Thoughts On A President's Day Walk...


It's been a 3-day weekend for me.  (Hoorah!  No getting up early this morning and waiting for a bus in the cold; that will have to wait till tomorrow through Thursday.)  Being down at the shore means that I WILL walk.  (I've promised myself as much...even if it's just a couple of blocks up to the beach and back.  I've tried to hold myself to this promise.)  This morning the sky was blue as can be with the sun shining bright.  So mid-morning, I decided to go out for a "real" walk. 

I grabbed a scarf from the bureau in the guest bedroom which once belonged to my brother and I had brought down last year for my father to use.  I saw the sweater that I bought for my father for Christmas 2022 with the tags still on it.  As much as I love the shore, there are constant reminders of those that I have loved and lost; my brother, my mother and my father.  I try not to be maudlin, but...as peaceful as this place may be it also can be painful.

As I stepped outside into the sunshine, I thought about the fact that Abraham Lincoln has once again topped the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project for the third time. (This per NJ.com.)  "With malice toward none, with charity for all," always rings in my head when I think of Lincoln.  If only ALL presidents (all elected leaders?) would heed that advice.  (Hint, hint.)  Although I myself find it hard to stick to when I look across the lagoon and see the brown ranch with its lights ablaze 24/7.  

Still today I should be (and will try to be) charitable and grateful.  I am grateful that I can go for that walk.  That I can smell the brackish water of the bay and watch the waves at the beach.  That the sky is so blue and the sun shines bright.

I am grateful that I can get away for a few days where I can try to avoid the stress of "everyday."  Although I will confess that the microwave (which I use way more than any other device in the kitchen), making crackling noises before giving up the ghost DID stress me out.  If it were just a countertop model, I would have been less so.  However, it is over the range and also provides ventilation.   So we had to go out and find not just a replacement, but someone who would install it as well.  After last year's debacle with the refrigerator. there was no way I was going to a big box store.  We relatively easily found a local appliance shop and purchased one, but I don't know when they will be able to install, which does cause a bit of an issue.  (I was going to say problem, but is it REALLY a problem? Just keeping my fingers crossed that I get a call and am able to schedule something by next weekend.)

I am grateful for a phone call from a friend on Saturday night that lasted nearly 2 hours!  I thought hubby and I would just climb into bed where he would read and I would watch tv (our standard fare), but instead the both of us ended up gabbing on the phone with a mutual friend.  Who would have thought?  Unplanned conversations are often the best.

I am grateful for my son and my in-laws who got together yesterday.  They were there when my son graduated high school (although my father was alive at the time, he was not able to even watch), but they had never seen the campus.  So they drove out and took him to lunch in their old neighborhood.  In kind, my son showed them a little bit of the campus and made sure they returned to Pennsylvania with a bag of bagels.  (Sorry, Pennsylvania...good bagels are a failing you have along with most of the rest of the country.)  Am I sorry I wasn't there too?  Maybe a little, but a larger part of me is filled with happiness that they all enjoy each other's company.

As this day wraps up and I face the oncoming work week, I'm going to try to focus on gratitude and follow the words of Lincoln.  

And those are my thoughts on this President's Day.

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