Today I am in Annapolis, Maryland. I am teaching employees of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) things they can use to help be of service to veterans who come to them and ask for help. I love this work. In my retirement, it’s a way to keep a toe in the pond of employment. It’s also a way to stay connected to veterans, and the current state of Department of Veterans Affairs. I have been doing this for 7 years now, and they know me, and I know them. It used to be anxiety-inducing, and now it isn’t scary at all, to invent my own teaching plan and slides, and stand up in front of a classroom filled with adults, and talk to them like I know what I’m talking about.
Today I am grateful to be who I am.
I’m just a girl. A woman/mother/daughter/friend/sister. I am a connection, a catalyst, a queen, a hopeful, a novice, a cog in a bigger story. I am happy. I am in love.
When I’m not at home, Pedro and I have to communicate over the phone. We don’t call each other. We send little love messages all day long. Kisses emojis and text endearments in Spanish. We gush via phones in a way that is too awkward to gush in real life. I soak it up.
I have been contacted this week via text (because I’m in Annapolis) by a friend who wants to meet for lunch on Friday. I’ve been contacted by an Uncle who wants to donate to a veteran’s organization and wants my input on where to put the money (probably a lot of money). By a photographer friend from Japan who I connected to my photographer cousin in Tucson, because those two have the exact same photographer’s perspective and they are both excellent artists, and because of me they decided to follow each other on Instagram. I got photos from a friend in Slovenia who wanted to connect to blogger friend Manja before her trip! She doesn’t even know Manja, and I was a connection between those two strangers. I’ve had a dozen people walk up to me in the past two days at this training, and say, “Thank you for explaining that.”
I’ve got a Yakama Indian friend who called me Nuh nuh (big sister) and is so excited to tell me about night fishing for salmon on the Columbia River, and about his family, and he said he loves me and misses me. He started calling me nuh nuh years ago, and did again just now, as we chatted through text. I think this weekend I’ll be able to go see him and his family, who are fishermen from a line of generations of fishermen, who live on the shores of the Columbia River and have lived there for millennia. This man, who KNOWS where he belongs and knows that he is a fisherman, wants to have me (and Pedro) in his life. I am deeply honored by this.
When I get back from training, Pedro and I are going to get ready for a road trip up to Spokane, where we will meet my brother Tanner, and his wife, Laurie. We’re going to hang out and catch up and catch a rock concert, and then go back home. It sounds perfect. Spokane…I used to live there. I was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base years ago, and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to go back and just hang around, near the Air Force Base, since I left military service. I think it’s gonna be so much fun.
There is so much good in my life.
Right now, I just want to sit with that. And soak it up.
Conscious Engagement 
love this💕❤️
…and I love you! Thank you, Vicki, for teaching at VFW for so many years, and for helping vets all that time. You are changing lives. ❤
My cats agree! You are so lucky she decided to adopt you. It is clear from her busy schedule that you achieved very little without her gentle and kind guidance. We DO hope that you have planted the requisite catnip plants in your garden for her to relax with after a busy day of directing the two of you.
After all, a cat can’t work all the time!
Lou, we have an absolutely thriving catnip plant now, per the suggestions from your household. 😉
Life is good – as you make it. I feel happy for you, our friend XX
This is so true! It’s hard sometimes to bring myself back to that: I’m as happy as I decide to be. But sometimes… I can pull it off. 🙂
What a great post! I’m so happy to read that you recognize the good. My hope is that many, many more in this world can do the same. Have a terrific day! Sounds like you have some fun plans coming up. Enjoy!
Thank you, Lenore. It is always healthy when we remember to notice the good. I have people in my life who always find a way to point out the negative aspect of something I am happy about. I push back: sometimes, I just want to enjoy something. It doesn’t mean I think things are perfect, but I do think it’s valuable to wallow in the good stuff too. 🙂 Right now, it’s the only thing keeping me sane in a world filled with pain, sorrow, fear and hopelessness. I remember that it is also a world filled with beauty and joy and things so funny it makes you laugh.
So true! And laughing is healthy too! :o)
She is such a beautiful and expressive cat. We don’t mind one bit seeing photos of her. I can live vicariously. Who takes care of her when you are on your travels? What an entertaining helper you have there. I like the word Nuh Nuh. Yes, you are many things to many people in your world and mostly you are kind to all. I adore you and would have been happy to call you a daughter of the heart. Don’t let the world affect who you really are in it. Love you lots. M
Thank you, Marlene. I like Nuh Nuh also. It’s sounds so loving and comforting to be called that. I call him Luppuh (I don’t know how any of this is spelled. I’m spelling it how I pronounce it), for little brother. Thank you for saying I am kind. I have ferocious reactions in my heart sometimes, and it doesn’t always come out kind. I try though. I had a friend reach out on the day I wrote this, who wanted to complain about being treated poorly because she is a conservative. It was hard to have that conversation, because I am so frustrated by people who don’t see the global mechanisms of power and corruption the same way I do, but she said she wanted to talk it over with me because she knew I usually am calm about things. And I was. So, I made it through that test, ha ha. I’m even more frustrated with one of my brothers, who is just on the edge of seeing things clearly, but is not glued to the news like I am, so he hasn’t lined up all the facts and put it together like I have. He thinks I’m perpetually overreacting and getting all worked up, and he thinks it is because I’m impressionable and listen to radical politicians too much. *sigh* But I love having great relationships with all four of my brothers, and that is worth cherishing, and letting the hard stuff sit in the back most of the time. I definitely think of you as a mother of the heart. I’ve had a couple of those, but my relationship with you has been the most instant and the most rewarding.