I have been going to body conditioning classes twice a week. During these classes we use free weights and body bars, as well as exercises to tone various muscles, such as squats and lunges.

So the other morning, I was in class and doing my plie’s. Legs hip width apart, toes pointed outward, I bent my knees. As I started lowering my body, I let out the loudest fart ever recorded in the history of workout classes.

I am grateful that the music in class was VERY LOUD.

My mindfulness and journal prompt for the week is celebration.

Here’s how it’s used in the books I’ve been reading:

1. Or the crowd could be celebrating her lanky older sister, with the straight, ashy bangs, who has finally, after some struggle, learned to read. Emily Henry
2. I was smarter than Christine. But she was happier because she celebrated all victories, real or false. Qian Julie Wang
3. When Herbert came, we went and had lunch at a celebrated house which I then quite venerated, but now believe to have been the most abject superstition in Europe, and where I could not help notice, even then, that there was much more gravy on the tablecloths and knives and waiter’s clothes, than in the steak. Charles Dickens
4. It’s human nature to strive for more, but if you want to cultivate an abundant mindset, you must also focus your energy and attention on noticing and celebrating the abundance of what you already have. Shira Gill
5. Stand By Me. Because despite being a film about a search for a dead body, it is a celebration of youth and friendship and life. Matt Haig
6. I took her by the hand and led her to the bus stop. Aminat stomped in the puddles and splashed water all around. I hardly reprimanded her, though, because my own heart was celebrating. Winter was fading; the snow was shrinking into itself and turning gray. The air was warming and filling with scents. The trees were still bare, but their branches had a new vitality. Alina Bronsky
7. Mama takes me over to a wall covered with hundreds of white bras, some with lace and little frills or doilies like party favors, as if undergarments are a cause for celebration. Parneshia Jones
8. Whether we’re lucky enough to have a big cosy kitchen or not, it is never just to store and prepare the food. We work in there to create the meals that celebrate the company of friends and family, where spontaneous kitchen discos can happen as we feel free to dance to the radio, a chance to let go and have some silliness in our lives. Kate Peers
9. Peter and I, feeling optimistic and festive, plan a party to celebrate our union. Delia Ephron

Here’s some thoughts that I am going to ponder when thinking about the word celebration:

1. Do people want to celebrate little things, or do we wait for BIG things?
2. Are people afraid to celebrate because others might not have the same things? Think Mother’s Day and Valentines
3. I’m reading a book of poetry that is supposed to be dedicated to women. Why does only one poem in the anthology contain anything about celebrating. Are woman not supposed to celebrate?
4. Does celebrating make one feel bad or does it put too much pressure on someone?
5. Do some people need to celebrate more than others?
6. Has celebrate become a bad word?
7. What’s the last think I celebrated and why did I celebrate it?
8. Why do quotes 2 and 4 resonate with me?

When you think celebrate, what thoughts does it bring to you?

I’m amidst spring cleaning and purging of unwanted items. When I was in my kitchen cleaning out drawers and cabinets, I began to seriously debate butter knives. I have six butter knives and six steak knives. Do I really need to keep the butter knives? Can all my cutting while eating needs be accomplished with just the steak knives?

Show of hands:

Who thinks butter knives are necessary for everyday use? Who think butter knives are outdated?

And while we are talking about knives…

The week of Mother’s Day sees three kinds of posts:

1. Those who ignore it completely
2. Those that embrace it fully
3. Those who remind us that maybe we shouldn’t be celebrating Mother’s Day

Every time someone writes something disparaging about Mother’s or Mother’s Day, they are writing against women. If a man writes something bad about mothers/mothering we call him a misogynist and cancel him. If a woman writes something bad, we call her a feminist and put her on the cover of a magazine. Why do we feel the need to sabotage ourselves? I have a rocky relationship with my Mother- this does not mean that I don’t think others who have better relationships with their Moms shouldn’t talk about it- in fact, I’d say it means we need to talk about it MORE. We know how bad parenting can affect us personally, so shouldn’t we work on it? To begrudge someone because you lack something they have is envy. If you live your life envying others, you will never be content or happy. You will just be the person who is looking for something external to make their life better. Why do we feel the need to tear down something that someone else might be proud of?

And while we are still talking about knives…

A few weeks ago someone told me to stop following them because I wasn’t positive (there will be a full post on this in a few months). The other day I saw that this blogger had posted the most negative comment on someone else’s blog. I made a very passive aggressive comment back to the blogger. Not my finest moment, but maybe if we find something bad about another, we should look to ourselves to see if we are the same way.

This is the first year I am not with my mother on her birthday. While she is surely celebrating as she knows best (in her bathrobe with a mug of earl gray tea and a book), I am locked away in my university’s library, toiling away over twentieth-century art and a paper about postfeminism in the television series Sex and the City. Of course, I wish I could be with her, almost as much as I wish I did not know the ins and outs of every study space on this campus. Yet, thanks to my mother’s parenting and instillation of good values, when finals season calls, I pick up on the first ring. 

For many papers I write, I am encouraged to complete what professors in my major call an “analysis map.” Similar to an outline, in a map, one must establish their thesis statement, then the topic sentences of their following paragraphs, along with a general idea of the evidence and analysis used to support such claims. Since analysis maps are all I can currently think about, in honor of my mother’s birthday, here is an analysis map dedicated to her. 

Thesis Statement: My mother’s endless commitment to the academic, social, and wellness components of my life warrant her the title as the best mother in the world. 

Body 1: My mother’s continual contribution to my academic success lays the ground from which I can succeed, thus fulfilling one of the integral components of motherhood.

• In my K-12 journey, she attended everything I was in, not limited to publishing parties, plays, speeches and debate tournaments.
  • She even sat through concerts, where let’s face it, neither I nor my classmates were very musically inclined.
• She always encouraged me to do my best in school, showing me the value of hard-work and resilience. When I received an A, there were hugs. When I received a C, there was a hand to pick me back up.
• Even as I attend college miles away, she is more than willing to pick up the phone to listen to me talk about ideas for my papers or send me good luck texts. If she sees an article about something relevant to my courses, she emails it right away.

Body 2: My mother persistently aids in the social components of my life, at the right times being the best friend every mother is meant to be.

• Just last week when there was a fiasco relating to the dress I was supposed to wear for my sorority formal, my mother picked up my frantic Facetime to help me understand how to fix the dress and suggest how I should do my hair. She also quickly got on Amazon to send me the appropriate additional items. 
• Whenever I have questions about life where the advice of a 20-year-old girl just does not make the cut, she is always there, always with answers, even the ones I may initially tell her I do not want to hear. 
• Similarly, if I am sad, my mother is there with tissues and if I am away at college, she will send photos of our dog and cat that will surely cheer me up. And, if I am happy, my mother is also smiling or sending the thumbs up emoji. My mother keeps my emotions, and my wardrobe, in check.

Body 3: Lastly, perhaps the most important attribute my mother attends to is my health and wellness, making her properly earn the ranking of best mother.

• Although it sucks to have a cold, whenever I got a cold in my K-12 years, I had a small amount of happiness as I knew it meant I got to receive my mother’s best soup and sandwiches and even more care than normal, which is saying a lot. 
  • Even when I receive a cold in college, my mother still instructs me on which medicine to use, what foods to eat, and per the unwritten mother handbook, reminds me how much sleep to get.
• Whenever there is a health trend I want to try, my mother is always my biggest supporter. Detox water? My mom bought me the water bottle. Ankle weights? My mom said order a pair. 
• For every stressful situation, the first person I call is my mother, at attestation to her healing qualities. She magically always knows what to say and do, and helps guarantee that even I, as an overworked college student, can retain some sense of balance and ease. 

Conclusion: My mother is the best in the world because even when we are hundreds of miles apart, her love and wisdom is found in my dorm room, in phone calls, and in emails. 

Hopefully this paper would not have a page maximum, because it appears I could write thousands of pages in support of my claims.

Happy birthday mom. I can’t wait to consume your pasta and receive your powerful hugs next week.  Love you ❤

I was notified that this is indeed my five year WordPress anniversary!!! I am grateful that I have been able to blog almost daily for five years! I am grateful for all of those who have come along for the ride!!!

Thank you!!

If you need a prompt for journaling or mindfulness:

Truth

May I be Well

Enough is as Good as a Feast– Proverb

If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens– Fay Weldon

I’m trying something new- for my word of the week, I’m looking to see how it’s used in the books I’m reading to see different ways of looking at the word- both in fiction and non. Of course, the week I choose to do this the word I picked was truth, and that word is literally everywhere in books- though I wonder if its as important in our day to day world as it is on the page. Maybe we like saying the word more than we like putting it into practice.

Always speak the truth- think before you speak- and write it down afterwards– Lewis Carroll

To live truthfully, to behave in a way that aligns with what is going on within, is scary, energizing, and liberating. Anything else just keeps us stuck.– Polly Campbell

It was the simple truth: the best thing a woman could do for her family was to provide clear and firm guidance. Alina Bronsky

“Giving with no expectation of a return is the only way to give,” he said. That is, of course, the absolute truth, although I had not thought of it before. Delia Ephron

With an open mind, notice the truth in the everyday- in the Buddha nature of things Shunmyo Masuno

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Here’s the truth: most of us have way too much stuff and not enough money. Shira Gill (on a funny note-the word truth is used more times in a book about home organizing that it is in the book of poetry that I took the Corinthians quote from…

And no one would ever tell me the truth but them. It was their job to tell me my flaws, Ba Ba said, because who else would do it? I could not trust the rest of the world. Everyone else would only lie to me out of politeness. Qian Julie Wang

All the truth of my position came flashing on me; and its disappointments, dangers, disgraces, consequences of all kinds, rushed in in such a multitude that I was borne down by them and had to struggle for every breath I drew. Charles Dickens

To breathe is to live, I suppose, and to be aware of breathing is to be aware of living, to be aware of the very simplest truth of yourself, and transcend the world of doing and- for a few sweet, comforting moments- inhabit the world of being. Matt Haig

The truth of it was that I’d probably never have the kind of luck with love the women who live in fictional seaside towns do. Rachel Lynn Solomon