Goodbye Summer and a 100 Day Challenge

It is the last full day of summer!
Here in SWMO Autumn is beginning a day early. After an all night rain, the temperature today is only forecast to reach 70 (21.1c) and the overnight temp tonight is down to 50 (10c)! I'm definitely not a fan of fall. Give me warm weather and long days! 

After today there are 100 days left in 2021.
What should I do for the next 100 days?

I thought about writing something here every day for the next 100 days. It would be a challenge and I doubt that anybody would really care or benefit from it. I could probably manage to post memes, jokes, and trivia, but posting every day doesn't really count as writing every day.

I have been reading pretty much everyday. My Kindle app says 29 days in a row (and 40 weeks in a row) on the app, plus I've actually read a few real books. I suppose I could shoot for 129 days in a row.

I could easily spend time every day for the next 100 days working in or around the house. There are several gardening and landscaping projects to tend to, as well as shelving to put up in the basement and cleaning and organizing all of our crap that is stored down there.

Maybe send 100 cards, notes, or letters to people?
Maybe just one person per day for the next 100 days gets a personal message, thank you, or word of encouragement. Hmmm...this has possibilities. I might even combine an occasional post with a virtual shout out and social media tag.

Would anyone else care to join me?
For the next 100 days (beginning Sept 22) we send a thank-you, a note of encouragement, or just a personal message to one person. And for the purposes of this challenge, let's say that Christmas cards and letters don't count.

Let me know if you're in!
Feel free to share this post or idea with others. The more the merrier! Take full advantage of today's technology or write out an old fashioned letter. It's just one person per day. If just ten people will join in, we can make 1000 people smile over the next 100 days!

At 2:20PM CDT tomorrow the sun crosses the Equator on its southward journey and Fall begins in the Northern hemisphere. If anyone wants to buy me an Oktoberfest beer to cry in or offer me words of encouragement, I am available.

John

Wellness Check Wednesday

Some of the wise people at The Venues have encouraged us less wise people to check up on each other during our time of social distancing. I thought it seemed like a good bit of wisdom to pass along to my friends and readers that are not already practicing these weekly checks.

All you have to do to participate is to make contact (DM, text, phone call) with a few people that you know are isolated or vulnerable (or even someone you just miss) and ask how they're doing. Next week, pick a few different people.
Simple enough, eh?

Anyone care to join me today?
Let's reach out to a few people and let them know they are loved.

John

Submitting My Resignation

Today is my fifty-ninth birthday.
In reality, birthdays are no longer a big deal. After all, I've already had 58 of them (59 if you count the day I was born).

I have decided that I don't want to be a grumpy old man. I don't think I am ready to invite everybody over to walk barefoot in my yard, but I don't want to be the neighborhood curmudgeon that yells, "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

I think that I am becoming a little less grouchy than I once was. I seem more likely to make allowances for people's poor behavior than I used to. Realizing that nobody really cares about what I think about other people has given me the freedom not to judge others on how they look/act/think/talk/believe/etc./etc.
That doesn't mean that I'm very good at going out of my way to actually be nice to people. It's been a pretty big step just not to be mean or grumpy. I still need some work on the nice/kindness/loving part.

I am submitting my resignation as a Curmudgeon in Training.
Maybe I'll re-apply at a later date. Maybe not.
Life really is too short to be grumpy most of the time, so Don't Worry, Be Happy!



John <><

Nov 28: Active kindness

One of the things that I really like about The Venues Church is the universal encouragement to actively love our neighbors. The verbal "We love everyone" kind of church is far different from the demonstrative "We love everyone" kind of church.

We have always been a part of churches that were generous in giving and participated in giving programs. Somehow, this is different.

I can't really understand why it feels different.
I don't know if it has to do with motivation to do good vs loving and so good deeds follow, or if there is something else.
I've been blessed to know some incredibly generous people, and still -- this feels different.

Maybe it's just me.
Maybe the change is that I'm being more actively kind and loving.
Maybe the change is that I've decided against being a grumpy old guy and being someone that other people might actually like.
Maybe the change is that I've been the negative, judgmental person and am starting to see people the way God sees them.
Maybe...

For Christmas, our small group adopted a migrant family that was expecting a baby. I say "was expecting" because the baby came early and was born Monday! Yesterday, we all scrambled and were able to deliver diapers, diaper bag, clothing, gift cards, and other necessities to the church for delivery to the family. The scramble to get it done quickly was pretty cool. Group text messages got the word out and coordinated giving and collection of the goods and everyone was genuinely excited to be a part of it.

Active kindness.
It feels pretty good.
Maybe I need to try it more often.

John <><

Be Nice Day -- 2nd effort

So yesterday was kind of a bust on the be nice day.
I did manage to make it out of the house yesterday and had a couple of friendly encounters with strangers as well as one with a neighbor. I don't think that I should count that as doing anything kind or nice for anyone.

In a few minutes I'll be heading in to the American Red Cross to make another platelet donation, so I'm hoping that I can count that as a kind act and make up for yesterday's inactivity.

What's your kind act for the day?
Or were you successful yesterday?
Tell me about it.

John <><

Be Nice Day

Another Monday.

The calendar shows Monday as the second day of the week, but I think that most of us would agree that it is the really the first day -- at least the first day that really counts. It is the day used to mark the beginning of the work week, the school week, a new project or goal, etc. It is the day we use to create a fresh start on an old goal or project.

Last night I was at a small Baptist church with a small group of retired people. We talked about our walk with Jesus and the struggles that we face. We talked about the things that cause us to worry and the the things that bring stress into life. We talked about how getting away from Jesus can lead us to more worry and how staying close to him can bring us more peace.

It's funny how some people worry more as they age and others worry less. Some people seem to fear aging and the trials it brings and others embrace it and its privileges -- like napping whenever you want.

As a retired person and a follower of Jesus, my greatest challenge remains my self-imposed isolation. It's pretty hard to be faithful in sharing God's love with others when you never really interact with others. On most days, this writing/blogging thing is as close as I come to interacting with others and sharing some thoughts...and most of those are some pretty incoherent and random thoughts that have nothing to do with life, death and eternity.
We talked about our life's legacy and how we will be remembered. I'm pretty sure that nobody wants to be remembered as the person that was always worrying about the future or feeling guilty about the past. It would be nice to be remembered in the positive ways that people remember Rev. Billy Graham or the friend I wrote about last week. But that takes a daily commitment to living a life worthy of such memories.

I don't know what people might remember about me. Probably something like ...
"I think he just rode he just rode his motorcycle and wrote on that stupid blog of his after he retired."
"Nobody ever really saw him after a while."
"I quit following him because he was always so opinionated."

Maybe I should care more about those things.
It would be cool if people remembered me for introducing them to Jesus or helping them through some tough times. I don't really care if anyone thinks of me as a great preacher or amazing magician, but it would be nice if something I said or did along the way had a positive impact on one or two people. Over the years, I'd say that I've probably offended more people than anyone has a right to offend and I doubt that I can make up for that. These days, I seem to do that more naturally and without even trying. Disagreeing doesn't have to be the same as being offensive but that seems to be the shift in our current social climate.

I'm giving myself a simple task for the day; a one item To Do list...

Be nice.

Not "be nice" to one person.
Not do something nice.
But nice as in don't be not-nice
...all day!

Being alone is not being nice. It's just being alone.
Be nice implies doing.
Okay, so maybe it's not such a simple task, but it's doable.
I think.

Anyone want to join me?
It's just one day.
One Monday in March when we decide to be nice.
Let's do it!

John <><

Miscellaneous Monday

Just some random thoughts on a Monday afternoon --

This morning was our semi-annual dentist visit. Chris found a new dentist since we were not happy with our former dentist. As first impressions go, this one is much better. Chris took the earlier appointment and by the time I got there, I didn't need to worry about any of the first visit insurance stuff -- I just told them it was the same as hers.
Visits were okay, as dentist visits go. She finished first and went home to wait on me.

We went to Springfield for a light lunch and a couple of errands. She just dropped me off at a Starbucks where I'll kill some time while she takes care of some other things.

This past weekend, we went to a memorial service/family reunion for one of Chris' cousins. Her cousin had been living in Florida and the funeral service for her there was several weeks ago when she died. The get together on Saturday was for family and friends in the St Louis area that were unable to make it to Florida. The memorial service was simple and pleasant and was followed by lunch in the park and visiting with family and friends.
Over the years, we have had very little interaction with Chris' cousins, so I didn't really know anyone other than her sister and brother in law. I did know her cousins and aunt, but wasn't positive of their names and didn't really know which kids or spouses went with which cousins.
I think Chris has had a little more exposure to my cousins, but it is also pretty limited. Our mobile society has dispersed many families.

Since Chris is more social than I am (and also more likable), she has connected with many of my cousins through Facebook and I have connected with none of her cousins.
Just an observation.

Again, there are certainly many benefits to social media and its connectivity. I have to admit that I have purposely chosen to keep my Facebook group relatively small. I guess that is also true of my actual friends, too.

It's a little ironic that we have access to so much information and yet choose to remain ignorant of many of the issues that affect the people that live around us. We seem to be pretty keen on checking out that which affects us directly, but even so, we remain largely misinformed because we choose to believe what we want to believe rather than checking things out for ourselves. Most information that we read on the internet can be easily verified or shown to be false.
We should probably do a better job of checking things out.

Just as social gatherings have me thinking about social interactions, memorial services and news of friends or relatives dying gets me to thinking about how temporary and fragile human life is.
Whether we run the distance and live life to an old age or cash in our chips with many fewer years, this is but a temporary dwelling. I wonder if death is easier to deal with if you have no belief in an afterlife. Does believing that the end is the end make it more or less final than believing in the hope of heaven?

I wonder if that changes if you are the person that is dying or one of the persons that is left living.
My own beliefs are that there is a God and a final judgment. There is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned. I believe that Jesus was serious and truthful when He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father  except by me."

I know that there are people from around the globe that read this simple blog from time to time. I can only imagine that there are many different beliefs about life, death, and eternity. While I have listened as others remember loved ones, I can't imagine that my own passing will leave much of a void. Sure, there will be a few that will miss me, but life goes on and the day to day grind quickly fills the void for all but those that are the closest.
After all, death is just a part of life.

It could be that we won't make a grand difference to a large group of people in life, but perhaps we can make a small difference for one person for today. Maybe changing a life is too great of a challenge for most of us; changing a moment for someone should be doable.
A call.
A text.
A word of encouragement.
A smile.
I know it's not a big difference, but it is a difference.

John <><

Help!

This isn't a call for help. It is a shout out to those that always seem to make themselves available to help people that are in need.
Some of you are helpers.
I am not.

It's not that I am opposed to helping people. Nor is it that I am unavailable to help people. I think that I am just mostly unaware when people are in need. I should probably make myself more available to people. I suppose that there are people that need help but don't want to ask for it.

I should mention that this post is inspired by the people that always seem to be there for my folks when they have needs. The closest of my siblings is a couple of hours away. Most of us are much farther. Several of my cousins live close by and are great at going out of their way to be of service to Mom and Dad. My parents also have a network of helping friends, but many of their friends are also aging and less available to help than they once were.

I feel bad that most of the family care has to come from a brother and sister that are closest in distance to them, for they are also the ones that are busiest with the needs of their own families.

I'm thinking that maybe I can substitute serve.
I know that just as time and distance separate me from my parents, there are probably people near me that don't have family nearby because their own kids live far away. Perhaps I need to volunteer to drive cancer patients to treatment (somebody did that for my dad) or something like that. I've let my world get pretty small in the past couple of years. Personally, I like it that way. But from a community standpoint, it seems pretty selfish.

Sigh
Guess I'm going to have to put on my big boy pants and do what benefits somebody else rather than just looking out for my own preferences and interests.

Thanks to all of you helpers for the inspiration!

...I think.

John <><

Random Acts of Kindness (RAK)

I have mentioned before that acts of kindness are seldom random for those that perform them. We look on and see them as random because they happen far too infrequently. But for those kind people, kindness is often a way of life.

I am thinking of a coffee shop somewhere in Vermont that my brother frequents. He often posts pictures or items from a chalk board that is in the shop and it offers weekly thoughts or challenges from local eighth grade class. This week's was the question "What have you done to make somebody smile this week?"

There is space for people to write their answers and chalk to write with.

I generally have few interactions with people throughout the week. I've had a few more this week -- we had dinner with friends on two occasions, I spoke with some neighbors at the polling place Tuesday, Hannah and Daniel came over for dinner last night and there was the flat tire on the motorcycle incident that netted me several encounters with very helpful people. The problem with all of that is that I think the people I encountered did more to make me smile than I did for them.

It has been a pretty good week, but I still know that I need to do more to interact with people.
On Monday evenings, I have been knocking on doors to introduce our church to the people that live close to the church. It's a thing I do with a couple of other guys from Hopedale. Tuesday a nurse stopped by for a brief insurance physical and Wednesday Chris and I dropped of a soda and sandwich for a friend that was at the hospital with her daughter.

Dang!
Maybe I don't need to interact with more people. That's about a whole month's worth in just a few days!

I also received a call from an old friend and had a nice chat on the phone.

I know that there are little things that make me smile.
I don't know if little things I might do make others smile.

     - holding the door for a stranger
     - leaving an extra tip ('cause I sat for a long time just drinking coffee)
     - a random text or phone call, or maybe a note in the mail
     - meeting friends for dinner
     - giving a small gift
     - just being patient

I don't think we have to go out of our way to be kind to people.
But I also think that it is difficult to know if we've done something to make somebody else smile -- unless we get to see the smile!

We should be nice to people without the expectation of reward other than the feeling we get just from being kind.

Be kind.
Live well.

John <><

Kind Acts, Tender Moments & Living in Isolation

Last week I posted about being intentional about being kind to one another. I have to admit that was more difficult than I expected it to be -- not because it's difficult to be kind, but because being kind to people means that you have to interact with them.

One of my brothers is on a 30 day mission to observe and report on tender moments observed. It's a different dynamic when you are looking for the kind or tender moments that happen around you rather than just going about your own business, unaware of the people around you.

Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that I am much more of an introvert than an extrovert. This will come as a huge surprise to many people that know me -- or think they know me.

Here's the thing:

Even though I do not have a problem speaking before large groups of people or being in groups of many people, as a rule, I'd rather be alone.

I'm perfectly comfortable going through my day without any contact with other people.

I often find brief conversations with strangers to be more comfortable than conversations with people I know.

I have very few friends. This one surprises most people. One person said, "You have lots of friends. Everybody likes you!" It's true that I try to be a friendly person (most of the time). It may be true that many people like me. However, it is not true that I like most people. I'd say that I tolerate most people, but even that would be a stretch.

This blog may be the most interaction that I have with people today. It's a regular day off from work--my last one! I will be getting some exercise (at home) this morning and working on a malfunctioning garage door opener this afternoon. If I can't fix the garage door opener, then I'll have to get a new one. I might have to interact with someone other than Chris today.

Sacrebleu!

I'm going to have to take care not to be isolated in the coming months.

Be kind.
Watch for others being kind.
Make allowances for us introverts and give us some space.
Report your good stories here in the comments.

John <><

A Good Deed for Today...

It's fairly early to be up for a retirement training day...but, since I'm training for retirement, I figure that I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.

It was just one of those rare mornings when I woke up in the middle of the night (3 am) and couldn't go back to sleep. I figured that since I have the day off (burning up the remaining supplemental leave (s/l) I have on the books) and can nap later in the day, I'd just get up and start the day.

Looking out the front window I can see that it's a little foggy out and the temperature is just below freezing. That should make for an interesting drive to work for all of my friends that are not retired and are not actively training for it.

But enough about that!

I started the day by brewing my morning coffee and contemplating what to do at 4 in the morning. I decided to bake a batch of my protein cookies. My current variation is about 200 calories and 9 grams of protein. You can find the basic recipe on my other blog and make whatever modifications suit your taste.

Now it's time to read a little, write a little and contemplate what I might do today to bring a little joy into my little corner of the world.

Hmmm...

Recently, I've talked to a few of my co-workers about some of the impressions they've made during my career and what I'll miss about them. I've kept it to the very positive things that I've noticed, but haven't got around to everyone just yet. Truthfully, there are many that I'm not going to miss and will probably be a better person for not being around them on a regular basis. No doubt, there will be those that feel the same about me. Controllers tend to have pretty strong personalities and they are often conflicting personalities. Tact and diplomacy are not job requirements and many of us are lacking in those characteristics.
In any case, I guess I'd better make plans to complete that task in the near future.

But what about today?

Would you care to join me in an effort to brighten somebody's day?

It can be somebody you know or it could be a stranger.
You can send a note of encouragement or pay for a stranger's coffee or lunch.

I'm sure that you can come up with better ideas than I can, but let's all try to do something nice for somebody today. I'm not a real believer in "random acts of kindness." I believe that there are random targets for acts of kindness, but most kind acts are either planned or just a part of a person's natural character.

If being kind is not a part of your nature (it's not a part of mine) then perhaps we need to make a plan to be more intentional about being kind. Surely we can come up with one thing for one day!

If you're in, comment back on what you did to be kind today. I'll do the same.

Make a phone call.
Send an encouraging note.
Lift a burden.
Just do something!

John <><

God Loves You (but I'm His favorite)!

I stole the title of this post from a bumper sticker. It fits.)

The Thanksgiving holiday always gives us the opportunity to pause and examine our lives and the many reasons that we have to be thankful. As I look around and see the trials and struggles of so many good people, I can't help but believe that I am truly favored by God.

I am not a believer in luck and coincidence is too random to account for the blessed condition of my life. I can offer no reason for my position other than God's grace and mercy.

I am not subscriber to fate, nor one that believes everything happens for a reason. I do believe that we were all created to glorify our Creator and gifted to do so. While there are many that give Him glory and honor in trials and tribulations, I have not been asked to do that...at least, not yet.

I don't think that I'm going to get out of this life without suffering or extreme sadness. Life has its cruel nature of pain and torment.
But for today, I am thankful.

And I feel compelled to share my blessings with others.

I'm not really sure of how to go about that. I think that sometimes we get to planning so much that we miss the simple opportunities to bless people that make their way into our days. We often hear the term "random acts of kindness" and yet I am convinced that these are not at all random acts. They are purposeful acts by random people that have made it their mission to be a blessing to people they encounter.

I want to be one of those people!

Would you care to join me?
We can be a purposeful army of people doing purposeful acts of kindness for people.
And not just random people we meet; all of the people we meet!

I honestly have to ask, "Is it even possible to be kind to everyone?"

I don't know if I can do that.

I'm up for trying.
How about you?

John <><

Caught being nice!

At the beginning of the month I posted about sharing some of the nice things that people do for one another. Yesterday a young first grade teacher shared on of those moments and it was truly the kind of feel good moment that could bring a tear to your eyes.

It seems that there was a young boy in her class was needing shoes as his feet were sticking out of his current pair. One of his classmates told his mom about the boy, the mom contacted the teacher and provided a new pair for the boy but didn't want it known where they came from. When the teacher gave him the new shoes, the boy began to cry. The teacher asked why he was crying and the boy told her it was because he had never had a new pair of shoes!

Kudos to the young classmate that shared the need with his mom. Kudos to the Mom that met the need. And thanks to Ms. Ross for sharing the story so that we can all be blessed and encouraged by it!

John <><