What motivates me? Love, very simply.
The powerful force, that keeps me going is the abundance of love I have for animals, my own in particular. And then, it’s the love for a select few people, who truly have importance and meaning in my life. Lastly, I want to include the love for something, that is relevant to my everyday happiness, namely music. Without love in my heart I’m lost, there’s no interest and motivation to start something, or to keep it going.
RomCom Girl
Ten of my favorite movies include, but are certainly not limited to…
๐ Serendipity
๐ How to lose a guy in 10 days
๐ Must love dogs
๐ The proposal
๐ Sweet Home Alabama
๐ Pride & Prejudice
๐ The devil wears Prada
๐ My big fat greek wedding
๐ Anne Frank
๐ Not without my daughter
It appears that I’m quite the romcom girl. Truth is that I also like a lot of suspense/drama genre movies. But it’s interesting indeed, that the lovey-dovey, funny type movies popped into my head first. Thanks for stopping by, have a fantastic day!!
In Hot Water
“A woman is like a tea bag, you never know
how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
And don’t I know it, too!? More than once I found more strength within myself, than I ever thought possible. Have a lovely Sunday!!
Tell Me Why – Supermode
Remember this song from 1984? The remix sounds terrific. Anyway, I still like this song as much today as I did back then, in both versions. Have a good night and an enjoyable, relaxing Sunday!!
Silence Is Golden?
We all know the old adage, don’t we? Was silence golden in the situation I am going to write about below? Probably, because the friendship our neigbhor lady and I are beginning to form may have suffered severely otherwise. Well, decide for yourself…
As of late, we’ve been having some really toasty warm days, hot even.
The majority of people stay at home and try to keep hydrated and cool as best possible. And what did our neighbor lady do? She thought, that a bike ride through the woods would be just the ticket….wait for it…. She took her 15 year old dog along, who has health concerns, and had him running at full speed. Later on that evening, via text message, she complained to me, because her dog was so tired and had no energy left. Well gee whiz, why do you think that is?
It took every bit of home training I ever received as a child, not to hurl a few choice words at her.
What the fluff was she thinking? Oh, you know what? It’s nice and hot outside today, why don’t I go for a bike ride and have her running beside me at full speed? And when she flips me the birdie, because she’s exhausted and ready to collapse, I’ll look at her and say “But we’re in the woods, darlin’, it’s cooler here than in town, so what do you want”? Let’s see how much she likes that?! Gosh, I don’t know. Am I overreacting? I know, that sweet little guy is her dog, and it’s not my place to say anything. In hindsight, I think I should have regardless. She is a well-read, intelligent woman, that’s why this stupid action doesn’t fit into the picture at all. Otherwise she makes such a fuss over her dog, for example offering various food choices every day including cooked meals – because he is a picky eater. She buys all kinds of oils, pills, lotions and I don’t know what else to keep him healthy. And in stark contrast to this, that bike ride in the freaking heat. Luckily, her daughter’s kids are still on summer break, keeping their grandma busy and away from me. And while I begrudgingly adhere to the old adage in this instance, about silence being golden, I’m disappointed in her for doing this, and for being so unreasonable even days later.
“It’s Going To Be All Right”
Very irregularly there are a few seconds, when everything around me seems to come to a screeching halt. It is a moment of silence, that does not require a yoga mat and “om”, or hugging a tree. It happens on any given day, during random activities. Most often I experience these few seconds when I’m in a sad or worried state of mind, but not absolutely always. Anyway, I pause for that moment and usually close my eyes. In a matter of those few seconds I am actively aware that life will always have horrible, “normal” and fantastic days. Then, that well known and much loved whisper from way down deep reminds me, that “it’s going to be all right”. Pretty much every time I have these moments, I can’t help but smile, while a comforting feeling within spreads through my body. Just an instant later it’s back to the “regularly scheduled programming”, with the exception that I find myself in a better mood and with a more positive outlook towards the future. Those are my “moments of peace”.
More Important
Good golly, one more negative thing today and I am going to scream in frustration.
After months of back-and-forth drama with regard to my basement storage- and hobby room [no thanks to my brother, the jerk], I finally gathered all my courage today, to start creating handmade books again. Because it’s been quite a while, I pretty much have to start from scratch again and was afraid to begin for the past two weeks [due to possible failure and resulting discouragement]. But today was going to be the day, until….
Simultaneously, I wanted to sew a little pouch according to a video tutorial I saw on pinterest. Even though I should know better by now, I asked my mom to show me which fabric I can use to give this little project a try. It most definitely didn’t end with the selection of materials to work with. Oh no, she took over the entire project, she always does. And if I dare say something, she gets upset and accuses me of being ungrateful, for not accepting the offered help…. And of course she wants to force her ways on me, all the gosh darn time. I explained more than once, that I wanted to try what was being shown in the video. Every step of the way was commented on about how it should be done “correctly”. To cut to the chase, once this dang pouch was completed, I was upset and had no desire left to start crafting. I should not let this get to me, it’s my own fault. She means well, yeah I know….all of it. Truth, though? I hate being micromanaged. Don’t tell me what to do, honestly. Just let me try it. Let me fail by myself. Let me learn. Ugh! But, ungrateful bitch that I am… You know what’s funny? To this present day she [and pretty much everyone else who knows me] wonders, why I don’t believe in myself and my abilities. You know the sad part about it all? When I was in America I learned self confidence. Friends and co-workers believed in me, encouraged me. Everyday life, with all its ups and downs, taught me that I am capable of so much more than I would have thought possible. I was well on my way to being a lot more self confident, to try new things, test my abilities. Unfortunately since my move back to Germany I’ve been regressing to being my mother’s child, in desperate need [her opinion] of micromanagement.
Sometimes I can’t help but cry, when I think about how far and hard I fought my way forward, about everything I learned, with lots of tough love, but also without anyone by myside to take over. I was independent, managed every aspect of my life alone. Some choices were questionable, with the outcome not being in my favor. But hey, you live and you learn. That’s the way life goes.
Sometimes I just want to get in the car and leave. My heart just screams for a place, where nobody knows me, where I can live on my own terms, make decisions and mistakes, and just be myself. But it’s not going to happen, because just like all of you I was raised to be a good kid and do what’s right and expected of me. Once I calm down again I realize, that the remaining time with my mom is limited. So I call myself to order, and to be more forgiving and thankful for the time she sets aside to take an interest in what I do, or her willingness to teach me another way of doing things. It’s a damn pouch, for heaven’s sake, and not truly that important. Tomorrow is a new day, another opportunity to begin crafting again. I wrote about my frustration, the grumpy mood has been wrestled to the ground successfully, and now it’s all good again.
I Respectfully Decline
Each individual profession is important and deserves to be acknowledged and respected. I find it impossible and unfair to choose one. Soldiers are willing to give their lives to protect us. Fire fighters and police officers do the same. Medical professionals go to, and often beyond, their limits to care for us. How about the dedicated, empathic staff at hospitals and nursing homes? Not to mention all of the overwhelmed and overworked teachers, who give it their all every day?
I could keep going, like the energizer bunny….And therefore, I respectfully decline to highlight one single profession when there are so many, deserving of recognition, because we could not do without either one of them.
Social Circus
Okay. It is high time to win the lottery, to buy a private island and put D I S T A N C E between the other people and myself. The “art” of socially interacting seems to be a lost cause for me at this point, it’s hopeless. I’m damn near done trying, to put it bluntly. Misunderstandings are among my greatest struggles, when interacting with others. Yes, I know that autistic people [most, if not all of them to various degrees] run on a different operating system from that of the neurotypicals. Still I’m convinced, that communicating clearly appears to be a problem overall. It starts within the family. If they would just say what it is they truly mean or want, instead of hoping, that I get lucky and read between the lines correctly for once, our daily lives could be a bit easier. What’s this all leading up to? Another episode of me attempting social interaction, featuring yours truly: a misunderstanding. Because it kept me up most of the night, being disappointed in myself and frustrated, I’ll write about it now, hoping to get it out of my system…
It started with a WhatsApp message from our neighbor lady. She told me, that she would like to join us for our evening dog walks more often, beginning Sunday night. What she meant is, that some night after Sunday she wants to walk with us. What I understood is, that she wants to join us on Sunday night and other evenings going forward [yep, I’m guilty, and don’t I know it!?]. After exchanging some details with regard to the time and route, I thought that we’d meet up on Sunday night for our first walk together with the dogs. And yes, I was looking forward to it, because usually it is very enjoyable. There were no more messages after her final response, being “Okay got it. Thanks”. Sunday night, at the mentioned time, she was nowhere in sight, so I walked across the street towards her house. She was outside, watering the plants. And you guessed correctly, I was confused. She looked at me and said, almost accusatory “I’m not coming with you guys tonight, I just got home”. Oh, right! And I should know that, because…..? Am I her personal assistant? Do I run her daily schedule from sunrise to sundown, knowing where she is and what she’s up to? What the fluff!? Whatever. My mom told me to let it go, knowing full well, that wasn’t going to happen.
What peeves me so much is the fact, that most often I get blamed, because I’m the autistic person, who misunderstands everything, all of the time. They never consider the possibility of not having communicated their thoughts and intentions clearly enough. Just blame the “odd one”, who doesn’t grasp the concept anyway, and the whole annoying topic can be dismissed.
Once and for all, I very enthusiastically want to encourage all of you neurotypicals to get one fact through your thick skulls: being autistic does not equal being stupid!
It’s so damn easy and convenient for you, to blame the other [socially challenged] person. But self reflection never hurt anyone, especially when you know, that the person you are having a conversation with struggles with social cues and the ability to “read between the lines”. Internalize, please!
Clean Slate
Today’s Sunday Quote is exactly what I have written about a time or twenty-five by now, only worded much better…
“But there was a special kind of gift that came with embracing the chaos, even if I cursed most of the way. I’m convinced that, when everything is wiped blank, it’s life’s way of forcing you
to become acquainted with and aware of who you are now, who you can become.
What is the fulfillment of your soul?”
– Jennifer DeLucy
Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a lovely Sunday!!
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