Friends, please read this piece by fellow blogger Pam Kirst, and visit her blog, also. In this post she addresses the central tenets of self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and relationship cultivation. An excellent reminder for all of us!
A hot, sunny Labor Day morning: I pull up in front of Kim’s entry bower. Our friend Larry has planted her trellis with morning glories; their leaves are richly, deeply green and glossy, although, Kim says, the plants have never bloomed.
“What’s up with THAT?” she asks rhetorically, noting that Larry has never seen such a thing happen: morning glories always bloom. But not these, not at Kim’s house, not this year.
There are pots of brightly crisp annuals; there is an old, lazy cat basking in the sun. There is Kim,–the day after her 60th birthday–lifting slowly from her shaded seat inside the bower, turning to pick up her purse and a book we’ve shared, and starting the slow trek to the passenger door.
I open my door into traffic, bound out quickly, and run to hug her.
“How ARE you?” I ask, exuberantly.
She gives me a look that…
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Healing Through Connection 
This was a great piece, Catherine, and also applicable to those of us with mental illness. I attend a water aerobics class every day, taught by a friend who is chirpy. I’ve told her *please* not to add on to her exercise instructions “…and SMILE!” or chirp “Have a GREAT day!” as we leave. And even though I’ve explained why many times, she still does it. I think she just forgets, so I always give her the finger when it happens. Humor as mindfulness.
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Thanks, Sandy Sue! Your story reminds me of a meme showing one cartoon person shooting a giant rainbow from its mouth onto the face of another cartoon person, with the caption, “Sending positive vibes your way.” I have committed such rainbow vomit myself before, I admit… I think the intentions of such people are almost always loving, and understanding how it could land in a different way is definitely a practice in empathy! In the end I think some mutual forgiveness and good humor saves us, time and again. So thanks for not taking yourself or the situation too seriously! Here’s hoping we rainbow vomiters catch on a little more often. 😉
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