officer Hicks, “I took that photo because I’ve had many special operations on my heart.” He said something special, like “Those special operations must have gone well because you look pretty good considering you’ve had all those special operations.” He also said he didn’t think he was handsome enough to be in a blog, which I thought was especially modest.
Officer Hicks and many other special operations officers were in Boston yesterday, in preparation for the special Boston 4th of July celebration today. Minutes after I photographed special operations officer Hicks, I noticed something special on my car.
I thought, “What?!?! It’s true that I just spent a long time getting a special teeth cleaning and also talking to my special dentist Dr. Del Castillo, who is doing so well after having the special operation of a double lung transplant, but I don’t think that took over two hours!” I looked more closely and saw this special reason for that ticket:
Since when do they give out special tickets for being over 1 ft from the curb, especially since only the back of my car barely met that special criteria?
I know that special operations officer Hicks is not somebody who gives out tickets and — in case he thinks that I’m looking for special treatment — I already did an online special operation last night to pay it.
Do you see any special operations in my other special photos from yesterday?
As you can see from those photos, I did a special operation of pre-medicating before my dental cleaning and did a special operation when I got home — trying out a new cat carrier on Oscar, our cat-in-a-bag.
After my special boyfriend Michael and I walked around our special neighborhood last night (and saw some unexpectedly special fireworks and a special beach bonfire), we danced to this special 4th of July song:
Now, I’m going to request that you do the special operation of making a comment, below.
Happy July 4th to everybody who performs the special operation of reading this blog, including YOU!
It took me several special operations to upload my photos today. I hope you don’t have to perform any special operations to see them!
If who you are is somebody who comments on blogs, please share any thoughts and feelings about “who you are, who you aren’t” below.
Who I am is a person who feels and expresses gratitude for those who help me create these daily posts and — of course! — for YOU (no matter who you are or aren’t).
Hi, my fringe show has been accepted. There are shows from the 20th to the 24th.
Since Aaron and I both applied many months ago to perform our own shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (which starts in August), we’ve accepted the ever-growing possibility that neither of our shows would be accepted.
My son and I accepted the process of waiting to hear about our shows very differently — I kept holding out hope (until very recently) that we would both be accepted and Aaron very quickly accepted the stance of assuming that both of our shows would not go on.
I hope Aaron accepted both of my responses to his wonderful news:
Great!
What can we learn from this?
I hope you’ve accepted my intent there: to invite Aaron to hold on to hope in the future.
Personally, because I’ve accepted years of uncertainty dealing with medical issues from birth, it helps me to hold onto hope. I’ve accepted that other people deal with uncertainty very differently. (It’s accepted that I sometimes say this in my Coping and Healing groups: “Different strokes for different folks.”)
I’ve also accepted that I probably will not get a Fringe show, which was titled Group “Therapy” with Ann. However, if I do get accepted, I’m ready!
Aaron was accepted to teach English in Jordan this month, so when he gets back here on July 20th, we’ll make sure that YouTube accepts a longer version of that.
Also, I applied yesterday to join a panel in September for my 45th reunion at Harvard on “Picking up the Pieces: How Did You Embrace Life and Find Happiness Again?” In my application, I offered to talk about dealing with conflicting medical advice and finally getting a mechanical heart valve in 2016 (a process well documented and accepted on this blog). I wonder if my application will be accepted, especially since I offered to perform my original song “Shameless Appeals for Applause.”
Five years ago, I applied to be on a “Voices of Our Class” panel at my college reunion, and my application was not accepted. I’ve accepted that often you have to try, try again.
Why oh why am I writing a fourth blog post about Why? Why am I linking to the previous three posts (here, here, and here)?
Why did I write “Why?” on two different white boards at work yesterday?
Why do white boards consistently get more difficult to erase?
Why were people in therapy yesterday asking so many WHY? questions, including:
Why is there so much traffic?
Why did it take me four times as long as usual to get here today?
Why do people back their cars into spaces in parking lots?
Why do people do what they do?
Why do I deliberately act like a mischievous child?
Why am I in so much pain?
Why am I in therapy?
Why aren’t other people in therapy?
Why did I take the rest of these pictures?
Why is it taking so much longer for me to access and transfer my photos? Why does that happen periodically? Why does it bother me less each time it happens?
Why am I still having trouble writing that letter from the President for my professional organization’s newsletter? Why did I start fresh yesterday with a new topic? Why did Michael say he thought my first, abandoned topic (the rejuvenation of Spring) was better? Why am I going to finish the second topic and then write another letter with the first topic if I have time? Why am I using the quote “If you want something to get done, give it to the busiest person” in my letter?
Why did I ask all the questions I did in this podcast (starting at 19 minutes and again at 28:34)?
Why did Michael not want to listen to that podcast last night? Probably for the same reason he doesn’t usually read this blog. Why did I think I could find the post that explains that by searching on “Why Michael doesn’t read this blog”?
Why would you leave a comment today?
Why would I thank all those who help me write these posts and also YOU? Why do you think?
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 