Small Joys

I was looking for some dust cloths the other day while helping out with an internal exhibition at the forklift factory. It's the 20th anniversary of one of our most popular lines of forklifts, so we were putting up an exhibition of designs from that first forklift. I got the delightful job of dusting a large neon sign that was going to be on the title wall of the exhibit. It's from the production office of that first forklift line, and I'm guessing it probably hadn't been dusted for fifteen years. It mostly lives in the warehouse, as a backdrop to the spot where the guys have a stage for practicing the guitars and the drums. We brought it out of retirement this week. And I like to dust.

I was looking in our hallway supply cabinet for some cloths, when I noticed a coffee mug sitting on top of the cabinet. That is not where coffee belongs, but it is where I can imagine someone resting a mug of coffee *temporarily* before entering the archives. No liquids allowed in the archives!

I can imagine the coffee drinker forgetting about the mug. And another person leaving it there because what if someone was sad that you'd taken their coffee mug to the kitchen. I can imagine this thought occurring to many people over many months, but mrsguy is a person whose curiosity gets the better of her.

I picked up the mug and was rewarded for my effort. There in the coffee mug was the most amazing-looking scum. If you moved the cup gently from side to side the scum moved as a whole. Freaky spores from the air or a mouth had bloomed into small turquoise circles and a brown one, which hadn't lived up to its potential, or maybe it had completed its journey earlier than the other two.

 

We will never know.

Friday Joy (Sunday Edition)

For 24 years my morning commute has taken me past a racetrack. Occasionally, peeking over the freeway, I could see the horses on the track, or catch a delicious whiff of horse while sitting in otherwise urban traffic and listening to NPR.

Recently the track shut down, which is ok because I like horses more than racing. I embraced the end of an era by looking at the auction of racetrack assets, and surprised myself by not needing anything from it. I have wondered if there was anything to replace the track's impact. What sensory interruption would waken me during my drive? Fate has provided me a new joy -- a communal kitchen has popped up along the freeway. Several times a week, on that same drive, I now smell crisping garlic, even with my car windows closed.

That is my Friday joy.

Friday Joy On Sunday

I am in a fb group where we share a Friday joy. There are some joys that I can't share there because I don't think that people would like my version of joy. So here are some of the week's joys:

-- A guy at work wanted to know whether the archives wanted his old arm cast that had some significant signatures and scrawling on it. I thought it was hilarious. Brought the idea to the team (we were in the middle of mediating a water issue that had happened over the weekend) and they were all super grossed out. It would be inappropriate to bring it into the archives because casts are filled with skin cells and those, in turn, draw insects. I know this, but would have figured out a display container that would have worked.

Anyhoo the responses from my colleagues were so specific to each of them that it filled me with joy, even as they rejected the possibility that this was a cool item. And then we shared gross out stories. My idea of a good time.

Did I ever tell the story of how I lost my eyebrow? I got smacked in the face with a baseball while we were playing "pickle" in the middle of the street. Two weeks later I was scratching my itchy eyebrow while watching The Brady Bunch and I lifted its crispy corner. Then I loosened the whole thing and it was a little blonde caterpillar in the palm of my hand. I ran to my sister's room and asked her to tell me it was going to be ok. She put some Vaseline on my bald face and promised / lied that it was going to grow back. I put the eyebrow in my special box of keepsakes and it would still be there if she didn't make me throw it away.

Other Friday joys? Our yellow ginger is blooming and it smells just like the the perfume at the ABC Store.

And I have recently noticed and have appreciated the phrase "And you as well". You wish someone a nice weekend, and in response they say "And you as well." I like this, and have noticed the young people using it around me. Perhaps I will incorporate it into my daily speech.

Developing.

Also, the big black cat would like you to know that I am a jerk. He has been wearing the cone for months now, as we battled his paw cancer, or whatever it was. His paw is healed now, and he was so dirty and unable to properly wash his parts, and he did a sit-and-spin in the cat box this morning. I already washed his bottom after that, so when mrguy and I came home from his and hers mani-pedis (for real!) I prepared a nice warm kitchen sink for him. He has not savaged his right paw, and I think we're going to give it a try without the cone. So far he's being a very good boy. Washing himself in a patch of sun and using his right paw as a paw, not a meal.

Joy. More Joy. Gotta Have It.

It's important to find the joy. In tough times, I have my question mark pendant to remind me not to catastrophize.

For today's happiness we have:

• The DNC convention, which was full of optimism
• Watching an indie film by a guy who I follow on fb. A film about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war. Clam accompanied.
• Mrguy's tumor marker numbers went down again!
• Mrguy South bought us tickets to see Souled American in Chicago in October
• The eye surgeon is very pleased with the reduction in mrguy's optic nerve swelling post-op
• Big boy cat's sniffles seem to be under control
• I bought a new painting that is beautiful
• In honor of my 24th anniversary at the forklift factory my coworker made my selfie into a Slack emoji for "Wooooo!" which became my celebratory cry for all of the accomplishments big and small that my teammates made during the pandemic and beyond.
• I got the lady room window open (it is perpetually stuck)
• Hearing mrguy say "It's straight up raining, yo!" and having it be true. Love some rain in August
• Precious nephew is coming over today and we are going to brainstorm clearing out my mom's storage unit
• Finding that I have two copies of my favorite Juan Guzman card. The one on the left was in my 2000 day at a glance. The one on the right was in my stash, and I put it in a new sleeve

Friday Joy

I now understand the small and big joys of those going through cancer challenges. It's probably a joy of this week that his doctor said he won the biomarker lottery by being a candidate for immuno, chemo and targeted therapies. 

Not a joy that the dr called Thursday night and talked us into going to the ER, an hour away, because he thought mrguy may have had a heart attack. 

Joy that the dr was wrong and my husband did not have a heart attack and that after testing we know that his heart is actually normal. 

Definitely a joy that we got his nausea under control this week, the day after he complemented me on my fine choice of barf bucket for the long ride to the hospital.

Not a joy that a can of water burst in my bag at the same time a 30-day supply of my anti-anxiety medicine spilled in same bag. Currently drying out the pills and the bag.

But an amazing joy this week was a gift basket put together by my teammates at work, who I have worked with for 10 to 21 years. Fun, silly, tasty, weird items, and items with meaning. Stuffed animals, candy and snacks from the Japanese supermarket. Vintage cat postcards, a book by Jack Paar and a guide to sustainable mending. Magazines about cats and Kate Middleton, and a selection of items from our snack cabinet in the archives (diet coke, Swedish Fish, Gardettos, Goldfish). 

I am overwhelmed by their love and support. Time for a diet coke. Mockingbirds are talking outside the window. Mrguy let me feed him breakfast. Today feels great.