This is the time of the year when I generally tweak my hair color to a richer, more autumnal shade. You know, add some highlights and lowlights to add depth to my color for the long dark winter that lies ahead. But that isn't what this post is about. I've been reflecting on the month of the September and recognized that I've had some rather extreme emotional experiences in the past 30 days.
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| image from 4.bp.blogspot.com |
I'm inclined to overshare events in my life, focusing most often on the positive. What can I say? It's my way. And my blog. This past week I've struggled a little bit with my generally sunny outlook on life and I thought it would be a good exercise for me to kind of itemize the good and the bad to help me gain perspective.
Without further ado - the highlights of September 2011:
- Visiting the NYS Fair with the boys and hanging out with my brother at his house. This was the month when Q learned to swim and his time spent in my brother's pool was integral to the process. Bonus that my brother is a doctor in case of any near drowning incidents.
- NYC with the girls. No further explanation necessary or offered.
- Participating in the American Memorial Triathlon
- Outstanding meals at Cafe Capriccio and the Capital City Gastropub
- A memorable birthday breakfast
- Celebrating birthdays and a marriage with friends
- Seeing people I love struggle with loss and personal challenges
- Losing the only other girl in my home, Cassidy Bono Lilly, for a night. She was picked up by animal control when an unnamed Lilly boy did a crap job taking care of her. She is no worse for her night spent at the Menand's animal shelter and perhaps appreciates home more now than ever.
- Having a routine follow-up PET scan at Albany Med. It sucks to walk through the door marked "Oncology" and know that you're in the right place.
Expressing these high and low points of the month clearly illustrates that I have way more to be thankful for than I have to complain about. I also can appreciate that two of the difficult things aren't clearly about me - they're situations which affect me because I care. Which ultimately is a positive, isn't it?
I can't be alone in doing this, right? Don't you weigh good and bad events in your life to try to evaluate how you're doing? Do you check in, and if so, how?
Thanks for this. One of the things about social media is that everyone seems to have their game faces on. All the young mothers talk about how wonderful motherhood is. No one talks about the sleepless nights or the smell of baby vomit on your clothes. Retirees talk about going out to lunch but they never mention that they might be a little lonely. Newlyweds talk about their wonderful spouse and never mention that they long for just a little of the solitude and introspection of the single life. I know some people drop off of social media because they gain this perception that everyone's life is perfect while their is so much less than. It's almost another more subtle sort of bullying. We need that truthiness! My life sucks sometimes too. Whose doesn't?
ReplyDeleteOh - and don't be too hard on that unnamed Lilly boy - lesson learned!
I'm all about the truthiness, Linda! There are definitely moments in life that suck, but I guess I learned somehow to consider the days instead of the minutes. And he-who-must-not-be-named will not be so remiss in the future, I suspect. XO
ReplyDeleteA couple things - Cafe Cappriccio is the best!
ReplyDelete-I compare my life to how I wanted or thought it would be when I got older and the fact that it is so close to what I wanted makes me not feel so bad that I am tired or have to drive far or whatever. At least I have a job! that is what I say. There is always someone worse off.