We are now halfway through the first month of the new year, so let’s take a look back at 2024. So far, we have had freezing weather, rain, snow, and high dangerous winds that brought down a total of three trees at our house.
Our oven died, and so did our dishwasher – which was not as bad as my friend’s furnace that refused to work when the freeze arrived.
The election year has begun with several states pulling the leading GOP candidate from their ballots and several more thinking about doing the same. My inbox for my email is filled with ads, essays, and comments from all the political parties, and all addressed to Kathleen, as if the authors and I are on a first-name basis.
I don’t know about you, but I, for one, refuse to spend the rest of this year surrounded by doom and gloom.
So, I am moving onto my happy place, inside my head. I read with interest Dr. Debra’s last column about resolutions and how to set short and long-term realistic goals. And I have settled on one.
My great-grands are awe-inspiring with their daily new discoveries and interpretations, and their parents and grandparents continue to be supportive and loving, so they all get to stay.
I have some dear friends, near and far, so I will continue to enjoy time with them. I enjoy volunteering for the Lions Low Vision Resource Center and have signed up to help with the Senior Action Network “Senior Day” at Lake Fair this summer.
Sometimes, I pay for prescriptions, food, or other items without the recipient knowing it came from me. It is always one of my most delicious secrets.
I am awestruck by the magnificent display of nature that surrounds me in the Pacific Northwest, both near and far. Ocean, woods, rivers, and the marine life side by side with wildlife, all within a stone’s reach.
These are all things that bring me joy.
Laughter is needed daily by me, so I will continue to scroll through social media for my smile of the day. I have a few friends going through some rough personal times right now, so I share at least one “smile for the day” with each of them via e-mail.
I love watching Bella Rose, the smartest dog in my world, sneak outside with someone’s sock and play catch with it by flinging it up in the air and chasing it until I pretend to scold her, at which point she brings the sock back inside.
I love laughing at silly things and at inappropriate times, which often horrifies my family…friends know what to expect and are very adept, when necessary, at pretending they have no idea who I am.
All my life, from childhood on, I have known that no matter how bad something in my world was, when I reached the point I could laugh about it, the healing was complete.
And continued learning - I want to know more about the history of this region, its indigenous peoples, and their history. I want to hear more life stories from strangers and friends.
One of the icebreakers I like to use when speaking to a group of people who have known each other for a while is to ask them to write down one thing they think no one in the group knows about them and then pass the ‘secrets’ around and have the group guess who did what.
And I love learning new “things” – advances in medicine, science – why things work and why they don’t. I may not understand it all today, but perhaps as time goes on, my knowledge will increase to the point that it makes sense to me.
Right now, most of all, I want to learn who took down the “Caution - Otter Crossing” signs over by Squaxin Park and why. These signs made me smile and brought me joy and I would like them back, please.
Now.
It is vital to the continuation of my New Year resolution.
Kathleen Anderson writes this column each week from her home in Olympia. Contact her at kathleen@theJOLTnews.com or post your comment below.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here