jo burgess hannon

fit for today, fit for life

Are you a fair weather fan?

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sounders, hawks, dawgs win

It was a great weekend to be a Seattle sports fan.  All of our local teams brought home a win.  Honey and I have spent years (and a lot of our entertainment dollars) going to football games, soccer matches and the occasional baseball game.  One huge benefit living close to a major city; any weekend you can generally find professional sports, musicals, live music, plays, great new restaurants to try.

A few years ago, when the Seahawks became serious NFL contenders, the energy in the Seattle area was contagious.  Pop up vendors starting selling Seahawks gear at the gas stations. 12 man flags starting flying from office buildings, houses and cars.  Local businesses strung blue and green lights around their buildings. Though most of the talk was about the most recent win, some long time fans became disgruntled. They complained that you were merely a fair weather fan if you hadn’t cheered on the Hawks through the losing seasons.

I admit, sometimes I’m that fan. I like to see winners win. Some seasons it gets old watching your team lose game after game.  So this week I am celebrating the wins of the weekend and I am going to ride the Seattle sports high. Go Dawgs!  Go Hawks!  Go Sounders!

 

Timing is Everything

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outdoor wedding ceremony

I was at my daughter’s wedding, hugging old friends, saying hi to family, meeting guests of our new family. An introduction to a guest led to the usual wedding chitchat: “your daughter looks beautiful”, “ the weather is perfect”, “the pastor made the ceremony really enjoyable.” It is unanticipated bliss to hear so many positive comments in one day.

From there the conversation took a bewildering turn. Inspired by mention of the wedding pastor, my new friend took out his phone, proceeding to review notes from a recent church service. I starting feeling a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, only instead of falling, I was slowly finding myself in kick the can jail. We used to play kick the can on the Loop, my childhood neighborhood. It’s a fun game if you don’t have to sit in jail too long. Apparently, something in the wedding ceremony struck a cord of resemblance to his church sermon. And then the jail bars were around me. 10 minutes in, he was engrossed, barely looking up as he pressed on reading the notes out loud.

I tried hard to give him my full attention. The Y calls it ‘Listen First’ and I have had extensive training to hone my listening skills. (Side note: not perfect, still perfecting those skills.) I fidgeted, glancing around the room. I could see people leaving I hadn’t had a chance to talk to. Please someone come and kick the can.

It became obvious that unless I rescued myself, I would be a player in the game for at least another 15 minutes. Another time, another place I would have probably enjoyed the conversation. Timing is everything. Finally, gently, I placed my hand on his arm to get his attention. He was seemingly oblivious to the fact we were at a wedding reception and he had captured the mother of the bride. I explained I needed to excuse myself to say hello to the rest of our guests. I’m sure I apologized, even though no apology was necessary.

It’s funny what you remember from a milestone event.

Weeks later I am still hoping I did not come across as rude.

I am a storyteller. I like it when people listen to me telling a story. I will work to recognize the signs of someone feeling jailed, captured, unable to escape from my talking. I will work to check my timing.

10-4 Big Buddy. What’s your handle?

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CB_Base_Station

My dad’s trucker handle was Triple B. He had a CB (citizen band) radio in his semi-truck, his personal truck and a large base unit on the kitchen desk. Every morning he said hello to the truckers in the area who were running the same channel as him.  Advice on picking your handle was to make it personal and descriptive, relate it to something you enjoy, maybe a nickname you were already being called. This advice is oddly similar to tips I read as I was picking my blog name. My dad called my mom Half Pint, me Lil’Jo. I called my brother Scott Snot, though it never stuck as his CB handle.  I had not heard the term ‘handle’ in years; maybe since childhood.

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And then I went to The Bloom Workshop. Topics ranged from blogging, social media, photography (I have a lot to learn), styling a shoot, calligraphy and more. 1/3 of the women in attendance were ½ my age. As the session was ending we started exchanging contact info. There were no business cards, no pen and paper being used. I was asked, “What’s your handle Jo?” Wait, my handle? The trucker term from the 70’s?  Smokey and the Bandit, Burt Reynolds, 10-4 Big Buddy?

Everyone had their phones out finding each other’s handle on Instagram; not Facebook, not adding each other’s personal contact info in the phone address book, Instagram. We stood with phones eye level looking up each other’s handle.

I was out of my comfort zone most of the workshop, yet at the same time excited to be a part of this group learning new things. I met Melissa from the blog  The Inspired Room. I met Jennifer from I Heart Organizing. These are two women with huge presence on the web, with thousands if not millions of followers depending on the social media platform. There was all kinds of new lingo and old lingo used in a new way.

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I’m learning, exercising my brain. It feels good.

This is the Truck Driver’s Daughter, signing off.

Catch ya down the road.

 

 

 

Bandit, “I take my hat off for one thing, only one thing.”

burt reynolds as Bandit
Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit

How do you dish out advice?

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Jo & Corinne 1997
Jo & Corinne 1997

Honey and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary a few weeks after we watched our daughter start day one of her marriage. I got to thinking about my early-married days. As a newlywed I was green in the relationship department. I had little experience offering an encouraging word, voicing the good, fighting fair.

A few years into married life, I was sitting at the counter in my mom-in-law’s kitchen. It was just the two of us and I am sure we were sharing a snack of some sort. She always has some treat to offer. It was a casual conversation; I don’t really remember the details. Sometime during our chat she mentioned she never corrected Gary, my father-in-law, in front of other people. I didn’t think much of the comment at the time.

Jo & Corinne 2015 (thank you www.folk&lore.co)
Jo & Corinne 2015 (thank you www.folk&lore.co)

‘Don’t correct your husband in public.’ Though today I consider it the best marriage advice ever personally received, I am not sure when it actually dawned on me that she was trying to help me out. I’m still working on it. Honey might agree.

When given the opportunity to evaluate, critique or advise someone, how do you go about it? Do you look for the areas to praise? Do see only what you think they need to change? What are the first words that come out of your mouth? I hope I can use Corinne’s example and serve it with lots of sugar and spice.