On Any Given Monday

Welcome to the new blog. Or is that the revamped blog? Was that a fragmented sentence? Sorry. At any rate, welcome to my first blog topic in quite a while. So what is the topic for today and on any given Monday in the near future? Drum roll please.................To Like or Not to Like. Apparently my opinion on things I like and/or dislike is something that shows that I have a certain way with words and also proves to have a modicum of entertainment value.Yes, I said modicum.

According to many close to me, I am not shy about my opinions. I am especially not shy when it comes to my dislikes. I find this funny because for many years I was a rather shy and non-confrontational person. Then at some point in my life, it was as if a switch was flipped and I became this person who if pushed would take someones head off without blinking twice. Neither the shy me nor the beheading me are me's that I am especially proud of. I keep thinking that there has to be a happy medium between the two and hopefully someday I will find it.

All this being said, tis true....I have little problem expressing my happiness or my displeasure with things. The thing is though, right here and now I can't think of any one thing that really has me overly happy or overly mad. Perhaps I am just too tired at this moment to have any heightened emotions one way or another. Since nothing extreme comes to mind I do however, as always have my lists of things I like and dislike. It seems those babies grow with each passing day. So as not to disappoint, I decided to go with happy thoughts and hit a few likes.

I like hot weather....when it is cold. When hot weather hits however, I am really not a fan.
 
I like rain. I like the the sound of it with windows open as I drift off to sleep. I love the way it smells and feels. Rain seems to renew me just as it does the earth.

I like heels. No, I love heels. I am 5'1" and heels for me are not just a want, they are a need and the higher the better. In 4" heels I am actually average height and I am still shorter than most people I know!

I like drive-ins. Going to a drive-in brings back so many wonderful memories from the past. As a young child I would wear my pajama's to the drive-in and we would picnic in the back seat. As a teenager I would go with a group of friends and we would pull down tailgates and bring lawn chairs, and let's not forget date nights at the drive-in where you never actually saw the movies. Yeah....I like drive-ins. Sigh!

I like sitting on the front porch after dark in the summertime. I like listening to the sounds of the summer evening and smelling barbecue grills, listening to kids in the distance and hearing locusts singing back and forth to each other. There is just something about a summer evening on the porch that gives me an inner peace and in that moment, makes the world seem right.

I like watching lightening. I am not talking about those intermittent flashes that come with your run of the mill thunderstorms. No, I am talking about the great big bolts that dance across the sky as the thunder cracks and the air sizzles. It is an unparalleled mixture of beauty and fierceness that never fails to stir me and always leaves me longing for more.

I like taking trips with my kids. I love the laughter, the songs and the conversations that come from those trips. Those are special moments and ones we possibly wouldn't share if not for having to make those long car rides and I treasure every second.

I like walking into a hospital ER and seeing familiar faces. No matter how bad the situation that brings you in, there is comfort in the familiarity of people who know you and your situation and they know what to do without a lot of talk and explanation.

I like those once in a blue moon movie days, where the kids and I hang out in pj's, veg out and watch one movie after another. Those days are the best.

I like cooking dinner and sitting down together as a family and eating. I love the conversation and the togetherness that comes from these meals. They are memories in the making.

I like hanging out with friends I have known for years. I like the history and the stories that can be told and retold from that history. I like laughing with them until we cry and sometimes.....crying with them until we laugh. Having friends like that is nothing short of amazing.

I like history. I like reading about the past, learning about the past and doing what I can to pass that history on. To move into the future, we must first know our past.

And finally....I like sleep. Not just sleep mind you, but the act of going to sleep. I like laying my head on a cool pillow and feeling my body relax. I like allowing my mind to drift and feeling myself slowly fall out of consciousness into complete relaxation. To me, it is simply the best part of the day.

So there you have it. My first topic blog. No, there was no berating of a new found foe, nor abundant praise of new found treasure. There was only a few positive words about the world currently around me. Fear not though, I will get rested up and someone will either make me over the moon happy or tick me off to a boiling point and you can be sure that you will hear all about it, on any given Monday!