Can you believe these beauties? Wide open and full of sass. Tomorrow they may be drooping and losing their petals but today they are still magnificent. They have been an important part of brightening this week for me.
It’s been a doozy of a week and I am so glad to be looking at it in the rear view mirror. Thank God…
It’s Friday — Breathe In, Breathe Out, Relax
My sweet and ever-loving Jon had a small surgery at the day-surgery center in St. Louis Park yesterday. Though it was minor, he had also been having widely fluctuating high blood pressure so I had a little more concern than usual. On top of that I worried about the snowstorm yesterday and when it would end, how the roads would be, etc.
Fortunately all turned out well. But I have to tell you I was a mess of stress this week despite all of my work to remain calm. It was difficult to drive to the day-surgery, drop Jon off, and know that I could not go in and be with him before and after the procedure. And on top of that I am a winter driving wimp. I hate driving on snowy or ice-covered roads. So that was another stress for me.
Fortunately the snow ended and the roads were mostly clear by the time I needed to drive on them. The staff at the day-surgery were great. As soon as the surgery was finished the surgeon called me and jokingly told me that Jon could do all activities that he felt like doing except washing dishes and folding laundry. Then the discharge nurse called and went over the instructions for caring for Jon’s incision and again told me with a laugh that he should not wash dishes or fold laundry, but he could shovel snow if he felt like it.
Last evening after we got home I heated up a kettle of home-made soup that I had made the day before and we both enjoyed the simple comfort of the tasty soup for supper. After supper Jon posted on Facebook that the doctor “saved” his arm but he could no longer play piano. He showed me his post (I’m not on Facebook) and our daughter’s response to him that he had never been able to play the piano. With a laugh I realized that Jon was also de-stressing and relaxing.
Storms Big and Small
We all encounter storms and squalls in our lives. Some events are big storms like the pandemic. Others are small squalls like a day-surgery or worrying about snowy roads. When small squalls occur inside of bigger storms like the pandemic, they can be magnified. It’s important to reach out to others when you’re struggling. We all need help some of the time and we all give help to others at other times.
Wishing you a stress-free lovely weekend my friends. Breathe in, breathe out, relax. (Or try my favorite meditation mantra from Thich Nhat Hanh: “In, Out, Deep, Slow, Calm, Ease, Smile, Release”)
May you walk in beauty.
Here are some items from nature that I scanned this week.
This is a downy woodpecker feather scanned with a print of one of my photographs on top of it in the scanner.
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