jo burgess hannon

fit for today, fit for life

Let’s foster courtesy

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Last night I had the chance to attend a football game for our neighborhood high school.  Sitting in that stadium, freezing my butt off, brought back a lot of memories.  I watched with a bit of ah as 20+ girls chanted and cheered in unison while their team took an overtime victory. I mean seriously, have you ever tried to organize a group of people to do anything, let alone stand in straight lines, say the same words and execute physical movements in harmony?

In elementary school I so wanted to wear the uniform and cheer on my team. I vividly remember a conversation with my neighborhood playmate as we entered junior high. “B” and I had spend many hours and long summer days climbing trees, exploring the surrounding woods, picking blackberries, talking about life.  I was trying out for the cheer team, she was starting a before school bible study. She had no interest in being liked or being friends with most: things I expressed as hopes for my future.

As I watched windows being smashed in my country’s capital city last winter, I was frustrated that the local news shows kept showing citizens’ anger and disappointment over an elected official.  I was sad that the bigger cities were getting the press and the smaller communities that might be celebrating were rarely shown. Where was the spirit of celebrating our wins, and being good losers that I had grown up with?  I was seeing a lot of poor sportsmanship.

‘We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.’  It’s a good thought, right? However, as we saw in January 2017, the pursuit of solidarity can be difficult to put into action when emotions run high. I still believe the words I learned to recite back at Thorndyke Elementary: “…one nation under God, indivisible…”

I know that as the teams walked off the field last night, (well one actually running, jumping, screaming, with helmets high in the air and the other team quiet, shoulders slightly slumped) overtime could have easily swung the other way, switching the victor.

This morning, as they headed back to classrooms, the expectation is for both schools to represent well: be good winners and be good losers.

Today, I hope those that have opposing opinions will accept that while we might not sway a mindset,  we can listen to each other and always remember we have the right to cheer on our own team.

Oh, and, GO BULLDOGS!

Fall 1980, don’t you love those suntan L’Eggs?

 

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Counting it all joy

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This last weekend I met Heather.  She is the owner of Nashelle Jewelry. She was doing what I would call a ‘road show’ at the Bellevue Nordstrom.  At first I was drawn to the buzz around her display and the fact that she had pliers in her hand.  I stayed in the back and watched.

I have mentioned several times here on my internet space about the power of the women in my life.  Everyday I seem to be encouraged by a courageous, kind, friendly, spontaneous, loving woman.  Some are total strangers, some are as familiar as my warrior daughter.  I must also say that many of these women have strong, kind, passionate men in their lives.

Anyway, Heather and Skye were making custom jewelry with different charms, hand stamping words and initials, making something awesome. As the crowd cleared I entered their space and the energy was good. There was a man working with them, but I missed his name. Any one that knows me, knows I already have personal jewelry I wear daily: I love a phrase, a word, a symbol that helps remind me of all the goodness in my life. I hung around for a while, talking about the process and in the end said, ‘I would like something but not sure what yet.’ And I walked away.

 

Walking away was hard. This hometown business out of Bend, Oregon had stolen my heart a little like the new family puppy. (A grand puppy, mind you, he goes home with our daughter and her hubby after a visit.) Confession: I love to shop. There, I said it out loud here in my out loud space. Its a hobby, kinda like a golfer’s habit.  And to walk, when there was something awesome happening with those pliers, was hard.

 

Meet Hank, a new joy in my life.

 

Heather Nashelle, she is doing something good.  Eor every piece of jewelry sold, a meal is donated. She has six kids. I’m thinking just at home, there are enough mouths to feed. What a heart to feed others beyond her kitchen table.

Yep, bought a bracelet and had to go back day 2 and order another. Thing is, she remembered me and said she had thought about me as she closed out her previous night.  Surprised I said, “What were you thinking about?” Her response summed up exactly my experience teaching fitness classes.

“I was thinking about each of us and how we are now connected. ”

 

 

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Jody, time for dinner!

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1974 Spokane Expo–taken with a Brownie camera

 

When I was little, my mom used to open the living room window of our split level house and yell for us to come home.  With few fences on ‘The Loop’ my boundary was set by how far my mom’s voice carried through our neighborhood. Her voice can still be prominent in my head:  ‘I love you’, ‘lock your car doors’,  ‘you are smart’,  ‘don’t get your hopes up’, ‘a job not done well is a job not done’.  I could write an essay on just these last two sentences she spoke many times. Not giving myself room to fail has really stopped me to just.get.started.

Over the years, many influences have been added to my thoughts.  My father-in-law left behind a legacy of empowering words both written and spoken.  You can read more about that here. Some of his directives included these: ‘you can do anything you set your mind to’, ‘knock and the door will be answered’, ‘integrity matters’.

Sometimes when I didn’t hear the dinner call, another neighborhood kid would ride by me on their bike: ‘your mom is yelling for you to come home!’ Oops, apparently I had wandered out of bounds. I might still do that…

A recent situation reminded me that sometimes you have to move past your internal boundaries.  Getting advice from a single person too close to the situation can lead to a discussion slanted by their personal, emotional experience. Stepping beyond a myopic opinion to include other counselors can help you make a more informed, less emotional decision and discover a better path.

Who are the voices leading you?  The story in your head directs your moves; make sure you have many trusted people who encourage you to move forward and live your best life.

 

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Was that a bear in my neighborhood?

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My neighbor woke up at 2 am a few days ago to a crashing sound.  In the morning an inspection of their yard showed broken fence rails.  A sighting confirmed a full grown black bear was wandering along fence lines presumably looking for a late night snack. I think it had come out of hibernation only find the surrounding woods had been turned into houses, streets and sidewalks. There is a lot of new construction in our area.

Like the bear looking for a meal, I found this harder than I thought it would be. To write this blog. I haven’t gone quiet on purpose.  It just sort of happened. I wrote several draft posts that I never finished.  I was struggling with the crack that occurred in our nation with the 2016 Presidential election and the widening divide with the Presidential inauguration. I live in a liberal area of the US and political unhappiness poured into my life.

And then, the rain. Well, that poured into my life as well.  We had so much rain this last winter in the Pacific Northwest that I started asking if anyone had spotted Noah loading his boat.  We got a year’s worth of rain in 5.5 months.  I think I kind of went into a writing hibernation. It was easier to say nothing in this space than to write a post that might be ill received by my few (try few) readers. I took a lot of naps.

What I have wanted to say is this: “Show some tolerance people,the same tolerance you are preaching,  for those who vote differently than you.  Respect an individual’s personal choice.”  Only every time I wrote it, everything came out loud and harsh and might have included all caps and several exclamation points. From my view, the liberal stance is ‘you are welcome to your own opinion IF it matches mine’.  The idea of spreading love, acceptance seems only to embrace like minded.   The venomous labels being pasted on non-Hilary voters are, well,  surprising.   I had to look up the definition of misogyny. I had to learn how to pronounce it.  I also had to look up the spelling…guess I missed that topic in my college courses.

You know, when that bear woke up and discovered his world had changed he had to adapt.

And then the sun, the glorious sun came out.  My garden started blooming, gray skies turned to blue for a few days. I felt like I was coming out of hibernation.  And I felt like it was time to say my piece and move on.

Yes, President Trump is the head guy for 4 years. No, you don’t have to like it. Even if you don’t respect the man, please respect the office. (Talking to you Kathy Griffith.)

We make America great by living our best lives, today.