September 30, 2015

Soul Convergence



I have a story to share.

A true story.

It happened the other night after the super moon.

A few months ago a good friend of mine from high school came to visit. She said then that her aging parents were both struggling with health problems and were deteriorating quickly.

Eventually they had to be placed in two different care facilities. Her mom, in a memory care home, one hour away from her dad.

After the moon did its lunar eclipse on Sunday night, her mom awoke at 2:00am. She looked at a photo of her husband and herself next to her bed and told the nurse on duty that they were going to Mexico together the next day.

They had married in Mexico 43 years ago. It was a second marriage for both of them.

At 3:19am her husband passed away.

And a few minutes later, she did too.

When the nursing staff found her, one of her arms was up as if reaching for something.

Perhaps it was him.

As one of their 6 daughters said, "Perhaps he was saying, 'Hurry up honey, pack your bags, we're leaving now' and grabbing her by the hand."

I can't stop thinking about the synchronicity of them both dying within minutes of each other.

And how quite likely the gravitational pull of the moon had something to do with them being able to make their exit together.

Just as they would have liked, no doubt.

A love story, actually.

September 21, 2015

Reminders

9am Thursday: garbage/recycling out
9:30 Thursday: transfer grocery $ (to college child)
10am: 20 push-ups
5pm Mon and Wed: hydrate for swim practice
10:30pm: Time to wrap it up

I've been using the reminder app on my Iphone for 
about a year to remind me to do things and it's been very helpful.

Except for one thing-

the 10:30pm "time to wrap it up" reminder.


This is supposedly a reminder to myself that I have 30 minutes to finish whatever I'm doing, get in bed, read and get a good night's sleep.

But it rarely works.

The ding goes off on my phone and I usually look at it 
and think "Yeh yeh I don't feel like going to bed right now."
It's like having a nagging parent because I'm a perennial night owl and love the evening.

But the truth is that saying up late and being sleep deprived the next day never benefits me. 
It's terrible self care.
It makes the circles under my eyes worse.
It gives me less bandwidth for my long list of responsibilities 
and I know that getting enough sleep is high on the list for maintaining health.

Yada yada yada....

So I thought to myself-

Maybe I need to edit the 10:30 "time to wrap it up" and make it more of an affirmation?
Maybe I should edit the reminder to say, "I desire to be healthy and well rested"?

...and hopefully this will help.

I think it will. Maybe, but maybe not!

by New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Gosh is it entertaining and funny. It was one of The New York Time's top 10 books in 2014 so it pretty much speaks for itself.

It's 11:30pm and I am off to read it now...



September 13, 2015

100 Years of Fashion



I love this quick and snappy video of the history of fashion. Talk about walking down memory lane. It's interesting how globalization and cultural changes have effected fashion so much.

What a wild, weird and interesting world we live in.

From what I gather, the fashion trends for Fall 2015 go something like this:

  • Lots of texture. 
  • Knit tunics and dresses
  • Plaids- especially red plaids and tartans.
  • Gloves are big, as are tights and skinny scarves
  • Lots of layering
  • Cardigans, turtlenecks, chunky knit sweaters
  • Watches are really big- as well as watches combined with several bracelets
  • Soft trench coats 
  • The Victorian look
  • Colorful denims
  • Bold blanket ponchos and blanket scarves
  • Blouses with tie-scarf necklines
  • High-waisted flare jeans( not sure how I feel about this)
  • Tonal colors- wearing variations of the same color head-to-toe.
  • Layering-up a mix of deep autumn hues.
  • Brown tones
  • Over-the-knee boots.


And now it's time for me to wash all the wool sweaters, scarves and hats that I didn't wash at the end of last winter to get ready for sweater season :-(

Oh yes and one more thing...100 years of men's swimwear :-)

(and what is it about knees- does anyone find knees as sexy as I do?)

September 06, 2015

You v.You

Favorite spot
Colder evenings and shorter days have arrived here in New England and along with them, the beginning of one of my favorite months.

It always makes me a bit melancholy though however knowing that these pristine days will soon be followed by old man winter :-(

On my solo, 569 mile (to be exact), road trip back from dropping our youngest at college in Pittsburgh last week, I was saved from boredom (and the anxiety of being alone in the middle of nowheresville) by listening to NPR. I found one conversation on breaking bad habits especially interesting. You can download You v. You here but I'll post it at the bottom as well. Great to take along to listen to on a walk or in the car. Highly recommend for breaking the barrier of what stands between us and being successful at the things we might desire like quitting smoking, drinking or achieving a healthier, leaner, physique etc.

What I like about solo car trips is that they lend plenty of time to think. For instance, one of the things I pondered about was why it's such a hard transition for me every time one of my kids heads back out into the world (or when we lose another cat, as we did this week) even though I am really enjoying this time in our life. Sometimes I can stop myself and remember what I learned in a marriage workshop that Mr. Fix-It and I took years ago called Getting The Love You Want. Most current upsets are a button that gets pushed again from a childhood upset. For me, being the youngest child of 5 by many years, I use to feel abandoned over and over again when my siblings left for college or headed out into the real world, leaving me behind.

Bingo!

Also this week, a delicious recipe for Dilly Beans. Omg.

I hope you're having a nice long weekend, dear readers of mine.
xo