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What I Kept | May 2023

Kari

I started writing this post unintentionally a year ago this month. The origin of this post is rooted in grief. Grief that I didn’t anticipate. Grief that I’ve had shame over having. This past year, I have grieved in ways I could not have imagined and it has changed me for the better.

Thank you for taking the time to interact with these posts. I wasn’t sure I’d keep doing it after last summer, but it’s become something I look forward to each month.

Here is what I was able to capture on my phone throughout the month of May.

Should I be?
@katiekreen

A cardinal couple’s sunset lofi picnic. #fyp #birdwatching #lofi

♬ A Day in My Life – Soft boy
@thebiancac

The Vase – Jeffrey McDaniel For Mommy day ✨ Ft. Grandma because i have no videos of mother dear ☀️ #poetry #mothersday #poetrytok #vo

♬ Little Things – Adrian Berenguer
On Mother’s Day weekend, my mom and I discovered this in a gift shop. This is how my grandmother used to answer the phone.
@yetitheabominable

Just a Yeti gorl in her Yeti world 🌎 also, I’ll be taking no comentary on the state of my bathtub at this time. Thank you. #yetitok #yetiworld #catsoftiktok #funnycats #cattok

♬ original sound – Yeti
If you haven’t discovered portrait mode on your iPhone yet, you should.
Years ago, my friend Kari made this for me. While cleaning out my car, I found it.
The soul garden is sprouting 🖤
I love you, Grandkittyyy
From this book
Watching the sunset from Anna’s old room.
@thedailyvictorian

Replying to @kassposty things I don’t say to strangers I used to know

♬ original sound – thedailyvictorian

We went to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder specifically for their potpie pizza for our anniversary. It was really good.
We love a restaurant with a past. If you know me, you know which part of this made me giggle.
We also got these on the way home. Later that night, they gave us both an existential panic attack.
Tell me they don’t have the same smile. Am I still high?
From this poem
I love this photo of me in my hammock, with the twinkling lights of my yard reflecting in my glasses.
On our anniversary night, the sky looked like this.

Those carts are filled with flowers that will end up in the garbage at my local Meijer. My husband and I asked if we could give these flowers away. I had planned to spend the entire morning giving flowers and plants to everyone. Some are dying, but most are not.

According to the man who worked there, the only options were to sell them for 50% off or throw them away. I feel like I should’ve talked to management or done more, but I didn’t want to get the employee in any trouble, so I told him I understood and left.

I said I wouldn’t shop at Meijer again, and I probably won’t. Meijer has never been my favorite store for a variety of reasons, but this is a bad look. Then it made me reconsider all of the stores I visit and wonder what they’re throwing away in private.

I don’t want to end on a negative note, so enjoy this:

@nealfoard

#fyp #storytime #love #japan #goodvibes #touching

♬ original sound – Neal Foard

Thank you for taking the time to read my words (and others). It is a privilege to share them with you. ❤️

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36 thoughts on “What I Kept | May 2023”

  2. The Sesame street vampire tweet made me chuckle out loud (COL should be a thing, right?), and all your hammock pics have now put “get out the hammock” high on my list of things to do today.

    I think grieving is a life-long project, and when you get far enough into it, it helps you love (life, and living things) more deeply. Naomi Shihab Nye expresses a similar idea/feeling, I think, in her poem “Kindness.” (https://poets.org/poem/kindness) I see you doing that in these posts. I’m guessing the people who make policy at Meijer simply haven’t lost enough yet.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. COL should be a thing. I rarely “laugh out loud” when I see something on the internet, but when I do, I try to share it.

      I’ve read that poem several times. Thank you for seeing me in these posts. It took me a year to properly grieve. For example, I don’t remember parts of last summer. I could write about so much, but some of this isn’t my story to tell. It’s complicated. Anyway, I let go of a lot of things this year, and I feel like I learned a lot more about myself as a result. But I understand that grief does not go away completely, and I am okay with that.

      “I’m guessing the people who make policy simply haven’t lost enough yet.” OOF. Yes.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I suspect that if we tried to make COL a thing it would have as much sticking power as “fetch.” :-)

        I do see you, always. Often like looking in a mirror. Yeah, grief does not go away completely.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. The literary vampire quote made me snort. HE DOESN’T COUNT. LOLOLOL. I’m going to be thinking about this for days.

    There’s a meme that’s a beat up looking orange construction cone and it says something like the Hogwarts sorting hat has had some hard times and this meme lives rent free in my brain and pops out whenever I see road construction. I think the Count meme will be in that same special part of my brain.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Kari, I giggled at the “Tired of Shaving Your Vulva” because we just recently got a line of products in my store that assists that “area” as well. They are hygiene products called, “Luna Daily”.

    That peace sign photo of you and your friend is PRICELESS! And I love that it’s in black and white!

    Those rainbow prism lights you capture are just gorgeous.

    And OMG, the photo of the mannequin head is a STELLAR capture!!!! That’s what I call a GREAT “head” shot! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I bet that CD is awesome! Love Duran Duran!

    The pictures of your dog (and Grandkitty) are so dang cute!

    And that’s ashame about the flowers. What a waste. We don’t have a Meijer here in Philly, but if we did, I too wouldn’t shop there again.

    Once again, I so enjoyed your What I Kept post, my friend! Hope you’re having a fantabulous week! X

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That thing was in my Instagram feed, and I was thinking, “Do I really need to be doing this??” 🤣

      That picture was from our senior yearbook.

      Aren’t those rainbows amazing? They are at their peak in the spring and summer.

      That sounds like a joke that my dad would tell!

      That CD is amazing. My friend Kari and I share a mutual love of Duran Duran. 🖤

      Aww, Ron, I love your collective rage against Meijer. Thank you, my friend.

      I hope you’re having an wonderful week, as well. I’m so grateful for you. 😘

      Like

  7. There is so much to like – nay love – in this post. But I had the strongest emotional reaction to the final item as it was so beautifully moving. I’ve lost many family members to dementia, most recently my father. The thing I remember most painfully about it was the transition – the fear he felt as his cognition was going – so it was joyful to see the laughter and the pleasure in the staff and customers who enjoyed being with one another at the restaurant of wrong orders. Thank you so much <3

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I love how the female cardinal is chill, just eating her seed, while the male is on guard, turning his head this way and that, looking out for her. I also love you flashing the peace sign with your friend from childhood. But I don’t know WTF is up with that mannequin head . . . LOL!

    The Meijer flowers made me mad. Remember that story I told you about O’Neil’s/May Company making us throw away merch that was only slightly defective? These company-wide policies are stupid. It costs them NOTHING to show goodwill. Instead, they ask their customers to donate to causes once a year and then proudly claim they ‘raised X amount of dollars’ for a charity. Please.

    How incredible is that Japan story? My son and his wife are in Japan right now, on a two week trip. Their photos have been marvelous and they are SO IMPRESSED with the people. I might have to do a post on their trip. I can’t wait till they come home so I can hear about it all.

    That Duran Duran CD? You are my person.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Cardinals are my favorite birds. We have male and female cardinals who come to our feeders on a regular basis, and they make me so happy.

      My youngest daughter is the owner of the mannequin head. She styles wigs for cosplay and it fell off the stand, so my husband had been working on it to fix it for her. 🤣

      I DO REMEMBER! GRR. It also reminded me of how much food we threw out at McDonald’s when I worked there in high school. Now that I think about it, it was disgusting. How many people could have been fed from that food?

      Japan is on my bucket list. My father had the opportunity to visit there while working for Komatsu (he is now retired), and he thoroughly enjoyed everything about their country. I sincerely hope you decide to write a post about it.

      I love that I am your person. ❤️

      Like

  9. I love that hammock photo – you look so incredibly happy! And I also love the photo of teen Kari.
    I love these posts – especially the “you’re only as cool as you treat people.” Excellent motto.
    That book MUST be a Mark Nepo book – but which is it? I’m reading The Book of Awakening on your excellent recommendation.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I love that picture too, Nicole. 💕

      It’s another book called The Endless Practice. I’ve read a few of his books, and they’re all excellent. But my all-time favorite is the one you’re reading right now. I still read that every day. It’s the perfect book.

      Like

  10. Awesome post! My favorite photos are the ones of your home – inside and out. I love how you have incorporated candles and twinkle lights and sparkle lights (can’t think of the proper term!). And, of course, your pups.

    So cool that you found the CD your friend made for you. Priceless. Not quite the same these days by saying, “Hey, I made you a playlist”, is it?

    Amazing that your soul garden is sprouting already. I keep looking for signs of zinnia sprouts that I scattered in lots of places in my back yard and I don’t see anything!! Is it because we haven’t had any rain? Wonder if it’s too late to scatter more?

    That poem, In the Company of Women, stopped me in my scroll. Had to take a screenshot of that one. And the page you posted from Mark Nepo’s book…the part that stood out to me was where he said, “The only true way to protect ourselves is to be so present that our elemental being comes forth to meet the world. This is how elements heal the world. Light incubate. Water irrigates. Wind lifts. The ground sprouts.”

    Pizza pot pie?! How did I not know about this? Wow. Too funny about the cookies, though not funny about the panic attacks. I don’t have any reaction to THC through vaping, gummies, or salve (I know, what the hell, right?) but one time I had a few bites of a cookie and at first it did nothing. So Tim told me to have a little more and it left me panicky and like my world was spinning out of control. Hated it! Tim explained to me that it’s because with baked goods, you never know how much THC you’re going to get in each bite. It’s not evenly distributed.

    That photo of Mike and Buddy is hilarious. It’s not just the THC. ;-)

    That photo and story about Meijer made me furious. Shame on them. I wonder if you can post somewhere online ~ some kind of public forum where you report companies – about this? Or tag them on social media?

    xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You are 100% right about burning a CD versus making a playlist. ❤️

      Some of my zinnia seed pots have fewer sprouts than others, and I was a little disappointed. It could be due to the drought we’re experiencing. So keep watering, and hopefully they will sprout at some point. I’ve heard that seeds aren’t always reliable and that what I had last year was just luck. But I’m hoping that all of our zinnia seeds will bloom despite the drought!

      Mark Zepo’s books have never disappointed me. He is an amazing author and poet. Everything he writes is beautiful.

      The worst are edibles. And they stay in my system for SO LONG. For two days, I felt hazy. I’ve had hallucinations every time I’ve tried THC since starting an antidepressant, which isn’t fun. I know I should probably talk to a budtender at the dispensary, but I’ve never loved getting high. This was the first time I tried anything since August of last year, so I’m good for another year. 🤣

      I love that photo of them!

      If you want, you can use that picture. I’m not public on Instagram, I don’t have Facebook, and I no longer use Twitter.

      Xoxo

      Liked by 1 person

  11. There’s so much here. The matching dog/husband smiles are so funny. The look on that cat’s face in the bathtub is hysterical. Your abode always looks different – different angles or light or something. I also really liked the bird watching sketch thing. I want to eat at the memory loss restaurant. What an amazing concept. So long as someone could assure me that what I was eating was GF.

    Like

    1. I love how you think our house is always different. I used to rearrange our house all the time when I was younger and had more energy, but now I realize it had nothing to do with energy. But I think it is because our home is flooded with natural light and rainbows. It changes appearance depending on the season, which is magical.

      Like

  13. The Count! Of course, he COUNTS.
    The vase. OMG. I watched it three times, cried more than that, and then shared it on FB for my daughters. That is the most beautiful thing ever.

    I’m always thrilled for my friends!!

    Mike and Buddy share some DNA. I know it.

    Liked by 1 person

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