Wondering through Ponce City Market in Atlanta a while back, Robert and I came upon this cool clock display.
We assume we have so, so much time left. Clocks simply full of it. But, do we really know how much we have left? Or what we should be doing with it?
“Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.” — Henri Frederic Amiel
It’s Past Time to Be Kind — Robert’s Snap Spot
Robert wrote a neat post about kindness and time. The link above takes you to it.
So Robert and I were sharing the Kale Salad at Kale Me Crazy (I love their name) at lunch today in midtown Atlanta …
… when I dropped a forkful of kale (with peanut dressing) on my pants (a far too frequent occurrence) and reached for my napkin. The universe chose that very moment to share a bit/bite of truth … on my napkin!
Such Kale Me Crazy Truth!
At a recent session, my therapist, attempting to get me a bit more grounded in reality, gave me an assignment: “Neal, why don’t you try to come up with a few REALISTIC affirmations about areas of your life where you would like to see meaningful improvement?” (Interpretation: what I tell myself maybe isn’t always rooted in actuality. Hmm, I don’t see what’s wrong with “Tonight is my turn to win Powerball.”)
Here’s one I came up with: “I love today. I love right now. Well, maybe I don’t exactly love today or love right now, but I am glad I have a today and a right now to have positive or negative feelings about.”
And although I don’t really like this next one, I appreciate its realistic groundedness: “I own it all—Everything I’ve ever done. Because there is no do-over button for life.” (But I do wish Apple would just go ahead and create one.)
But yesterday my buddy Mark texted me a quote which is SO much more intelligent and effective than my “no do-over” affirmation …
Asphalt truth!
Hello. Neal Saye here. Long time, no see. I’m not sure if anyone is still out there, but I have decided to blog a bit more.
It’s getting late on a Sunday evening (and the Braves are losing at the moment), so here is the gist of what’s on my heart tonight: what we say to ourselves on an ongoing basis is very important.
Yesterday morning, Robert and I did our more-often-than-not Saturday morning foray over to Big Bon Bodega (incredible bagel breakfast sandwiches) here in Savannah.
Boldly greeting us at the entry was Truthful Instruction:
A loving goodnight to you all! “See” you soon.
Neal
Hello out there. I did this blog post quite a while ago, but thought in today’s adversarial political and cultural environment, it might be relevant. We (okay, I!) judge others much too quickly.
Let’s try, in this new year with relatively few mistakes in it so far, to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to refuse to label somebody or some thing based on initial interactions or our preconceived notions.
What an incredible truth! (And, oh gosh, how it indicts me.)
I LOVE this short video about labeling:
*
2018: A Label-Free Year (at least for you and me).
Last evening I went to a fun but bittersweet farewell party for good buddy Ellie Covington (who is Texas-bound, Galveston).
After a torrential downfall forced the party onto the carport, the late-stayers ventured out onto the dock by the marsh and saw this …
(Do you see the second one to the right?)
Of course, we all had to get a little silly.
I quickly texted the pic to my fam and got this response from daughter Emily (mother of grandtwins Madison and Mathew) from the other side of Savannah:
“We can hold it too!”
The joyful promise of a rainbow!
May the excitement and happiness of children be with us all, especially Ellie as she makes her move to the next successful stage of her life!
MAY — an incredibly joyful month, don’t you think?
Five Reasons for Happy:
1. An early morning walk along the McQueens-Tybee Island trail (between Savannah and Tybee Island–10 mins from my apartment).
2. Grandson Daniel in his end-of-year Who Am I? Research Biography presentation. (He was Paul McCartney, btw.)
(Okay. okay, maybe I helped him a little with the tri-board.)
(He could only get such coolness from his grandfather. Seriously.)
The kids had to explain their research, poster-board-presentation-style, to the folks in attendance.
They do that kinda stuff nowadays in 2nd Grade?! Research?! All I did in 2nd grade was spend a year of trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to stop crying for mama.
3. Being a judge for the 2015 Savannah Authors Anthology. Such fun!
(I want to be a judge … full time. And get paid. Exorbitantly. Call me if you or yours need high-end judging.)
4. Getting 2015 Beach Ready.
5. Seafood at Safe Harbor in Mayport, FL. (After taking the ferry across the St. John’s River on the south end of Amelia Island.)
Safe, Joyful Weekend ahead to you all!
I have FOUR grandchildren. (Yes, you’re right, I’m FAR too young. We all know that. It’s a given. But sometimes Mother Nature has a way of bypassing her laws of when people should have grandchildren–and presents them in, well, early, early middle age.)
Anyway, the second-from-the-oldest-grandchild is Gabriel, 5, a rambunctious bundle of pure little boy-ness. He’s often affectionately referred to simply as “G.” In his most recent pre-K school report, the patient-as-a-saint and give-her-a-raise teacher wrote that Gabriel is “smart, funny, with many friends … and has a touch of naughtiness.”
Here’s G (on the far right) with a few school buddies,
And here he is the other night with older brother Daniel (8).
Today I received this text from my daughter/G mom Amy:
The brutal honesty of children.
NealEnJoy 