Day 2647: LIVE TODAY LIKE

 

Live today like you’re getting fried tomorrow (or like you’re getting stir fry today).

Here’s Tim McGraw, live, telling us to live today like you’re getting fried tomorrow with “Live Like You Were Dying.”

 

Live today with gratitude that, most likely, you (and Harley) are not getting fried tomorrow.

Day 2641: Feet First

Yesterday, when I was walking down the street with my feet first, I heard “Feet First” from the album Street Dreams by the late, great keyboardist Lyle Mays.

My first thought was “Tomorrow’s blog is going to include ‘Feet First’ and photos with feet!”

The first photo I took was of my own feet on the street.

And as I walked through the day with my feet first, I realized, again, how much it helps to take life one step at a time.

Here are the other feet I captured yesterday:

Now it’s time for me to step through another day, feet first.

Thanks to Lyle Mays, artists,  cats, and all who help me step through life feet first, including YOU!

Day 2640: Be your own hero.

No matter what is going on in your life right now, be your own hero.

Even when your blogging platform (a metaphor for LIFE) throws changes at you that you cannot control* which make things more confusing and difficult, be your own hero.

Even if your eye turns red frequently because you’re on anticoagulants …

… be your own hero.

Even when you have trouble remembering things, be your own hero.

Even when you have a strangely-shaped heart (or anything else that’s unique, different, or weird), be your own hero.

Even when you have to rush, be your own hero.

Even when you have all sorts of feelings …

… like when $&@^!!?&%£!! WordPress makes it MUCH harder and time consuming to add photos and is probably totally screwing up the formatting of this post, be your own hero.

Even when you can’t always be first class …

… be your own hero.

Even when you have trouble making decisions …

… be your own hero.

Even when you are planning a 50th high school reunion in an ageist culture, be your own hero.

Even when you have to rely on other heroes to get things done, be your own hero.

Even when you have no idea how people are going to receive what you send out into the world (like this blog post), be your own hero.

__________________________

 * After I published this post (which was formatted FINE), I discovered that I can switch to the old WordPress editor if I choose, so I have more control than I thought. Even when you find out new information,

 

Day 2632: Best Gift Ever

What is the best gift ever?

Is it

• sweets,
• flowers,
• clothes,
• jewelry,
• a book,
• art,
• music,
• words,
• comfort,
• a pet,
• friendship,
• kindness,
• love,
• home,
• the Earth,
• the sky, or
• pictures?

Is the best gift being happy together?

For me, the best gift, here and now, would be a comment from you.

Finally, I hope you accept my gift of gratitude.

Day 2598: Moments you dream about

Because there are so many moments you nightmare about in today’s news, I choose to focus on moments you dream about in today’s blog post.

I snapped that photo during some dreamy moments food shopping last night with my husband Michael. Many moments later, Michael produced more food moments to dream about.

Earlier in the day, I had some moments to dream about …

• planning a 50th high school reunion to dream about with Butch and Barton,

• taking photos to dream about from Barton’s and Michael’s cell phones, and

• distracting myself from possible future world nightmares with these other moments you dream about at our local supermarket.

Yay today (despite the clouds) for all the moments you dream about.

Here‘s “These Dreams” by Heart, with dreamy vocals, instruments, and other moments to dream about.

I dream about comments from you, so please take some moments to leave one, below.

I spent many moments yesterday look for expressions of gratitude to dream about, like these:

Day 2479: Why should we care?

Since last month, when somebody told me that something I wrote didn’t pass the “Why should I care?” test, I’ve cared too much about that comment. I’ve tried to let go of caring so much about that by

• rewriting very carefully,
• caring about other things,
• spending time with people I care about and who care about me,
• starting a new original song, “Why Should You Care?”, and
• caring to take this picture:

Sometimes it seems like cats and people don’t care, but why should we care about that?  Let’s just keep caring anyway.

Here are the beginning lyrics of “Why Should You Care?”

Why Should You Care?

by Ann Koplow

Why should you care about me?

Why should I care about you?

If I should share about me,

Maybe you’ll share about you.

© Ann Koplow, 2019

Why should we care about the other photos I took yesterday?

Why should we care about “Why Should I Care?” sung by Diana Krall?

I not only care, I express my caring with gratitude at the end of every post.  Thanks to all who helped me create this “Why Should We Care?” post and — of course! — to you, my caring readers.

Day 2465: Note to self

Note to self: go back to work today after an incredible trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Note to self: write notes for …

• my latest original song “Spoiler Alert.” and
• my “Ted Talk” for my college reunion in September, including important information about my self (e.g., my very unusual heart and how the notes in this blog help my  self get through the challenging times).

Note to self: share some new photos from yesterday, which I took myself.

Note to self: Halloween and Thanksgiving are actually several months away.

Note to self: Share Class Notes: A Journey Through Musical Emotion.

Notes to self:

• Practice acceptance of all feelings.
• If you feel overwhelmed by too much to do, take one step at a time.

If you want to leave a note to me, yourself, and others, see the comments section below.

Note to self:  express  gratitude and thanks for all the selves who help me create these daily posts and for those who read them, including yourself!

Day 2444: How many lives do we have?

How many lives do we have?

I assume each of us has only one life.  So what do we each want to do with our one, precious life?  What do we want to do to preserve the precious, one life of others?

This past weekend in the USA too too many people lost their one lives because of gun violence. I am going to spend the rest of my one life doing whatever I can to stop the madness of such easy access to assault weapons — weapons designed to end as many lives as possible as quickly as possible.

This weekend, when so many lives were lost,  I spent my one life with those I love doing what I love — the priority for every single day of my one precious life.

How many photos do we have?

Because I don’t have nine lives,  I don’t smoke and I try to live healthy.   I owe it to myself and to those who love me.

When I search YouTube for “How Many Lives Do We Have?” I find this:

How many thoughts and feelings do you have, here and now?  I look forward to reading every one of my readers’ comments.

How much gratitude do I have for those who helped me create this post and for you?

 

Day 2437: Rainbows

Rainbows were on my mind, yesterday, and I never quit seeing them, everywhere.

There were lots of people waiting to pose with that poster of Randy Rainbow after last night’s sold-out show.  Thanks to my wonderful niece, Laura,  for taking that colorful photo.

Here’s Randy Rainbow  singing “BRAGGADOCIOUS!”  …

… and “Suckers.”

 

What kinds of rainbows have you seen lately?

Here’s a rainbow of gratitude for all those who help me create these colorful posts and — of course! — to YOU!

 

 

 

Day 2402: All Thumbs

One thousand, four hundred, and eighty days ago (but who’s counting on all thumbs or all fingers?), I typed — with all thumbs and fingers — a post titled  Day 922: Thumbs, which included a discussion of thumb-related phrased including “all thumbs,” “thumbs up,” and “thumbs down.”

Yesterday, I was all thumbs at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, as

• I was so focused on removing liquids or semi-liquids that might be more than three ounces from my bag that I forgot to remove my laptop,
• security gave me a thumbs down and sent my bag through twice, the second time without zipping it up,
• I didn’t noticed that the bag was unzipped,
• people told me everything was falling out of my bag after I picked it up, and
• I got so flustered I dropped my laptop on my toe.

I’m glad to report that all thumbs and all toes were all okay, even if my dignity got temporarily damaged.  After all that happened, I hung around the scene of the crime and said all this to myself:

See!  You were trying to avoid feeling shame about doing the wrong thing by taking out those items from your bag, but you missed the obvious one!  And what you feared came true: you did the security thing wrong, people got annoyed, strangers noticed your mistakes,  things fell out of your bag,  you were exposed, you looked like you were all thumbs (and maybe like a crazy old lady), but you know what?  It doesn’t matter! You survived and you’re flying home to those you love!  Hooray!

And I celebrated by grabbing, with all thumbs, the #1 Best Airport Grab-and-Go Dining in the Country  (which turned my thumbs orange).

It’s time to thumb through all my photos from yesterday, when I was feeling all thumbs (but lots of heart, too).  By the way,  I thought “thumbs up!” when I was taking one of these pictures.  Can you guess which one?

Here‘s “All Thumbs” by Mark Casstevens:

 

I’ll reply to all  comments later (using all thumbs if I’m on my iPhone).

Thanks to all who helped me create this all-thumbs post and — of course! — to YOU, for visiting, here and now.