Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. -Charles Dudley Warner
As I write this large portions of Texas are experiencing and recovering from hurricane Harvey. Even just skimming headlines is enouh to make me very, very grateful for the mostly mild & moderate weather we experience here in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s not fashionable to speak positively about the government, particularly in the United States, and particularly during the current administration.
And to be crystal clear, I believe our current president has no business being in the White House, and is a colossal embarrassment to this country.
What I’m grateful for, however, is that I can say that.
I love all our dogs, it should go without saying (I hope). Each is unique, with their own personality, characteristics, and quirks.
Some are just quirkier than others.
And some … well, some just come with a story.
I don’t really believe in traditional “retirement”. The concept being that you work for some number of years, stop, and go on to a life of leisure at best, or boredom at worst.
I never planned to stop working, and I still don’t. To me my work is my “life of leisure”, so to speak. It’s what I expect to be doing my entire life.
But technically I am retired.
I volunteer for a local animal rescue organization — not the “adopt a puppy” kind, but the “my dog’s stuck in a ravine” kind. When called out we mobilize with a collection of people, skills and equipment that allow us to help get animals — often large animals — out of a variety of sticky situations.
Earlier today I got the call.
When I was young we would typically get a Christmas Package from my grandmother. It would usually arrive in early December, to coincide with St. Nicholas Day — Sinterklaas — (December 6th), when the Dutch traditionally did their gift exchanges.
In the package would be a variety of things, much of which didn’t really interest me.
But a few things most definitely did.
This will be difficult to articulate, because it’s another of those things that folks tend to take completely for granted.
It’s also difficult to put the appreciation into words without coming across as arrogant or condescending. My intent, of course, is neither.
This may sound a little odd to some, but I’m grateful to be an only child.
I’m sure that if I’d had siblings today’s stop on my sixty days of gratitude trip would be about them instead, but — honestly — being “an only” has worked out well for me, and I’m thankful for that.
Particularly when I compare my situation to some others with siblings.
I’ve been fortunate when it comes to most of my customer service experiences, and I was fortunate again today.
I had a question about my mobile data plan — the type of question that’s really best dealt with in person. Essentially I was looking for connectivity options for my cousin’s upcoming trip from Europe. She’ll be here for five weeks, but plans to travel in Canada as well as the US. Connectivity — while not essential — is definitely an exceptional convenience when available.
So I went to the Verizon Wireless store.
Everytime I get sick, or hurt myself — which fortunately isn’t that often for either — I end up reminding myself to be grateful for my generally good health when I’m feeling better.
Then, of course, I completely forget as the fog or pain or whatever lifts and I go on living my life.
I’m not sick. I haven’t hurt myself. It’s time.
… we thank
thee most of
all for warmth of
friends who come to call…
That’s a portion of a prayer that I memorized as a child. Not because I had to, but because it was printed on a decorative cutting board that was always in our kitchen or dining room. I was always looking at it, and it stuck.
Now, these many years later, the verse on friends rings truer than ever.
When you’re a “solopreneur”, as it’s now refered to — an individual working for yourself, especially online – you can look at each week either of two ways:
It requires some self-discipline, but I’m exceptionally grateful for both ways of looking at things.
In 1983 I was working for a small company making microprocessor-based data entry terminals. I’ve often referred to it as being on a “reverse growth” trajectory.
When I started they were 25 employees strong. When I left there were 5. When I started I was the latest addition to the three person software department. When I left, I was the software department. (And, no, it wasn’t me, I swear!)
You get the idea. The writing was on the wall well before I left, so I’d started keeping my eyes peeled. And I encountered an advertisement in the local paper.
Today marks the half-way point in my “60 Days of Gratitude” project. If you’re slogging through with me in this little exercise … well, I’m grateful you’re here. 🙂
Today, I’m also grateful for the grateful.
Let me explain…
Today is the 14th anniversary of the very first Ask Leo! article.
I’d left Microsoft a year and a half earlier, at which point I’d joined a mastermind group of internet entrepreneurs. At the end of April in 2003 we had our first face-to-face conference, and it was within that conference that the germ of the idea that would become Ask Leo! was born.
Pictured above is Dagmar. She’s a 13+ year old Cardigan Welsh Corgi.
Dagmar has lymphoma, a type of cancer.
What makes Dagmar remarkable is that as I write this she’s been in remission for well over a year and a half. Later this year we’ll celebrate two years since diagnosis. That’s well above average, and definitely puts her at the far end of the bell curve of cancer survival.