I woke up in the 5 AM hour this morning. Quite normal, actually progress. I discovered I was out of half & half. A requirement for me – mostly my stomach. I went to the couch, and this wasn’t going to work. I can’t recall the last time I didn’t have a caffeine “fix” within 20 minutes of waking. I tried to listen to my body – it was not buying into this new phenomenon. We have a 24/7 “corner market” – Verte Marte (I’m really hoping JDT will blog on them as she has a wonderful story to tell). I recall getting half & half there the Sunday late afternoon we arrived. It was one of the two requirements to supplement our bringings – the other being ice. Threw on my gym shorts and sneakers and after 20 minutes more was enjoying my fix.
The above threw off my routine. Normally, I would use this “reason” to sink into the couch and “sink” into my day. NO! I was 100% prepared (at least other than mentally) to have my third straight day of my morning wandering. I was calling them walks. I like the wandering term better. And following my current strive to break tendencies, I headed left this time. You see, the first two were to the right. And while right was new for the first, it was now becoming a tendency with the third. Blah, blah, blah!
I really fought the urge to return to the couch. I pushed “out”. The conversation in my head (yes, at least two protagonists) debated and agreed I’d wander out for ten minutes, then wander back. Fighting the good fight (need for the familiar v. the desire for the new) along the way I found myself on the corner of Dauphine & Frenchman. Yes, that Frenchman of the famous music street in NOLA (We are located some 6 or 7 blocks away). I enjoy seeing construction in my wanderings. I think they mostly represent positive change for me – especially commercial construction. I’m drawn to it. At the corner of Dauphine & Frenchman is a remodel (everything here is a remodel – a special kind of progress). I stopped and read the signs on the front door and gazed inside. It’s going to be a new coffee shop. The signs told of what to do with deliveries, the employment opportunities, etc. It communicated to me a welcomingness. I noted a door open a bit further up the building. Me being me, I stuck my head inside and gave a hearty “morning y’all”. A young woman appeared with the most welcoming smile. I asked a few questions and I was back on my way.
Yesterday I made a short post with a simple title and image. When I look at the image, at best it raises in me a sadness about lost opportunity and at worst rage. THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE, YET IT IS WHAT WE HAVE BECOME!
Very shortly after the new business discovery I came upon the location where I took the above photo. RE-SET GLEN! And the thing I really love most about this? It is not “completely” welcoming. It is nuanced. It is complicated. AND it represents to me NOLA’s version of welcoming.
I would have 0% of these last few days experiences (borderline adventures) without JDT’s influence. Good? Bad? Yes to both, and fully emotive. JDT has written quite beautifully (she’s a liberal arts “person” while I am but a simple accountant after all) about our vast differences. While I work very hard at being direct or intentional, JDT’s personality is different. I struggle with simple leading by example. JDT excels. I fully believe my body listened to JDT before it spoke to me. So, are the differences good? Bad? Neither really for me. Magic. Yes! One only knows how much “stuff” the vast differences create. Yet, when I get out of my own head, magic occurs.
18 more glorious days!
PROGRESS!
Can We? Will We? 
❤️🤩
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