Ordinary Today…

Hello. Hello, Cadre, and good morning. It's still morning on the East Coast. I'm Eastern Standard Time. I'm coming to you live and perhaps on replay now for you from Erie, Pennsylvania, hopping a skip away from the harborfront. My name is Kathy Joy. My Cadre handle is Speak Wonder. Because I love poetry. I write haiku and other poetry. And my template is harbors and maritime and all things nautical. I love the idea that we are harbor pilots in the waters of life, assisting each other through troubled waters, sitting quietly together during the calm.

Hello, and how are you? So good to see you. Good morning, Brianna. Brianna loves poetry, too. Healing with Dr. Green. Good morning, Dr. Green. Good morning, Rick. I'm so glad you've joined. I'm going to start the conversation right away. If you would please participate with me as we consider embracing and savoring the ordinary. If you could type in the chat for me. What are you looking forward to? What is on your horizon, so to speak? It might be a goal. Maybe you're working toward a degree of some sort or the publishing of a book.

It might be a birthday coming up, some sort of milestone. Perhaps you've planned a vacation. What is on your calendar or on your horizon or in your near or far future that you're looking forward to? If you would type that in the chat, I'd be honored and pleased because it will play into our discussion today. So, yes. Hi, Nikki. Good morning. Sometimes we're so fixated on the horizon that we miss what's right in front of us. Nikki says I'm looking forward to a weekend with friends. Awesome. Oh, Ms.

Shannon is here. Hello, Ms. Shannon. You're such a good onion. Making progress with the book. That's great, Rick. I'm glad to hear it. Keep pushing that pen, keep driving that mouse and keep tapping into that imagination. Great. What else do we have in the way of what is on your horizon? What is the little or big or medium sized thing that's on your calendar that you're sailing toward? Oops. Whoa. I get excited about nautical terms. I think my boat painting is moving. I was trying to do this. What is it that you see on your horizon that gives you a quiver of excitement, anticipation and just pure delight?

Because it's coming and it's something you're looking forward to, Brianna. Looking forward to relaxing and finishing a book. I've been putting off. I have so many books that I have not finished. I imagine, Brianna, you're talking about finishing reading a book. Perhaps you're talking about finishing writing a book. Either one is delightful, isn't it? That's what I love about summer. I have two chairs that I have on my patio and they're rockers. And I situate the one underneath a shady tree. And I love to read.

That is my favorite summer afternoon. Ms. Shannon. I'm looking forward to the start of the school year. Yes. What else? What is on your horizon? What milestone? What goal? What degree? What accomplishment? Whose birthday? Is there a vacation looming? Something that you are just thrilled to be looking forward to? Type that in the chat, please. Andy Mack says, reaching a deadline today. Go. You all right? Yeah. I don't want to miss anybody's input. It's so good to have you on today. Happy Thursday caregiver day, and welcome to the August community of Cadre, which is focusing on embracing or savoring the ordinary.

So we're talking about what's on your horizon. What are you looking forward to? And I wanted to read a bit of poetry. Imagine that. This is something I've had on my refrigerator with every move, every household, every state. We've lived in Colorado and Pennsylvania, so two different states. And I love this quote because it's so pithy and so meaningful. And it goes like this. Ordinary today, do not let me pass you by in search of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Yeah. So savoring the ordinary. I couldn't wait when I learned the theme for August to share this with you.

I decided to go on a search on Google to see who wrote this. And it turns out it's probably my all time favorite author, Anonymous. Anonymous wrote this. Sometimes it says Anonymous and sometimes it says author unknown. And then I found a longer version of it and I'm going to read that to you as well. Ordinary today, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me not pass you by in search of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut or raise my hands to the sky and want more than all the world to return to you.

Ordinary day. So much packed into those verses. And so what I have gleaned and what remains on my refrigerator is now tattered and yellow and stained with, you know, the remnants of magnets from days past. It. It says simply, ordinary today, do not let me pass you by in search of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Now, the rare, the perfect and the splendid, those are all lovely, but how about the ordinary? How about while we're longing for the horizon and the thing that's coming, that we look around and see what's right in front of us as well.

Here's a blog I wrote, and if you're interested, you can find me at Coffee with Kathy Cafe. Coffee with Kathy. That's Kathy with a K dot cafe. This one I pulled out from the year 2011, and it's titled Hidden Confetti. Sometimes you just need a bit of sparkly stuff to lift your spirits. For instance, there was this dreary spring day and I was running around town, completing all my errands. My mind was on autopilot as I ran hither and yawn, gathering necessary things for the family and that night's supper.

As I splashed into a watercolor world of puddles and raindrops, something caught my eye. Leaning down for a closer look, I was rewarded with a tiny metallic rocking horse. It was pink, gleaming and irresistible, a speck of color on a gray canvas. At that time, I had a volunteer radio show on wtmv, a studio operated out of a refurbished living room on East Main street in my hometown. I remember telling my listeners about the confetti piece, and I also remember comparing it to unseen treasures all around us, secrets shimmering just below the surface stuff of living.

It may take a little effort, but it's worth a closer look. Your confetti might surprise you. Might be very different from mine. It may be the warmth of hope. I should have printed this larger, you guys. It may be the warm company of a rich memory. Or maybe it's the trusting hand of a child in in yours. Your spark of hope. Your confetti may be a smile across a room, a smile of recognition, a promise in the Bible, a sea salt breeze. Perhaps it's a letter in the mail. Whatever it may be, take time today to notice and be aware of wonder.

Lean down, take a moment and linger in that discovery. Before too long, you'll be carrying around a generous shower of confetti, and you can sprinkle it on someone else who needs a lift. A rainy day, a radio studio, the smell of wet dog. That was the station manager's dog, a Great Dane, and he would rest his great solemn head on my knee while I did my broadcast. These memories are keen in my heart, punctuated with an odd bit of hidden confetti. Again, you can find me on my blog at CopywithKathy Cafe.

Scanning the horizon for what's ahead, being thrilled and delighted for its for its approach and its landing in your heart, on your calendar, in your family that is so cool, you guys. It's so wonderful to have something on the horizon, but let's not miss the splash of delight that's right in front of our nose. Let's not miss. Let's savor the ordinary a while embracing the delights that are to come. M. Dean Spark of hope is a promise in the Bible. God will never leave me or forsake me. Absolutely and positively true.

Bing showed me. It's National Lighthouse Day today, says Brianna. How fitting with your nautical theme. I might have to change my Facebook cover photo to a lighthouse. Yeah. National Lighthouse Day. Rick, It's National Lighthouse Day. I know that you enjoy maritime stuff as well. So that's my talk for today as we savor the ordinary. What's coming up? We have tips to engage young readers with Jovana. Jovana, I hope I'm doing your name justice. It'll be a first for me, I think. This is a new Cadre contributor and we have, of course, Shannon.

Ms. Shannon, comedy through the Chaos. Shannon Paul, I think the theme of your weekly Cadre presentation is embracing the ordinary. It is finding the hidden confetti. Just by virtue of your title, Comedy through the Chaos, laughing in the midst of the randomness and the unexpected, you're teaching us to be aware of wonder even when things are difficult. Especially when things are difficult. Ms. Shannon, I read your promo for today's Cadre that you'll be presenting at 3 o' clock Eastern. And you say when you stop fighting for the weird, when you stop fighting the weird, you might just find happiness hiding in it, hiding in there.

And in other words, embrace what's weird, embrace the random and kind of roll with it. I can't wait to see your Cadre because I think I know where you're going with this. When things happen that are unexpected, unplanned, and frankly, they kind of cause us to hit a speed bump in our vibe or our rhythm and we're like, great, now I have to pivot and figure this out. When in fact, it is a shiny piece of confetti right there at your feet that you can stick down, pick up, hold it to the light and say, this is delightful.

And it was right under my nose and I might have missed it. I appreciate you. Thank you, everybody who's been on this live. And I hope you'll come back for a replay or you'll somebody who's on replay later will enjoy this conversation and still put in the chat, even if you're not with me live in this moment. What you're looking forward to and what is on your horizon. So my friend, scan the horizon. Look forward to the hope that is there, to the promises that await you, to the calendar events, the family things, the achievements that you're working toward.

Such wonderful things to look forward to. And don't miss the splash of delight that's right in front of you ordinary today. Do not let me pass you by in search of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Lord knows we have some splendid moments in the midst and the messiness of caregiving, don't we? So let's apply that to the person or persons that we're giving care to and embrace the random, the odd and the little bits of confetti that present themselves right one ways especially need them. I'll see you next week in the harbor.

Stay in the Cadre folks. It's a place for wellness and health and encouragement and this month for embracing the ordinary blessings. All it.