Back among the living — and loving it.

Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 7:54 pm (Writing by Ear)
Tags: , ,

Nothing like a killer case of the flu to bring new perspectives to life. What started out 2 days before Christmas as an annoying holiday cold, 10 days later had relapsed into what had to be the flu or a very good impersonator. I don’t believe I’ve ever been that ill before — 3 days of pure misery. (Note to self: Get a flu shot next year.)

But today was better — temperature almost back to normal, body aches all but gone, no chills or sweats, corner turned. With fresh meds to see me through the last stages, clean sheets on the bed, another day of rest ahead of me — I feel grateful. Especially when I think of all the people out there for whom pain and illness and simply not being well is a fact of life. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Through no fault of their own, life is a struggle of making it through, trying to stay positive, and never really feeling good. Sure makes a couple of weeks of feeling lousy seem so insignificant. 

It’s one of those wake-up calls we all need now and then: Count Your Blessings. Sitting here in my cozy living room, tapping away on my laptop, surrounded by cheerful Christmas decorations and beautiful lights (it’s Twelfth Night!), I can’t feel anything but incredibly blessed. Remind me of these the next time I complain about silly annoyances or the ups and downs of everyday life: Status quo is quite enough. “Normal” is worth celebrating. Life is good.

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
                               ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 Comment

Keep Moving Forward

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 at 6:55 pm (Writing by Ear)
Tags: ,

I’m not bothering with resolutions this year — I have enough pressure in my life. It’s not that I don’t have things I’d like to accomplish

lose 10 pounds, get into shape, eat more veggies and fewer chips, keep blogging, finish projects inside and out, organize the house, donate or pitch half of what I own (I wouldn’t miss it), join the libarary and read books again, cultivate my clients, improve my professional skills instead of just going through the motions, make more money, save more money, give more, take less, be a better wife, sister, daughter, friend, neighbor, person

it’s more a matter of being overwhelmed by them. I don’t want to do one more than the other — I want to do them all.

But I get tired even thinking about them. And I wonder, too, why some of them even matter. I’ve been 10 pounds lighter — it’s nice wearing a smaller size, but it didn’t transform my life. I’ve been in better shape — it’s nice seeing more muscles and less flab, but I didn’t really feel different (and it takes up a lot of time). I’ve eaten better — perhaps I was healthier but I wasn’t happier. I’ve had years where I’ve read 25 books — it’s fun but I can’t remember any of them now.

I think it really comes down to this: You either self-improve or self-destruct — even if you don’t consciously do anything self-destrutive. If you’re not moving forward, you’re sliding backward by default. There really is no standing still, now is there — the relentless spinning of the world and passage of time see to that. 

So with that in mind, maybe I’ll approach 2008 a little differently. Instead of a dizzying list of must-dos breathing down my neck and making me feel inadequate when I can’t accomplish every one, I’ll strive to do just one thing: Keep Moving Forward. To each day be able to point to something I did that improved some aspect of my life or someone else’s. 

I bet if I can accomplish just that, if I can look back a year from now on 365 little steps forward, 2008 as a whole will have been a rousing success. Even better, odds are that many days will see bigger steps, giant steps even — books read, projects finished, 5-mile walks taken, clients satisfied, minds and bodies and spirits enriched.

It’s kind of exciting to think about — I don’t have to move mountains; I just have to move one step forward. (Oh, and hope for not many days like this one…)

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success
is more important than any other one thing. 
                                                       ~ Abraham Lincoln

2 Comments

Shadyside 15232

Friday, December 28, 2007 at 11:04 am (Writing by Ear)
Tags:

Brandon and Brenda notwithstanding, 9021090210Shadyside and Beverly Hills seem to have a lot in common. Though, after a rare lunch and shopping excursion to 15232 yesterday with my sisters, I’m not too anxious to visit 90210 to compare.

Like its California counterpart, Shadyside is someplace I’d be happy to go if I was on vacation — filled with chichi shops full of things I can’t afford, lovely little eateries with overpriced food (cup of soup, 1/2 sandwich $8.50), and teeming with beautiful, fashionable people — no thunder thighs or tummy bulges in site. Apparently the U.S.’s obesity problem — or even those pesky extra 5 lbs. — does not extend to the wealthy and well-heeled (in Prada). I didn’t check, but I bet those stores didn’t have a size 2 or 4 in stock but were loaded with sizes 10 and above.

After driving past precisely parallel parked Beemers, Volvos, Benzes, Lincolns, and the like for 15 or 20 minutes, my dirty Subaru finally found a resting place 5 or 6 blocks from “the action.” After walking those blocks past apartment building after apartment building after big-house-converted-into-apartments, my sisters and I were rewarded with Walnut Street — Pittsburgh’s answer to Rodeo Drive.

Like I said, on vacation, it would have been fun — window shopping, grabbing a bite, people watching. On a cloudy Thursday, hungry, fighting a cold, annoyed at the lack of parking and at streets teeming with after-Christmas hordes, it was a chore.

Oh, and it’s not just about the parking. Nobody will say parking on the Southside or the Strip is any easier. But Shadyside just doesn’t seem like Pittsburgh — doesn’t have the same character as shopping downtown with businesspeople hurrying past waiting bus riders amidst sleek skyscrapers and grand old buildings. Or pushing your way along Penn Avenue in the Strip with Here We Go blaring from Feinberg’s. Or strolling along Carson Street with its funky little shops and bars and homey row houses just a few steps away. Or marveling at how the Southside Works doesn’t even feel like you’re in Pittsburgh, but that’s pretty cool. 

Of course, I know people who LOVE Shadyside — who live there even. It’s a curious mix of students, yuppie professionals, and old and new money. (Oh, and watch your purse, lock your car, and double-lock your apartment — it’s that kind of neighborhood, too.)  And yes, I’m an avowed  ‘burbanite now, but I went to Pitt and worked and even lived in Oakland — not 10 minutes away from Shadyside — but I don’t think I visited Walnut Street once in the 8 or so years I was in college or working nearby. I guess it’s just never been my thing.

But who knows, maybe I’ll spend a vacation day sometime and visit with that adventurous, relaxed mind-set. In the right frame of mind, the day will likely be pleasant. But I suspect  the final verdict will be the same as on many such “destinations” I’ve visited: Interesting shops, beautiful people, glad I saw it, don’t need to see it again.

Oh, wouldn’t the world seem dull and flat
with nothing whatever to grumble at? 
                                        ~ W.S. Gilbert

Leave a Comment

« Older entries Newer entries »