02.03.2025 | Ordinary Monday

It is sunny and stunning out in the Carondelet Garden on this first Monday in February.  The skies are clear and bluer than blue.  We should see highs in the lower 70s by this afternoon.  What little snow and ice is left should be finished.  Good riddance!

We went to a birthday celebration for a 90-year-old this past weekend.  It was such a great event.  The birthday gal is still active and healthy.  A huge room with close to 100 guests.  Many of them her high school friends.  What a joyous sight to behold.  It reminded me to be grateful for every day.  

I am reminded of the old saying that nobody on their deathbed regrets that extra scoop of ice cream.  I used to take my mother-in-law for a ride every week so that she could get a break from the nursing home.  She was usually very quiet and didn't really know a whole lot of what was going on, but she knew she liked to ride around.  We would always stop at Starbucks for a Caramel Frappuccino with extra caramel.  As we rode around and looked at the sights around St. Louis, every once in a while, she sat up and started to reminisce.  Her favorite memories were always such simple things.  Not the big trips or adventures.  Usually it was a picnic, or a wonderful meal at a restaurant, or a Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.  Simple pleasures and fond memories.  

As I get older, I am appreciating the ordinariness of life a lot more.  Walking the Doodle every morning.  A cup of coffee and a real newspaper.  A simple donut every once in a while.  The little things that bring incredible joy.  The ability to change one word in a sentence:  I have to walk the dog today changes to I get to walk the dog today.  One word makes all the difference.  Gratitude.  Appreciation.  Love.  Hope.  Faith.  

It's a new month and a new week and another opportunity to say thank you a little more often.  Smile a little bit more.  Experience a little more joy.  That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.