Feel Good 5 Friday … On a Saturday

Sometimes seeing old friends helps you remember who you used to be.

And the music that blasted through with The Weekend Top 40 with Casey Kasem hits you with a kaleidoscope of memories filled with your Nike Cortez days and TrapperKeepers in that JanSport backpack. As is with everyone these days, it’s been difficult to see people and old friends. But sometimes you find moments where it can happen. You make every effort to be cautious, get outdoors, and you get some sense of good vibes that can carry you.  

Visiting with someone that knew you way back when brings out your highlight reel and you start to think back of where you were in your life and who you used to be back then. Sometimes those are good memories, other times they may not be, depends. But this particular meetup made me think about how this person contributed to my growth as a person and that meant a lot, especially if you just want to go and say thank you to someone for making such a positive impact. She knew me during both difficult and positive times, and made life better.

I hoped she would remember all those times, but it may have been difficult considering she was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was sad to hear that happened to my old coach, my mentor. I know she was looking forward to retirement and traveling with her family, enjoying the rewards of all her hard work. But this major curve ball got sent her way and it hit me in the pit of my stomach. 

Don’t know if she’d remember all the pieces of advice she gave me on and off the court, the lessons in leadership, the lessons during a loss, during season-ending injuries, during wins, during championships and of course beyond school and into the “real world”. She wouldn’t remember coaching us and everything she contributed. That’s the part that made me sad. She was such a big part in everyone’s life and here she was sitting a few feet away unsure of what the future would bring now that she’d have to live with this new life, different from what she imagined.

I don’t know how fast it will progress but I hoped for the best, I hoped for her memories to last a little bit longer. That’s what I wished for her as a sat there looking across at her and I reintroduced myself. I wanted to talk to her but didn’t want to overwhelm her with too many memories. Too much too soon. We all took a beat to slow it down. 

I stopped thinking of what she might lose and just tried to talk to her and make her smile. Enjoyed the conversation that everyone was having, picked up on the bits and pieces of their lives, and found comfort in taking a trip back to the past. Talking about old times and cracking up at our old ways and old game stories. Thanked her for being able to come, just to see her and get a chance to talk to her. I know she probably changed the lives of many girls, girls who grew up to be leaders, teachers, mothers, CEO’s, coaches, or writers.  I drove off hoping that she’d remember today and even if she didn’t remember all the details of the conversation, maybe at least she’d remember the feeling of being there and the comfort of knowing that she inspired so many people to become better versions of themselves. And being there reminded me of who I used to be and who I wanted to be. It was a good feeling. A good flashback, followed by a good soundtrack. 

Buen Camino …

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The Romantics — What I Like About You

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Technotronic — Move This

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Los Hermanos Flores — La Bala

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Rob Base — It Takes Two

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UB40 — Here I Come Baby

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Feel Good 5 Friday on a Saturday Morning That Turned Into Sunday Because WordPress Did Something … Collage of Hopeful Somethings

I never liked using them because I thought it would just remind me of what I hadn’t done. 

Didn’t really feel that would be inspirational. You know, failed attempts staring at me in the face.

That’s what I thought of vision boards. 

But after a year of looking at it on a weekly, if not daily basis, for what I think is my third year now of trying these vision boards situations my perspective changed. Instead of looking at it as failures or never-beens, I see it as project reminders, asking me, what are you going to do today to get a little closer? Is what you’re doing helping you get there?

Totally surprised myself.

Some pictures are of future adventures with the kids, like heading out to the wilderness, some are Zen moments featuring beaches I have yet to visit, some are dream chasers encouraging me to finish telling the story. Words of wisdom I find inspirational or pictures of great-looking meals I want to try, or images I feel when I hear feel-good songs. Every picture helps center me, and focus on going forward. A collage of hopeful somethings. 

With July just finishing I take a pause and check how I’ve been doing and I still got a ways to go. A lonnnnnnnnnnng way to go. Limits outside of my control … you know … like a pandemic still going on and resurging. But I’m able to inch my way forward on projects or go on mini adventures, like buying a new camera (like a real adult camera, not the one on your phone, the kind that has a strap and something called ISO that I needed to look up), taking an online class, traveling to a new nature spot, hitting up an aerial obstacle course in the woods, discovering and sticking to yoga on Sunday’s virtually with Ross or Denis whoever is teaching that day, bringing music to my days, and expanding my culinary pallet  by trying fried pickles. 

Dude.

Duuuuuuuuuuude.

It’s good to have goals.

Fried pickles can be a goal. It’s something new and if you like dill pickles, a Vlassic lover, I strongly recommend a side order of fried pickles from your favorite fried chicken spot. It will make you dance, without music, it’s that good. 

But I still dance with music and this week’s feel good tunes as I was doing a personal inventory check, kicked it up a bit, extending the feel of my smile for a couple minutes extra even after the last beat, this was especially helpful when the outside world sometimes tried to do the opposite. 

Buen Camino!

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Olympic Theme Song — John Williams and Leo Arnaud

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Lose Yourself — Eminem

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Cancion del Mariachi — Antonio Banderas

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Finally — CeCe Peniston

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Jive Talking — Bee Gees

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