Today’s prompt… Things you’re grateful you learned this month.

They say you learn something new everyday and there have been a couple of times this month when I told someone they just taught me something new. Neither one of those things I can remember! So I’ve learned that my memory isn’t what it used to be… lol!

Being off work has made an incredible difference. It has been a couple of months where I have invested in my writing both personally and professionally. Hearing a way to go or these are great from the editor at the paper with each submission helps, a lot!

I’ve learned that sitting down to blog something different from My Writing Path is doable and it has helped me become more aware of what I’m grateful for. I do have my Blessing Bracelet so I do get to count my blessings daily when I wear it.

Perseverance. With the job offers last week, it has definitely made me grateful that perseverance pays off… it may bot be something I learned but perhaps was reminded of or I RE-learned it. It made me realize that I needed that time.

So what have you learned?

Don’t get too excited! Today’s prompt is something positive you read or saw in the news this year.

How many of these have I jumped right in with one specific thing and not said… I don’t know, I can’t pick one? Nine months of this year has gone by and I can’t recall anything that’s standout to me. Seems to be all about construction, construction delays and that list goes on. Of course my brain isn’t even recalling a moment when I said ‘Oh hey! Did you see in the news…? Sounds great doesn’t it?’

Nope, I’m drawing a blank!

It’s your turn then… if you can think of something, refresh my memory!

Well this is actually very funny! Today’s prompt is Three things you’re most grateful for today.

Well, I have to tell you how much of a joke that is today! I am stuck at home waiting for a delivery today that I chose for today because of heading back to the trailer. Amusingly enough, Sunday we get a notice that the water will be turned off from 8-5! What are the chances? I can’t go anywhere until this thing arrives and I can’t even fill a cup with water from the tap or go to the bathroom!

That’s the irony of today’s prompt! It’s worth the laugh isn’t it?

Anyway, I’m truly grateful for having not one, but two job offers now and the opportunities they both could bring. I’m grateful for my boys who keep me company every day and I’m grateful that I have what I do have!

What are you grateful for today?

Today’s prompt… Something about life you appreciate now that you didn’t before.

Since my surgery and close call I have been determined to spend more time appreciating things. Most of those things include spending time at least communicating with family and appreciating nature… the lake, the beach, the birds, the butterflies, you get the idea.

As I get older, I also want to be able to stop and smell the roses as the old saying goes! I also appreciate my writing gift and how far I have been starting to reach with that. Plus my photography. My New Year Resolution in 2024 was to get back into photography and I have been doing my best to do so.

So what have you started to appreciate and why?

Today’s prompt… A conversation that made a positive impact in your life.

I’ll tell you, this daily gratitude journal is a beautiful thing and I have loved to do it. BUT… I think it’s meant for those twenty years old, not for those of us who are 50! Why? Because, there are too many of these things that happen in life by this age!

Probably the most positive was just after my GM resigned and she was very open with me about how impressed she was with my work and what I had all done. Because things had been fairly negative up to that point, that was the conversation that made me say to myself I CAN do this and really well!

I’ll leave it at that, for now. I’m going to go write, for a while!

You can probably guess today’s prompt… A place you get to visit that inspires you.

Well, I’m here! The most inspirational place is the trailer. We can see the water from our deck and I love to sit outside and just take it all in. I write the most here (and do most of my editing at home).

But it truly is a different atmosphere. It’s more like what the world should be like. Hello on every corner, waves as people go by and, if you leave your door unlocked by accident overnight… you will wake up in the morning and everything is still here! I’ve heard stories of a time like that… just never had the opportunity to live in that time. I think I missed a lot more than unlocked doors… the music I love so much now anyway, dressing up more, going to dances and roller skating… which I never learned to do!

But it truly is an inspiration to both myself, my writing and it should be to the whole world to take it as an example!

Today’s prompt… A personal dream you’ve fulfilled.

I think I can only say I’ve fulfilled small dreams. With each book I write it’s another towards a dream. My biggest dream is having my studio but with each passing day and not having the funds to do it, that dream slips away.

But without dreams, I don’t think we’d be much! We all have to shoot for something. I’ve talked to too many older people in their 80s and 90s who watch TV and the world go by. They can’t even recall what their dreams were.

So I guess, it’s good, that I still have a dream. I just don’t know where to begin to chase it because I tried an online campaign once and it didn’t do a thing!

So here’s to the last line of Pretty Woman… “Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’ – this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'”

Today’s prompt is Something positive in life that you didn’t believe would happen but did.

Well, I have to mention it’s my daughter’s birthday but I always believed, at that young age, that it would happen. So it doesn’t count but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I also have to say that what happened with my job, I never believed would happen to me. There, I said it. One day, I’ll get into details and that day is coming closer. But that’s FAR from a positive thing. Why did I put that here? If I’m talking about disbelief, I guess I could add having three micromanagers at three consecutive job… what are the chances?

Maybe the one thing I didn’t believe would ever happen would be that someone would actually invite me to put my photography skills to use and take concert pictures and I didn’t think I’d have the joy of writing for a newspaper again. So now there are two things that are connected in their very own way!

From the Writers Path note, I finished Book 2 yesterday. Going to start on Book 3. It might end up being in one book as Parts one, two and three. Time will tell with how much I can do with the third book.

Oh my, this should be fun but my brain is grasping at what I could possibly write!

Today’s prompt… A funny memory that makes you laugh to this day.

I will tell you right now, there are many. And the only thing I can remotely remember is the weekend my parents were away, my dad was coaching a bowling tournament and my daughter and I were keeping an eye on my grandma who was in a much earlier stage of her Alzheimer’s at the time, so we went over on the Saturday night and watched our Blue Jays play baseball and we lost 14-5 or something like that. The next day my parents were coming home and the Blue Jays were playing that afternoon and we were really down again. This time she was watching on her TV in her basement apartment. Well into the game she came upstairs and said “They’re replaying that horrible game from yesterday!” I replied with “no, unfortunately, that’s today’s all new horrible game!” “What? Two in a row? What are they doing?” was her reply.

We laughed. I told that story as part of my eulogy for her in 2017 because baseball was one of the many things we were both passionate about and, even then, it got laughs.

I also want to recognize the Facebook page where this calendar is from. It’s free. It’s called Ordinary and Happy. They have lists of all kinds so feel free to look them up and follow them… and, no, I’m not getting paid to endorse it! It was something that the algorithm put on my page one day and I really liked it!

Today’s prompt… Three small things that bring you joy.

If you know me well enough you know what the first thing will be… any last second guesses before you go on reading?

My number one thing that brings me joy is watching Christmas movies. Of course Larry thinks I’m nuts and probably half of you do too but I love Christmas and I love the MOOD of Christmas. At Christmas people are a little nicer. They’re more generous. And I get to sit with my family and catch-up and connect. I don’t care about the gifts under the tree and the great thing about Christmas movies is they also don’t really care about the gifts… it’s more about the people. So why not watch it all come to life on TV at any time of year?

Naturally when I’m sitting and writing also brings me joy, even when it brings me frustration. Bringing characters to life and hoping my readers like the story I’ve told brings also brings me joy.

Lastly, the beach and the water. Going to the beach and stepping onto warm sand in my bare feet connects me to God the most. Being right there, next to the water, my feet warming in the sand just sends ripples through to my very core.

I know I didn’t specify that my family brings me joy but I also included family in with Christmas and the holiday wouldn’t be Christmas for me without my family.

What are your three things that bring you the greatest amount of joy?