Posts Tagged ‘Gratitude’

Tale of Two Birthdays

Monday, July 26th, 2010 by annemarie

Last week 2 friends of mine had birthdays and being a product of our time both posted a blurb on facebook about their birthday. The woman(a singer) was turning 49 and her post was all full of joy and gratitude and love for her fans, her band and friends, the man was turning 46 and posted a funny complaint about being on the AARP’s mailing list a wee bit prematurely. Both these posts got about the same number of reponses around 50, which is alot.

I wonder how their repsective days went? Were they satisfied with their celebration? Did they both truly enjoy it? Did they each create something new and exciting for their next year? Given the tone of their posts I have my suspicions but no facts other than the singers subsequent posts regarding her gig at the Cubby Bear that evening, which sounded like a hell of a lot of fun~and believe me you she can bring the fun! I hope the man had a great birthday and laughed off the overzealous AARP marketing campaign. I love them both and wish them the very best year ever.

It all made me think how I never want to hear anyone bitch about getting older ever again. I hate to be a party pooper but there it is: Don’t bitch to me about your birthday! Get down on your hands and knees and kiss the ground you walk on for the opportunity to tread upon it.

It oughta be a law.

My birthday is coming up and I am celebrating with a Spa~cation with my folks at the 5 star Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes. I was there just after New years this year and I created much of this year at Terranea. I thought as travel has gotten more difficult, I need to go back there while I can, and I wanted to share the beauty of it with my parents. I have seldom made a big deal of my birthday often working on it and having a quiet celebration or combining my celebration with others as I have lots of fellow Leo friends. However this year I wanted to do something special.

Do me a favor and do something really special for your birthday: something indulgent and vivid and memorable. This to oughta be a law.

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A Thank you to the Staff at Naha

Sunday, July 11th, 2010 by annemarie

Good service is expected at a restaurant. Great service is sincerely appreciated. Exceptional service time after time after time and being welcomed like family is a very rare and special thing. I don’t get out as much anymore, and I can hardly be considered a regular anywhere…but when I do have the energy to go out to eat or meet friends for a drink I tend to gravitate to where I am known and don’t have to explain myself. It may seem a small thing but if I don’t have to strain my self asking for an extra napkin or explain why am ordering by pointing at the menu and I can no longer eat certain things it’s a blessing.

This is a special Thank You to the Staff, Management and Owners of NAHA at 500 N Clark Chicago, Illinios.

Everyone from the busstaff to the Chef have made me feel at home. They have never once looked at me funny when I need another napkin or just order soup and a glass of wine, because that’s all I can swallow that day. I recommend it so often because I have NO doubt that anyone I send there will be cared for just as I am. Thank you for taking care of me, for welcoming me and treating me as a normal human being who just wants to be out for a nice evening with friends…Thank you for your service. For the excellence of your food and the care evident in it’s preparation. Thank you for your consistent high level of service and for treating my guests as if they were family too. Most of all thank you for being a safe haven where I can go by myself and know I’ll have help to the cab if I need it between my cane and my to-go boxes. I know for you, you are just doing what you do which frankly makes it all the more remarkable. I appreciate you.

Allow me to put this in perspective for you: the other day I walked into a restaurant to drop off a thank you card for the owner who I had met at an event…given my speech the server who greeted me thought I was a street person or something…saying ” no we don’t want any..” with out looking at the card or to whom it was addressed etc. She then turned and walked away from me with out handling what I was there for. This is just 1 example of how I am often treated as if I am retarded and contagious by people in service positions. From cabdrivers to waitresses to clerks in stores, as I lose the ability to control my face it happens more frequently.

So NAHA people~kudos to you for being so customer service oriented it’s the same as breathing for you!
I’ll see you soon.

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A trip to the salon and one huge dose of comic relief from ALS…

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 by annemarie

Ok. I don’t usually do this blogging about an event or what happened but it’s just to good to keep inside:

Yesterday, I went to the salon. My hairdresser is a fantastic friend and would have come to me but I wanted to get out of the house as I rarely have the energy to do so. In fact she’s the kind of hairdresser who’s all about you. The salon time is your time to get what you need whether that is silence or chatting etc. Tuesday is a quiet day in her salon and there was only 1 other client there seeing another stylist. I had been working on a project since 6 am so I was quite tired. In fact I was so relieved just to be there as soon as she asked me how I was I started to cry! I have been concerned for some time about the increasing levels of fatigue I experience since returning from DC. It seems no matter how much I sleep I cannot get rested!

So I had a quick cry and we talked about my hair~ going more blonde for the summer, which makes me happy! and got down to business. Once we settled in I couldn’t help but notice the conversation happening at the other station…there’s this woman with reddish brown short curly thick hair sitting in her purple suede birkenstocks jeans and wrapped in salon capes…the way she was talking about taking care of her loved one I thought she was a caretaker for an elderly woman, perhaps her mother or an aunt. It was apparent she was devoted to whom ever she was speaking about and that person could not communicate with her. Given I can’t talk well I was empathetic and it’s also why we were’nt drowning her conversation out with our own.

About 10 minutes into my hair cut, 3 things become apparent:
1) the woman has been prattling on about her CAT for 20 minutes
2) She is seeing a pet psychic with her cat regularly
3) The “animal communicator” told her her cat wants her to SHUT UP and quit talking so much!

After I almost fell out of my chair laughing, I immediately got grateful the minutes of my life are not consumed with visits to a pet psychic, and obsessing about whether my cat knows I love her. BLECH. I love animals too! I’m not a hater, I’m just saying if my life were spent dwelling on a story or in a swirl of does my cat connect with me/appreciate me/know I care/see how much I do for her/will be with me when I cross over spiritually and other such bizarre banality I would kill my self right then and there. God save me from that obsession.

As I wrote in my notebook to my hairdresser~ I may have ALS but at least I’m not wasting the minutes of my life on visits to the pet psychic to justify my obsession with my pet! Kill me Now! She was thinking the same thing. My favorite thing is how the Pet psychic tells the woman~ your cat wants you to shut up, you talk to much and she can’t think. Seriously. At least the cat and I are aligned.

I think it’s become a new line in the sand: I may be dealing with X (fill in the blank), but at least I’m not going to a pet psychic for my self esteem.

I can’t help thinking this woman’s mind needs bigger problems to solve! It’s so underutilized and creative spewing crap in a circle, I wonder what would come out if she were engaged and focused? I thanked all the comedic saints for having her there in the salon for me to hear, because it completely lifted me out of my self and into a new perspective of appreciation for my mind, my life and my circumstance.

Bless you heart cat-psychic-visiting-lady, bless your heart!

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