MF Brain Cancer Fighting Ninja Warrior

This morning, I googled “Oprah’s Favorite Things 2015”, and the first hit was for a link to amazon.com.  I thought, that says a lot, huh? I’m not going to say anything more about that. (Kiddies:You draw your own conclusions and don’t send messages calling me a hater. Or do, if you feel compelled, but know that I'll just delete it, erasing negativity to my life)  I’ve just been thinking lately about how my list might look and how it would compare to a typical Oprah list. -

So, here it is: June’s Favorite Things – 2016. Unfortunately (for you, I guess?), I will not be hiring staff dressed like Elves or something to run around to your chairs and give you a duplicate like Oprah does. So, it’s okay if you don’t go bizerk after reading and start jumping around like a 14 year-old girl at a Justin Bieber concert.  But I thought it would be an interesting exercise for me and maybe inspire some of you to make your own lists.

June’s Favorite Things – 2016 Edition

• v  Getting to see my grandbaby, Autumn frequently because of all this amazing different technology - smart phones with FREE apps like Snapchat and Instagram. It is like Christmas morning when I get to wake up to see her beautiful face and stunning blue, blue eyes, doing something adorable and growing up “right before my eyes”.

She's not even a "baby" anymore, huh? Grandtoddler Autumn? Any mom will say, though, that they're always OUR babies! Right? Sorry, kids. It's true.

• v  The feel of Steven’s hand grasping mine as we take walks our two rescue dogs around the vineyard. This comes in several flavors, too:

Ø  Gloved hands or bare hands, winter coat or sweatshirt…with or without a scarf

Not that much color-coordinated, but I seriously doubt that the "What Not to Wear" cast is lurking around there...

• Ø  Hats! hats! hats! That have all been given to me by friends near and far. Some of them are handmade by them, and I imagine as I cover my blue haired-head, and think how lucky that I have so many people in my life that are so thoughtful and loving. And it’s amazing how just putting a hat on can make you feel so much warmer!
• Ø  And tangentially related: my short blue hair. I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. I just love having blue hair.

• Ø  Muck boots, hiking boots, or running shoes -  Depending on how long ago it rained.
• Ø  Watching the morning light rise above the hills behind us or moving quickly and watching the horizon to the west to try to race the sunset (to be watched in our backyard).
• Ø  Vines filled with grape clusters, barren vines, stunted vines after the pruning, and the latest look – buds beginning to sprout. REALLY Watching the cycle of something grow is magical.
• v  ½ hour per day devoted to meditating and virtually being transported to my most safe and lovely place, feeling so safe and strong, and refreshed when I’m done. Which bring me to...
• v  Naps. Some days are naps because I feel so yucky from my treatment, and I just want to shut it all out. That’s actually a good thing. But It’s even better when I just need a little rest, and I doze off during reading or a little watching of something on Netflix.
• v  Listening to the cacophony of birds in huge, tall trees around our house about sunset, and suddenly seeing a flock of them seemingly bolt out of the tree to find their next group perching spot.
• v  Surprising a jackrabbit on one of our walks, seemingly hopping fast as the speed of light, especially when Capi and/or Tess see it and start chasing it…as if they could ever catch it!  (Excuse me, I’m gonna Google how fast a dog can run and a jackrabbit hop. I’m guessing that there is a great difference, based my observation.) Okay, let’s start with making clear that our doggies are not greyhounds. One is a pretty lazy rescue mutt from Baja (which means that it’s a mix of pretty much everything) and the other is also a rescue dog. Her mom was rescued while pregnant, so we know Capi is ½ long-haired dachshund, but her dad must be some kind of terrier because she doesn’t have the squatty, short legs. And she loves to herd! Honestly, she’s clearly faster than Tess, but Sssssh! We don’t want to discourage poor Tesla! Anyway, answers.com says “Average speed for most dogs is probably around 25 miles per hour”. ….It says Jack rabbits run 40 mph. Now, I know this isn’t very scientifical* but I do know that’s pretty funny two watch my two dogs try to keep up, and it’s clear they’ll never reach it. Ahhhhh, optimism! Gotta love it!
• v  Watching movies. Usually, I prefer documentaries. I guess it’s the History Geek gene in me. I'm browsing through Netflix and found a series, American Genius from the National Geographic Channel. (Don't get me even started on the so-called "History Channel". I highly recommend this series, though! The first episode is about Jobs and Gates. Even if you've seen all the Steve Jobs films already (guilty as charged!), I think you'll still get something out of that episode, and more from some of the others. Speaking of that....
• v  Friends that don’t judge me for laughing at or enjoying ""inappropriate things". Better yet – friends that laugh with me.
• v  Camping – I have so many wonderful memories of camping with my “family of origin” (my mom, dad, and siblings) and my “nuclear family” (my husband, and children) I learned those distinctive phrases from my Cancer Counselor. Which I guess reminds me of another one of my favorite things:
• v  LEARNING SOMETHING NEW. It can be just a fact or a skill. It’s exciting to me that it’s boundless. The Brain Rocks! Come to find out, even with some brain cancer in it!
• v  Children. DUH! Especially teaching them something new. One of my favorite moments as a teacher has been is when a child first figures out how to read. When they figure out that all those squiggly lines on the paper MEANS something. And by reading you can be transported into another world or imagine what it would be like to be someone else. Which brings me to…
• v  The Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling is brilliant. In our household, a release of a new book in the series was quite an EVENT. We've even sorted ourselves into the house we believe we'd all belong. Apparently, they all think I'm a Hufflepuff.

• v  And obviously, having my Nuclear Family members together. My children are all so different from each other in many ways, but they’re all amazing people. And it’s great when I get to see members of my Family of Origin and (rarely) when we get to all be together. (See! Aren’t you happy you learned something new today? Being able to clearly distinguish what you’re talking about when you say “family”?) #yourewelcome

Well,  I should have given myself some limits like June’s top 25 Favorite Things or something because I just keep thinking of more and more…Maybe I’ll just pop one in any ole time like my gratuitous granddaughter pictures? Did you notice that I didn’t have to do that because I had the context again today. Score!

Okay, you've let me start. That was fun and uplifting! What about you? And you'd have to be dense to not see theme of my list and how different it is from Oprah's. [Do you need me to draw a Venn diagram? Didn't think so.  But hint: No elves required here.]

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*Yes, I know the word “scientifical” isn’t a word. But it should be.  

And P.S. I know that you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. I hope you do, too. Learn to use snopes.com and when something you read online makes you think, “Hmmm"The Dog Whisperer" was in legal trouble in court. And I thought he had died several years ago. Through a minimum of internet research, I found out that his death was a twitter hoax. Go figure. I'm just sayyyyyyin'.....

I just realized that I didn't really write anything in here about brain cancer. Interesting! Coincidence? or Something More? If you are feeling ripped off, I am working on my medical update page, so you can read some of that by clicking on the tab up above. ^^^^^