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Unexpected Blessings

Today I was helping a friend pack up multiple boxes of household goods to give to various local charities. She’d had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago, and we were clearing out what remained.

This was in her previous home, which she plans to put on the market as soon as it’s clear of clutter and the carpet is replaced. Until the last few days, the weather has been mild, but the temperatures dropped below freezing last night, and the inside temperature when we arrived was 48 degrees.

Jo handed me a coat she planned to give to Goodwill, asking me, as she helped me put it on, if I had a good winter coat. “This one’s vicuña,” she said with a smile. I turned around. “It looks good on you.”

It fit, too, but I have a winter coat, and declined her offer. Later, I got to thinking about. Vicuña — isn’t that a luxury fiber? I’d just been wondering what coat I would wear if I had the opportunity to go somewhere dressier than my usual haunts (that is to say, something that required more than jeans). I hated to see such a lovely coat go to Goodwill…it could end up belonging to someone with no appreciation for vicuña.

Vintage vicuña, at that. A coat like this can go for thousands of dollars today. I accepted her offer.

Suddenly, I felt like a princess. Trust me, this coat isn’t being worn on a regular basis. It won’t be stuffed in a locker at work or thrown in the back seat of my car because the day has warmed up. It will be treasured.

Vicuña are the endangered cousins of llamas, adorable creatures whose wool was once only permitted for the clothing of Incan royalty (you see why I felt like a princess). Fiber made from this precious fleece is like spun gold.

I’m running out for cedar blocks to hang in my coat closet. No moth better even think of chomping on my coat.

I’m in awe of this treasure, and thankful my friend thought of me.

Some days bring unexpected blessings.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

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It’s Always Something

I’m getting  a little tired of these petty injuries.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take them anytime over a critical injury or chronic illness. But just as I finished physical therapy for my shoulder, my thumb gets tendonitis. The thumb heals, and I burn my arm. The bandages come off my arm, and I pull my achilles tendon.

Each minor injury has its own impact, some limitation on my life that forces me to reconsider my priorities. With my thumb, knitting, reading and even typing (excuse me, keyboarding) was difficult. There go my top three activities.

I just paid for a gym membership (granted, it’s one of those inexpensive gyms) in an effort to commit myself to the treadmill. Now, simply walking to my mailbox is painful.

As I understand it, this is something that can take time to heal. Fortunately, it’s not as bad as it could be, and I have no problem spending my evening on the sofa with my leg elevated and an ice pack. Not exciting, but therapeutic.

Lyin on my back
Keep my foot elevated higher than my heart.

The cats are loving it. They climb all over me and find creative ways to snuggle close. I’m stuck there anyhow (healing), so they are welcome to keep me company. Lying down in this way keeps me (once again) from knitting, and reading isn’t easy, either.

Perhaps now is the time to take up meditation. And I am spending some time researching tendon care.

But here’s the thing —

what has possibly been the worst time in my life is coming to end. The devastating actions of others have run their course.

It’s always something, but some things are so fleeting, by the time I finish grumbling about them, they’re done. I’ll take those things anytime.

Time for the icepack…

Image Credit: © geosap — stock.adobe.com

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wpc: glow

Anyone who enjoys photography — and cats — should take a look at this site. Today’s post features Kitty, looking beautiful, and there are plenty of other wonderful pictures of Kitty, Teemu and Parker, as well as a lot of humorous and quirky takes on the day’s prompt.

lois's avataron pets and prisoners

I always called Kitty my ‘Golden Girl.’

Sitting on her favorite chair with the afternoon sun shining through the windows on her, Kitty just glowed.

Shine on, sweet girl.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/glow/

Kitty Kitty, the Golden Girl…

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I WILL SHINE – PART 2

As promised, I’m reblogging any posts you tell me were inspired by my thoughts on kindness. Judy’s blog is inspirational. She has had a difficult journey, including the loss of her first-born son, Jason, when he was just five years old. I hope none of the rest of you have experienced the loss of a child, but if you have, Judy is there. She expresses her journey beautifuly through her music…and here’s her post:

Judy's avatarmyjourneysinsight

Writing from my heart has led me to so many wonderful connections. Two months ago, I had the amazing opportunity to share my story. I was “discovered” by Remedy Health Media because of my inspirational writing about dealing with my dry eye syndrome.

I shared the experience of being filmed on the first part of this story:

#526 I WILL SHINE-PART 1

To see the video at Remedy Health Media’s site, click the link below:

http://immersive.healthcentral.com/vision-care/d/lbln/turning-points-chronic-dry-eye/

I think the most beautiful part of this video was sharing the experience with my childhood friend, Joni Lautman. We’ve known each other since childhood. I am currently living in the coop where I grew up – my parents are gone and I chose to live in my childhood apartment, rather than sell it.

Joni lived in the same coop and we played together from the time we were toddlers. In fact, there is…

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Let it Shine

Cartoon drawing of two happy kids holding the globe. Copyrighted image.

In the past week, several women I work with were facing illnesses, some serious, some not. They all had their concerns and found it difficult to work, but plugged away, at least one to her detriment.

She was frightened of losing her job because she’d taken too much time off. It’s not that she doesn’t believe she could find another; she knows she could. But she likes her job, is content with the environment and culture, and most particularly, really likes her supervisor. She knows that doesn’t always happen and she doesn’t want to lose it.

I listened to her, and I listened to another woman with serious back problems who is optimistic there are viable options to relieve her pain. While in the ladies’ room, I talked to a woman who spoke little English, but understood it well, about her family in Mexico, some of whom were hit by the earthquake last month.  They are all alive, with only minor injuries, but are facing challenges.

Talking to these ladies makes my job better.

We talk about small acts of kindness, and each of us has our own personality and ways of reaching out to others. In the area I live, drivers are respectful of each other, paying attention when someone signals they want to change lanes and allowing drivers to pull into traffic from side roads and parking lots.

I’ve never seen this anywhere else. It’s not as if I live in a small town. Traffic can be heavy. It’s courtesy, small acts of kindness. Unique to my corner of the world in many ways, part of the personality of this area.

I’m lucky to have a dedicated group of blog followers who, I sense, are prone to giving, each in their own way. I’ve gotten to know some of you fairly well through your writing, and I know many of you have distinctly different personalities than mine. Your kindness is perhaps shown in a way I couldn’t fathom doing myself.

I’m inviting you to share the ways you spread kindness on your blog, and I will happily re-blog anyone who lets me know of a post inspired by what I’ve written here. And since writing and blogging are also unique to the individual, anything you write that you tell me was inspired by this post, I will re-blog (okay, there are limits, but I will let you know if you’ve reached one, and I don’t think it’s likely to happen).

Some of you have things to say I believe some of my followers might relate to, so I’m going to re-blog some posts I see during the week or have seen recently that I found inspiring.

I look forward, as always, to seeing what you’ll  write.

Image (children holding globe) © lavitrei — Bigstockphoto.com (background) © aerial3 — Bigstockphoto.com