The Social Porcupine

Well. Folks. I've hit a quarter of a century. And it feels quite pleasant.  Seriously. I don't remember ever feeling this happy around my birthday since... I was twelve? That's the last happy birthday I remember at least 🤣 I didn't even cry this year. Ah. You know how great that feeling is, to not even want to cry?  💛💚💛💚 I went hiking (ahem sauntering) with some dear friends. I didn't tell them it was my birthday. For some reason it gave me a kick to just silently, alone enjoy this mile-marker.  After a beautiful day, we went to get some food. Because of some random joke, a friend asked, "Did you recently have a birthday? Or what." "Well. Technically today is." I had a car full of packages (Amazon orders mostly) that I hadn't had time to open all week. So my friends jokingly snatched them, then handed them back. "Happy birthday!"  Then we went dancing. I've never enjoyed dancing so very much. I was v

I run a small cleaning business. I love it. I take pride in my work and would believe that there is no one alive who can clean quite as well as I do, nor do it half as artistically (I feel there is great art in my methodology). I adore most of my clients, and the ones who I don't like all that much I still find fascinating story fodder.  And so, bad reviews wound my pride. Unhappy clients make me cry. And really mean clients . . . ah, but then it really isn't those specific clients that make me feel awful, but all the things going on in life besides, and somehow this outward thing is what allows me to break.  It's never the work that we truly hate or love, after all. It's everything else.  I'm not sure what was going on that day, but my spirit was already in a frazzled state. One moment I was laughing, confidently entertaining a bunch of people. The next moment I was looking for some small corner to hide away in for just a few moments, to breathe, to close m

I was blessed with a week in which I had nothing demanding my energy.  So I mostly slept. I fell asleep in the crowds of family and stranger a like. If there was a bench or a couch or a piece of ground, I laid down. And when I awoke, life said, "I have something for you." My family and I went to visit a family we'd never met before. I did my best to stay awake and visit for a little while. The children took us on a tour of their woods in the dark. I wore flip-flops and scratched my feet and legs. But grogginess kept me from feeling it all that much. A young boy said, "There's a deep ditch here. Let me help you." He offered a strong hand and I felt rejuvenated by his act of kindness. We saw fireflies. I laughed. And then I slept. The next day, as everyone was busy chatting, and I was once more too exhausted to stand, I fell to my knees amidst a bed of clover. "I've never found a four-leaf clover," I thought to myself. "But now I

 One of those days where I decided to just be wonky and record it. Posting here because too lazy to create in-depth content.