April 04, 2021

Affirmators! Week 7: Love

Affirmators! are cards with positive affirmations written on them. My friend John sent me a deck of them and I've been drawing one from the deck each Sunday. I hang it on my bathroom mirror to keep it in the front of my mind and try to work on that topic through the week. That's what this Affirmators! post series is about.

Last week, the card I drew was "Joy". I wrote about why this is a little unrealistic (basically trying to force joyfulness when you just don't feel it) but I've been pretty happy lately and it hasn't felt like I'm struggling to pull joy out of nowhere. Maybe some other time that card would feel more relevant. I didn't think much about it this week because I didn't really feel the need to, if that makes sense.

So, on to today's card...

Love

Love is a many-splendored thing. Today I will notice and appreciate at least three of those splendors. Like the fact that puppies make me feel like a parent. Or the surge of self-congratulation I feel when I sink a three-point trash-basket shot on the first try. Or how 'bout the chills I get when singing along to (name of song--you know the one).

When I read "love" I assumed it would have something to do with love between people--families, partners, friends, etc. But I guess this is an all-encompassing type of love.

First, I wanted to think of a good song to fill in the blank with. Immediately, the first song to pop into my head was 'Beautiful Day' by U2. Try to listen to it and NOT feel 10% happier. I love to sing along to this song in the car, with the windows down, on a--well--beautiful day. I actually remember one day when I was going to an appointment with my psychiatrist, the song 'Crazy Bitch' by Buckcherry came on. I thought that was ironic and fun. When it was followed by 'Beautiful Day', it just felt too perfect. Haha!

Anyway, three splendors that I noticed and appreciated today...

1) The cozy comfort that my new summer throw blanket gives me. I am in LOVE with this blanket! When Luke was born, Becky had some very lightweight gauzy blankets for him that were super soft. I had never felt a blanket like that before. They were as light as air and very comforting. Whenever I've seen them (Luke and Riley still use them all the time) I've thought, "I wish they made these for adults!"

Little did I know, they do. I never thought to look it up! But I wanted a very lightweight blanket for summer and after some searching through other blankets online, I was surprised to see several blankets like Luke's and Riley's. After sifting through all of those, I settled on this one. It's the same fabric, only there are four layers of it. It's still super lightweight and airy. It's truly the perfect summer throw. (This is technically a twin size, but I read that they run small and a throw wasn't an option. The twin size is perfect for a throw.) It looks thicker in the photo because it's folded.


In the mornings, I like to sit in the corner of the couch, light therapy lamp next to me, with my summer throw and my decaf coffee and read my book. I've been getting up super early lately and this time in the morning is my favorite part of the day.  (Here is a link to the blanket on Amazon - affiliate link)

2) The feeling of being an aunt. I saw Luke and Riley today and there was a moment with Luke that just made me feel so happy to be an aunt. We sat down side-by-side to watch the ants in the ant farm. He kept asking me questions about everything--why are they doing this? What is that one doing? Where did they get all that sand? How did it make a big pile like that? And for the love of God, why did you buy me ants that sting?! (We agreed to keep the ant farm at my house because he's afraid that they will get loose at his house and sting him.)

I answered the questions with all the patience in the world, because he's learning and I am so lucky that I get to teach him something--even if it's as silly as an ant farm. Knowing that Luke and Riley look to me to answer questions they have makes me feel good. I wish I had this kind of patience when my kids were their age. I don't think many of us realize how special those moments are until it's too late. Being able to really embrace it now as an aunt feels redeeming somehow.

3) The excitement of giving someone a gift. Giving gifts is one of my very favorite things in life. Since Luke had decided to keep the ants at my house, I wanted to give him something else for his birthday. I bought him a lava lamp--which may be an odd choice for most people, but there was meaning behind it and I was excited to give it to him. It felt like a gift that would have special meaning to us. 

Luke has bad dreams sometimes and I always want to make him feel comfortable when he stays the night over here. He loves it when I turn on my lava lamp (my sister gave it to me for Christmas when I was a young teen!) next to the bed. I lie down next to him, and after he asks me lots of questions about how it works, he likes to watch the lava move around while he falls asleep--it's a nice, calming night light.

'Love' feels like an odd word-choice for this Affirmators! card, but I'm not sure what else it would be called. Regardless, I am going to try and think of at least one thing each day that gives me "the feels". It's nice to recognize them :)

1 comment:

  1. I definitely feel the puppy-parent connection right now! They'll be 2 weeks tomorrow and are sooo adorable. They're getting huge too (and mobile! 🙀). I'm so lucky to be fostering them and their wonderful mama.

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