church

Some good things…

~ MaryG ~ 21 Comments

I’m still getting over the high drama of last week which was a major paradigm shift in my family of origin, although it harkens back to something I recently reflected on as part of a Thursday Doors post (of all things).

I went to online guided meditation on Friday and it did help calm me, as I had hoped. I keep thinking of the last thing my minister said as she led us into our breathing:

“A present moment is a happy moment.”

It’s a great sentence to return you to your inhale. And then I find I just sort of naturally smile a bit on the exhale when I think of that sentence. It’s been helpful this week.

And then that same minister gave a great sermon on Sunday entitled “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” She is so smart and funny and very GenX in all her cultural references. I love Rev Lara! Her sermon starts at minute 26:30 in this video, if you want to check it out.

I felt so grateful to be in my church community on Sunday.

The other MAJOR good thing is that my husband really seems to have turned the corner in his knee replacement recovery. It’s been SEVEN long weeks, but he can actually walk around Costco with me now. We’ve been out to movies and restaurants a few times. He still keeps the knee elevated and on ice a LOT, but needs the pain drugs way less. (Sadly, he needs to have the other knee replaced in March, but at least he’ll know what he’s getting into next time.)

Another good thing is that we had a fun family Zoom with my husband’s side of the family on Sunday, with three new additions on the screen (my granddaughter and two other toddlers). My in-laws are a very good group overall. By no means perfect, but a solid family. No MAGA. No Trumpers. We’re spread all the way down the East Coast from Boston to NYC to DC to Orlando, so we don’t get to see each other much, but they are THERE and I’m grateful.

Also, I get to see BOTH my son and my daughter and my granddaughter this week…AND possibly all of us together on Saturday for a trip to the Aquarium, which would be a Grandma dream come true. 🤞🏼

I’m so grateful for my husband, my son, my daughter and her family, my in-laws, and my church family.

AND I’m also extremely grateful for the support from my WordPressBlog Community. I really can feel it, which is wild. Stephanie, May, CJ, Edward, Andrea, Liz, Shelly & MyGenExerLife and anyone who sent me silent good vibes—thank you 🫶

Not my cup of tea

~ MaryG ~ 4 Comments

I had one of those moments of clarity yesterday. Not on the meaning of life or anything important like that, but a small realization that I just don’t like an acquaintance (a couple actually) that I’ve known casually for decades. Without making a big deal of it, I will simply avoid interacting with them in the future.

I ended up chatting with this male person after church (as I have many times before) and he said something insensitive about my husband’s recent knee surgery. It was fairly typical of him. It was a put down of sorts. His wife, whom I’ve also known for years, is what GenXers would refer to as a “nut job.” Wacky and extremely extroverted. Case in point: when addressing the entire church from a podium yesterday, she announced that her pronouns are “She, her, ME.” Twice.

Lots of people “love” this couple (or seem to). They do a lot for the church community. But I just “do not care for them” (as an older generation might say). They’re not my cup of tea.

And that is fine.

Image from Pexels

Scent matters

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Who are your favorite people to be around?
View all responses

I love my family and enjoy being with them. And friends are so important too. I try to be a good friend.

But this question is making me think of people writ large. Why do I gravitate to some more than others?

There’s a group of about 100 people I see on a weekly basis (my fellow UU churchgoers), about 20 of whom I see twice a week (the choir members), and I do like being around some more than others. My favorites are the people who are engaging (they talk but also listen); smart but relatable (they go beyond small talk, but don’t lecture); funny but self-aware (they’ll make you laugh, but aren’t trying to be stand-up comics); and they smell good. The last one seems shallow, but honestly, some people smell better than others and I prefer being around the good smellers. Aging seems to contribute to some so-so smelling people, but we’ve got plenty of good smelling seniors, so that’s not a great excuse. Scent matters.