Sunday Somethings

Hello, Sunday.

How was your week?  Your holiday? Eat lots of burgers and ice cream? Drink lots of margaritas?  

You probably noticed that I took the week off. No cooking for me. And you know what? I can’t even lie about it…it was glorious.  

After a short week here in the Chi, I headed home to Pure Michigan for some R&R with mom, Sneakers and Tela.  This is how much of the weekend looked:

Feet up, book on lap, flanked on one side by my favorite cat and on the other, my favorite dog.  Beverage or ice cream in hand.  Good times.

Despite living on the same street for the last eight years, I hardly know any of my neighbors.  Sure, we nod and smile at each other. Sometimes we cross laundry paths, but otherwise, they are just faces. Not in mom’s ‘hood. As the community gathered to watch fireworks on Friday night, groups of people came together, calling out to each other by name, asking about the kids, the dog, or how the broken arm is faring.  While such a setting has the potential to end up very Wisteria Lane, this one is Mayberry all the way.  And I loved it.  

It also gives me piece of mind that, should mom not emerge from the house one day, more than one person would have no qualms of walking in unannounced to make sure everything is alright.

While I made the conscious effort to disconnect for much of the week, a few things caught my eye. 

Here we go:

So long, farewell.  There was no problem with this Maria. I was shocked to see that she was even still on Sesame Street! She came to visit the JC Penny when I was a kid and Little Buddha and I have an adorable picture with her. I was giving her a big hug and my brother…was reaching across her for a balloon.  Typical.

“When someone you love walks through the door, even if it happens five times a day, you should go totally insane with joy.”  Heart-crushing story about Denali and his owner, Ben. It’s a bit long but worth the watch.  My tears started flowing at 5:09.

We are so often berated with the news of horrible people. But sometimes we get reminders that people are good, and have a wicked sense of humor.

What Jane Austen teaches about love. What doesn’t she?

A topic oft discussed amongst my peer group. With so many of us degreed, licensed and established in our careers by our maiden names, will we change them?  While for all of my friends thus far have opted to change, the rest of us…that’s still TBD.

Unrelated but from the same article, a good litmus test for any decision:  “How stupid will I sound later explaining this decision?”

Are you an over-packer?  This may help.

And finally, “It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”  Some of the most beautiful sentences in literature.  Of course from this list I pick the Harry Potter one as my favorite…

On a more business-related note, having exhausted my interest in South America, this week I’m heading north to the Caribbean. While I have a few things on my list left unchecked, I have no doubt I’ll come back to them at a later date.

Have a good week!

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