Meg Evans

I just put in a Domino’s pizza delivery order online, and, as of the time I typed this sentence, the tracker page said it had been in the oven for 4 minutes. Of course, the pizza will still taste the same when it gets here, regardless of whether I know precisely what time it was baked. Still, it’s kind of nice to live in a world where we have more information about what’s going on around us. When I take a moment to notice and appreciate such little things, as trivial as they may be, I find myself becoming more aware of how many reasons there are to be thankful.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

Yesterday afternoon my husband dropped his phone and broke the screen, which left me thinking about how disruptive it feels to be temporarily deprived of our modern gadgets. Even the tiniest blips in our daily routine can leave us feeling a bit out of sorts; for example, my Keurig coffeemaker didn’t come on when I pressed the button this morning, and I had to unplug it for a moment so that it would reboot.

When modern devices are working properly, they are easier and more useful than their old-fashioned equivalents. The simpler things of the past weren’t as fragile and prone to glitches, though, so people didn’t feel that they were wasting time with unexpected problems. In fact, getting things done took more time back then, but it felt okay because our expectations weren’t being frustrated in so many small ways.

Sometimes we just need to step back, take a breath, put things in perspective, and start noticing those ordinary blessings that are right in front of us. Life really is easier than we often think it is, and we don’t need to get every little annoyance perfectly sorted before we can feel happy.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

I’m writing this post in advance and scheduling it for Thursday morning because of travel plans. With a high number of entries in this weekend’s championship regatta in Indianapolis, at a location that doesn’t have much nearby parking, my husband, who tows the boat trailer for our rowing club, sensibly decided it would be best to take the trailer there on Monday to make sure of getting a good spot. The trailer had been mostly loaded on Sunday, except for two boats to be picked up Monday morning from another nearby club.

I rode along to help unload boats when we got there. I wasn’t expecting it to take very long because I thought we would just take off a few smaller boats and leave the others on the trailer, but some kind folks from the Indy club offered to help us to take them all off. We got the trailer completely unloaded and parked (far enough away that it was a good thing we wouldn’t have to carry anything more from it) and the boats secured against wind and storms. By then, it was later in the afternoon, and we still had to do a rowing machine workout when we got home, so it ended up being a rather long and tiring day. Soon after I went to bed, my husband literally fell asleep on the floor.

It’s all good, though—making the effort to do more, and being in the company of cheerful and inspiring people. That’s how we get stronger and more confident, a little at a time.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

Last weekend my rowing club traveled to the Chicago Sprints. It was my first time rowing at the Lincoln Park Lagoon, which is famous, or perhaps infamous, for sprint racing on a very narrow course that only has space for buoys down the middle. (Sprint courses normally have buoys on both sides of the boats.) Rowers going up to the start line have to stay very close to the shore to avoid colliding with boats racing down the course.

Saturday’s races were mostly college rowers, and some of them weren’t doing the best job of not running into each other. I had one race on Saturday, a women’s lightweight double that had no other entries, so it was like a practice. That was good because I needed some practice on that scary course. I’ve been rowing for ten years, so I am not a newbie, but I felt as jittery as one.

I had calmed down enough by Sunday morning to row well in the women’s masters lightweight double, advancing to the afternoon final, which was a very close race. Our competitors were older and had seven seconds of handicap on us, and Deb and I weren’t sure if we had gotten far enough ahead of them. Afterward, we found that we had been just fast enough to win the gold medal. One of our competitors came over to our boat trailer and asked if she could row with us in our quad in Indianapolis—what a lovely compliment that was! We said yes. Nothing to be scared about, after all!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

With all the random associations that the human mind makes, it sometimes takes a bit of effort to turn aside old, stale worries and push them out of the way. Even though they are just memories and not even real in the present, they still cast shadows. When that happens, I remind myself that there is much more to see.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

My job has been hectic recently because of a big push for AI development, as is happening at many companies this year. Many people in my workgroup have been assigned to testing. As a result, the backlog of our regular work is piling up. I did some overtime work both this week and last week.

Of course, there also have been times when I wasn’t so busy and one week felt much the same as another. Some days, it seemed like I was lost and drifting through my life without a sense of direction. I wanted to do something more, but I couldn’t figure out what, and it got frustrating. Now, if I ever have a day when I feel like that, I just remind myself it’s all going to change soon enough.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

Purple bunny or blue penguin?

A package arrived at my door today with beginner crochet kits, which my daughter had ordered as gifts for a friend’s children. She also bought one for me, just because she thought I might like doing some kind of crafts over the Fourth of July weekend. I’m still trying to decide whether I would rather have the bunny kit or the penguin, but I’m smiling either way!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

My daughter, who is married and lives in Cleveland, came for a visit yesterday. She crammed all kinds of random food into the refrigerator and cabinets, she almost ran the icemaker out of ice, and one of her dogs spat up something nasty on the kitchen floor. Rather than being annoyed about that, I’m just being mellow and feeling grateful that she visits regularly, which puts all the small stuff in perspective.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

Last weekend I traveled with my rowing club teammates to a Saturday regatta in Tennessee, the Dogwood Masters. My husband and I had been competing in it for several years, racing our singles and our mixed double; both were in the morning, so it had been relatively quick and easy. We got more ambitious last year, also racing single-sex doubles and a mixed quad, for a total of four races each.

Ambitious would be an understatement for what we did this year. Because we had a large group of teammates, my husband and I competed in five races each, adding single-sex quads to our schedule in the sunny Southern heat. We did well, taking first place in our mixed double. My women’s double also came in first, and the mixed quad took second place at the end of the day. Then we took the trailer back to Ohio, getting home after midnight.

It was all fun, but definitely a bit much; I still don’t have all my energy back. That’s all right, though, because I feel stronger than in past years, and it’s great to travel together.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”

When I was growing up, I had a wooden bed with carved pineapples decorating the four posts. It used to be my mom’s bed when she was little. I read storybooks before going to sleep and imagined that the bed had magical powers to carry me away to fairyland.

Last night I tried to imagine myself as a child in that bed, flying away on an adventure as a fairy princess with a golden crown. Not surprisingly, all that happened was that I fell asleep; but I woke up much refreshed and felt that I was standing taller.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”