Just a quick note to share today's inspiration

"Smile, breathe and go slowly."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Isn't that good advice for a mid week?  I know I tend to rush (or try to rush) through the week to get to the weekend.  Once in a while, I wonder what I've missed by hurrying through the days.  I can't get them back once I've barreled through them.  Just for today, I'm going to let the day unfold as it wants and not try to rush through to the end.  And I'll smile at people and make them want to slow down.

We had our annual eye exams last night.  Pk needs stronger reading glasses, a sign of aging with which he is not thrilled.  My vision is unchanged (yay eyes!) but I opted for new glasses because I have not been thrilled with the ones I have had for the past year.  My new ones are thinner and lighter than the present ones and are a metallic copper color.  They have only half frames (which seems to be the style right now) and the optical company charges 8 dollars to prepare the lenses for this.  They have to grind the edges specially.  I also pay more for lineless bifocals and for high tech thin lenses.  My vision is bad (legally blind without the glasses, 20/20 with them) and the lenses would be so thick if I went with the regular plastic lenses.  I willingly pay for the thinner lenses.   We'll have them in about a week.

I have group this morning and as I was scrounging around for ideas, I remembered hearing a bit on the radio bemoaning the lack of life skills teaching in schools today.  And so, I started wondering what constitutes life skills in today's world.  I remember learning to fill out a check in high school but today write so few checks that although my bank has changed hands 3 times, I am still using the checks from 3 banks back (the numbers haven't changed so it's all good).  I did some online searching (is using a computer a life skill now?) and came up with a United Nations report on what skills are necessary for folks to get by in life.  Things like decision making; problem solving; creative thinking; and self awareness, and on and on.  Some good skills.  If someone grows up in an impoverished (either economically or emotionally) family they wouldn't necessarily grow up knowing/learning these things.  How do you know you don't know them?  How do you then learn them?  I think this could be an interesting group and it'll depend on how awake my folks are today.

And my new crocheter?  She came in on Monday (and I wasn't here) and showed off a scarf she had made over the weekend.  She was so proud!  She's already planning one for her daughter for Christmas.  This made me so thrilled.  Whoot!  And another one is gathered into the fold.

I'm off to do a little bit more research for the group (and they think we just pull this stuff out of our brains) and get ready to start the day.  Get out there, move slowly and smile!