jo burgess hannon

fit for today, fit for life

MLK had a LOT of wisdom

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Today as I reflect on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. I realize he was so much more than ( I am paraphrasing) ” judge not by the color of my skin.”

While there are so many worldly MLK quotes, this really hit home for me today: ‘silence of our friends’. I am wondering if a friend silent is a friend. I hope I can be the friend who calls a friend just because. I hope I am the friend that acknowledges tough times. I hope I can be the friend to celebrate all the good a friend experiences even if I am not a participant.

Life is perspective

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I have no viewpoint beyond my own.

I was raised In a blue collar, working class house where both of my parents held long time jobs. There were a lot of racial slurs, what are now derogatory labeling of different ethic groups. In my childhood it was common, everyday language. I could roll four ‘nicknames’ off my tongue right now. It was somewhere in elementary school, early 1970’s, when I became friends with a Japanese girl, that I realized this might be disrespectful.

When we know better we can do better.

And, I really thought I was doing better. We worked hard to raise our daughter to be what I thought of as color blind. To not label a person by their skin or ethnicity. To instead describe the person. To see the human. Learn about the country the Taiwanese friend came from.

It still seems like a good way to raise a child: see the person, embrace who they are. Martin Lurther King said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Our perspective, viewpoint, can can change when we are open to input. Do you think Dr. King’s dream is still relevant today?

Grief and a little joy

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I had a trail walk with a good friend. Well, actually it was a phone conversation , as our trails here are wet and we are a little water logged. Don’t even get me started on the all the soggy as I discovered a bunch of wet cardboard next to the house heater in the garage. And how is it that expensive house repairs can be a little bit like mystery car repairs and you don’t even know what work REALLY needs to be done?

Anyway, a friend listened as I vented and processed out loud what I needed to do about a furnace working but leaking water. And the conversation became about friends and surgery and a story about a.long.time.ago.in.my.life.

Sadness hits at strange times. Sometimes its in the shower as the water pours over my head. Sometimes its late at night and the tears stream making my pillow wet. Sometimes driving in the car alone, sometimes watching something on TV. Today it was about a child I lost 24 years ago to an ectopic pregnancy, about losing both parents by the time I was 50 and maybe feeling a little sorry for myself that these experiences were taken from me before I ever got to experience the future I imagined.

Grief is a tricky thing; you never really know when or how it will hit. And then the joy of a life I am proud of, a life that is so imperfect yet each moment leads me today and trying to be better, do better, hits me.

Life brings joy after joy. And today it was about a girlfriend who answered the phone when I called and we talked about the mundane and the important all in the same conversation.

Life isn’t always good

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I have always loved the Life is Good slogan. The first exposure to the brand was a gift from my in-laws in the form of a cute visor. I even wrote about it when I first started blogging. Turns out the Plain Hardware store was ahead of its time with a whole section devoted to this happy logo.

Sometimes, life is hard, life is a struggle and it’s difficult to find the good. I’m wondering if, as a culture, we spend too much time with our game faces on. (mmmh. It might be more my generation’s habit as there does seem to be a lot of buzz around ‘self-care’ among the millennials.) So, maybe sometimes we need to confide in those around us our troubles.

A couple of months ago I was teaching a fitness class and had a sharp pain in the ball of my foot. There was about 20 minutes of the cardio section left, and other than my foot REALLY hurting, I was in a groove. So I kept going; you know, I ‘gutted it out’. By the time I got home I was limping, trying to keep the weight off it, knowing that I had better make a doctor appointment and grab one of the homemade ice bags out of the freezer.

Side Note: Be wary of becoming someone’s personal dumping ground for all their ongoing crap. The attitude of tell me more can backfire: being on the receiving end of a continual stream of all that is wrong in someone’s life can end up a mind numbing task you Just.Want.To.Run.From. It is not fun when you start making bets with your close family how long it will take for your friend to ask something, anything, about your life. The friendship where you never have a chance to say, ‘I broke a metatarsal in my foot and it really sucks’. I think this type of friendship is probably broken.

Anyway, I am sure a few of my close girlfriends and certainly my daughter and husband have heard my lows and probably I have chattered on and on to point they were gutting it out to get to the end. What I’m trying to say is if you keep it all inside, that’s not a good life.

It’s ok to sometimes admit life is not good.

Sidenote: Want to hear the feel good story of the owners of Life is Good? Check out this podcast: How I Build This Sept. 1 episode

P.S. and in case you need it, here’s how to make a homemade ice pack:

  • 1 quart or 1 gallon plastic freezer bags (depending on how large you want the cold pack)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup rubbing alcohol (70%)

Instructions:

  1. Fill the plastic freezer bag with 1 cup of rubbing alcohol and 2 cups of water.
  2. Try to get as much air out of the freezer bag before sealing it shut.
  3. Place the bag and its contents inside a second freezer bag to contain any leakage.
  4. Leave the bag in the freezer for at least an hour.
  5. When it’s ready, place a cloth or paper towel between the gel pack and bare skin to avoid burning the skin.