THANKFUL FRIDAY

Today, I am meeting my friend Nurse Jen, for lunch. She was our camp nurse at Camp Wildling, but she’s also a nurse in real life, working in very stressful conditions at a local hospital. She posted something in her timeline earlier in the week that made me think that she had more than reached her limit of dead people and COVID. So I reached out to check in with her mental health. We made a plan, set a time and a place and everything, to meet. I felt like I deserved a gold star for following through because I am usually in full turtle mode during the winter. I can’t wait to see her and do what I can to lighten her life a little right now, be some ears to things she needs to rant about and some healing comic relief.

Follow through….sometimes that is not my forte.

Michael made reservation for Farina for my birthday last weekend. We knew the restaurant was going to be fancier than our usual restaurant experience, but I don’t think either of us were prepared for just how fancy it turned out to be. On top of the impeccably placed table settings and service, the food was exquisite. I started off with a gin cocktail and dozen oysters. Michael started with carpaccio, which is basically a plate of thinly sliced raw meat. He’s had this dish before at another restaurant and when I tried it, I told him it tasted like nails. He assured me that this did not taste like nails. My oysters were followed up with a shrimp and pasta dish that was light and lemony and spicy. Michael had roast served on saffron risotto. We were both so pleased with the meal and the experience that I suggested we put this in the budget. I said that we should pick a new fancy place once a month or every other month. So we did. We didn’t wait or hesitate. We sat there and parrused restaurants until we agreed on one and then Michael made reservation for February.

It was a very satisfying moment.

My friend Alice, when she introduced me to her partner, said “Cindy is the person who says she’s going to do something and then does the thing she said she was going to do.” I was surprised by this. I am still surprised by this observation of my personality. I feel like, oh so often, I fail to follow through with things that I want to do. I realize now that you, the audience, have no idea of all the things I don’t end up doing because I don’t ever say the thing I want to do out loud. For every one want that gets voiced, there are twenty others inside my head and it is the twenty other unvoiced wants that I end up fixating on. My plans with Jen, the advanced reservations with Michael, both of those things were spontaniouse moments. They are moments where I didn’t hesitate or pause to over think the pros and cons. I just took action.

I’m grateful for the reminder that I am the woman who says she’s going to do something and then does the thing she said she was going to do.