Writing Letters, My Current Zen

Hello, all my good friends.  I hope today is bringing you many things to be grateful for!

I have started a new zen practice in the past few weeks: writing letters to people.  I like to have a bedtime routine in the evenings.  I take my dogs out, and then I take some of my daily supplements with my sleepy time tea.  I'll go up to my bedroom and start reading a book.  I'll read for my about a half hour to 45 minutes and then it's lights out.  Generally speaking, I fall asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.  It works. 

As you may know, I like to be in a zen state as much as I can.  I try my hardest to not lets things stress me out or bother me.  But I am human, and sometimes the day gets the best of me.  Sometimes I just need to not think about things and just let them go.  Get away from all the negative things that may be happening out there.  

Earlier in the year, I noticed that my sister was sending some postcards to some friends, and it got me thinking.  Who doesn't like getting a letter from someone in the mail?  I remember when I was little I would be excited to check the mail.  Not that I was expecting anything, it was just fun to do.  As I got older, checking the mail wasn't nearly as exciting.  It's not as fun checking the mailbox when we start getting bills and all kinds of junkmail.  No offense, Columbia Gas.  

I also want to give people reasons to smile.  That's one of my missions in life, to give people reasons to be happy.  So, I started writing letters to my loved ones.  I even went out and bought some cards to mail out.  

I have added writing these letters to my bedtime routine.  So now when I head upstairs, I write a letter to someone.  Maybe not every night (stamps are expensive lol).  But at least every other night.  I get to take a moment and slow down when I'm writing.  It's relaxing.

I hope that those of you that have gotten a letter from me have smiled when you saw it in your mailbox.  I hope that when you were reading it that it brought you joy.  

I am going to try and continue this zen habit.  I hope this motivates you to start a zen habit, maybe even writing letters to your loved ones.

If you would like me to add you to my address book so that maybe I can write to you, please message me on Facebook.  If we aren't already Facebook friends, please comment on here with your email so that we can share our addresses.  I'm not wanting to share my home address directly not this blog, for security reasons.

Have a blessed day, my friends!

Swifties Since 2008

My niece Haivyn and I have been Swifts since way back in 2008.  She was just knee high to a grasshopper (not even 10), and I was older.  Fine, I was 30.  

The backstory, I had taken her to a Pittsburgh Pirates game earlier that year, and she did not enjoy it.  It wasn't her thing.  It's ok, I forgive her.  A couple of months later, Taylor Swift was the opening act for Rascal Flats at Star Lake Amphitheater outside of Pittsburgh.

I talked to my sister Rachael (her mom) and I got us tickets to the concert.  However, we told Haivyn that we were going to a Pirates game instead.  Let's just say that she didn't want to go to the game, and she had no problems letting us know that.  Verbally and nonverbally.  My sister lived in Blairsville at the time, and she drove to my town in the early afternoon.  We would then be driving to the concert from there.  This whole time, Haivyn is not happy.  

Keep in mind that Rachael also made sure that Haivyn was wearing her Taylor Swift shirt.  For hours, Haivyn had been letting us know how she felt about going to the game.  Including in the car as she is fuming in the backseat.  Now she's not even 10, so she doesn't know that we aren't driving in to the city of Pittsburgh.  Star Lake is nothing like PNC Park.  

We get parked and get out of the car.  We get the tickets out and have her look at the tickets.  Yes, at that time they actually had paper tickets that they would mail to you.  She sees Taylor Swift written on the tickets.  And you can literally see her wanting to jump for joy.  However, with the mood she had been in for half the day, she can't just immediately show excitement.  

She doesn't know what to do with herself.  She wants to shout for joy, but her body is telling her that she needs to continue being in a bad mood.  The battle within herself only lasted a few moments.  Her inner Swiftie won the battle.  By the time that we were walking to the ticket gate, she was showing her Swiftie heart.

The show was great.  I have no idea what I did with the memory card of the show.  I'm hoping that I find it one day.  That was the first and only time I have been to Star Lake Amphitheater.  Neither one of us have been to another Taylor Swift concert since.  But I have good news.  We got tickets to her Eras Tour for next year!  It's going to be a long wait, but it'll be worth it in the end.