[Author’s note: I want to apologize in advance about the length of this post. After I finished saying everything I wanted to say, it ended up being a bit longer than I would’ve liked. In my defense, though, I did just return from a spectacular tropical vacation that left me rejuvenated, reinvigorated and refreshed (and not to mention, deeply tanned)!  The next post will be much shorter, I promise. Speaking of that, my “Barrel of Blog Ideas” is starting to run low. So, if you have a question for me or would like me to talk about something (that I might have a clue about), let me know. You can either leave me a comment or contact me via email or text message: bjim140@gmail.com | (636) 336-2673.]

I am a little reluctant to talk about this for two reasons. For one, it’s a little personal. I don’t want to force TMI on you or be guilty of oversharing – nobody has time for that nonsense. ‘But what the heck, ‘, I figured, ‘we’re all friends here anyway, and you would tell me if that was the case, right?’  Secondly, I don’t wanna come off sounding like I’m beating my own drum or being braggadocious or something. I definitely don’t want to be perceived to be that way.

OK, I’m over it – let’s proceed.

The “WHAT” I do: After I wake up in the morning and before Jen comes to help me get up for the day, I usually have some time to myself. During my “quiet time”, I have the opportunity to think about lots of stuff. One of those things is that I run through a list of five things in my life that are very important to me and that I’m very grateful for.

The “WHY” I do that: A few months ago, I found myself being crabby and in a bad mood a lot more than I would’ve liked (as opposed to all the times when I liked being in a bad mood). I wasn’t gonna stand for that. To help combat that, I thought I’d try to stay more mindful of all the positive things going on in my life rather than spending too much time thinking about the negative stuff and have that take over my thoughts (focus on the “Good Stuff” like in that Kenny Chesney song – I’m not a big country music guy, but that’s a good one.)

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My “5 Things I’m Grateful For” list (this could be a much longer list but remembering 5 things is about my limit).:

Marriage/Jen 
What can I all say about my feelings for her and how I love our great relationship?  I don’t wanna talk about it too much because it’s getting me all misty-eyed and I’m trying to type here (NBD, happens fairly often – my emotions live just beneath the surface).

In addition to everything she does for me: my means of mobility, my voice when I wanna say something, personal chef, bookkeeper, chauffer, hairstylist… – way too many things to list, she’s basically my right arm and we’re pretty much joined at the hip. It’s a good thing she can tolerate me pretty well because we’re rarely apart 24/7/365. (BTW, one of my many pet peeves is when people use the phrase ‘24/7/365’, not sure why I just did. Since we’re talking about Pet Peeves, another one of mine is when people say stuff like, ‘I’m gonna give 110% (or 1,000% or 1,000,000% or some other ridiculous number) effort.’ C’mon people, not real numbers. Another one is the phrase “BTW”. I use that one quite a bit, myself. So, I’ve dealt with and learned to live with it.)

Back to Jen – Sometimes, she generously lets me believe that I’m the “boss” around here, but I know the real truth, this is all her world and I’m just fortunate enough to be living in it. I can picture her right now reading this while shaking her head and saying, ‘No, that isn’t true.’ But like she always says, I can say whatever I want on here – I have the floor right now and I’m just exercising my 1^st Amendment right to free speech. The objection has been duly noted for the record but nonetheless, it’s been overruled. Here’s the absolute truth – she’s the glue that binds it all together, the oil that keeps the engine running smoothly, the syrup on my waffles – you get the idea. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that she’s probably not loving being compared to motor oil, even if it is the fancy synthetic kind. But I’m not creative enough to come up with more flowery metaphors. Besides, I’m the one typing here – so… ‘I’m the captain now!’

Having said all that mushy stuff about her, I did put my foot down recently and said, ‘Nah, that’s alright.’ about going to “Vintage Market Days” at the St. Charles Convention Center. I don’t do craft fairs, flea markets or renaissance fairs unless I’m bound, gagged and under duress. Although, we did go to the “Pen Show” at Westport Plaza last year – and it was my idea!  What was I thinking?  I could’ve been declared brain dead that day after we finished exhaustively examining our 30^th old time-y fountain pen.

Health
Other than the obvious, I’m in good health in general. I feel pretty good most of the time, I don’t have any chronic pain or anything annoying like that – knock on wood. Like everyone else, I hope I remain healthy and pain free up until the day I die peacefully in my sleep in my own bed, at age 97.

Family  
I’m grateful that I’m part of what I think is a great family. We all love and care about each other very much. When we all get together (which happens fairly often) – my dad, my mom before she passed away, my siblings and their families – we have a blast, it’s always been that way. The older I get, the more I appreciate it because that’s a special thing. Being close isn’t a universal characteristic that all families enjoy. Even though we all get along well with each other, we try to practice “live and let live” and not get all up in each other’s  business too much. For instance, my brother doesn’t wear me out about my vast assortment of fragrance oils, which he could easily do, and I don’t roll my eyes (at least, not in his presence) at his “Poker Chip Collection”😊!

Comfort
We have a structurally sound roof that never leaks, over our heads. We have heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. We can put on clean clothes every day and we always have enough food to eat. We can pay our bills on time. Our house may not be the biggest or fanciest one in the county, but we don’t care because we’re comfortable and we love it here – no intention of ever moving. I admit, sometimes I catch myself being lulled by a sense of security and taking these creature comforts for granted. To some less fortunate than us, it probably seems like we live pretty luxurious lives. Not to sound materialistic, but I need to always remind myself to be grateful for what we have.

Patriotism
I know there is plenty of divisiveness in our society, a lot more than when I was growing up in the ‘80’s, and tribalism is seemingly running amok nowadays. But there is no other place in the world I’d rather live than in this country. Specifically, right here in the Midwest. I know I’m very fortunate to have been born here.

As the late, great American philosopher Charlie Daniels once said, ‘…We may have done a little bit of fightin’ among ourselves, but you outside people best leave us alone…’

Chuck Berry once sang, ‘Well, I’m so glad I’m livin’ in the U.S.A.’  I’m not much of a singer so I’ll just hum the tune because – my sentiments exactly! 

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Running through my daily ritual isn’t a slam-dunk that I’ll be in a great mood all day, every day. But it can be helpful if I keep this stuff somewhere near the front of my mind throughout the day. At the very least, it helps me start off each day on the right foot.

If you’re thinking, ‘That sounds a little “Kum Ba Yah” to me.’, then I totally agree. But I’m gonna continue doing it anyway, because it helps me a lot more times than not – and it definitely doesn’t hurt anything.

As Paul Rudd’s character said in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, ‘They’ve done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.’ (I used to think that was one of the funniest movies of all time. So, I watched it again about 5 years ago – and you know what?  It was terrible – totally stupid movie!  It held up about as well as potato salad left on the counter overnight. Sometimes, fond memories should just stay fond memories. Trying to revisit the thing that created them in the first place can just screw things up.)


Fröhliche Gedanken!

-Jim


P.S.  I’d like to clarify something I said in my last post because I’m afraid my meaning could’ve been misinterpreted. I said something like ‘…maybe she can give me the “what for” on that sometime…” when I was talking about my brain controlling my internal organs after my stroke. What I was wondering about was, ‘How did I survive my stroke?’ In no way was I pondering a dark or pathetic question like, ‘Why am I even alive?’