17 July 2025 ~ 3 Good Things

Long story long

Yesterday on Instagram I asked the following question: When you have a day filled with frustrations, does that make it easier or harder to notice, name, and share 3 good things?

Does a frustrating day make you want to crawl under the covers and not talk until tomorrow? Or does a frustrating day put things in perspective? And what if it’s both? (Hell yeah it can be both!)

This morning, my friend Heller reminded me not to downplay my frustrations just because they’re (what I’m calling) first-world problems. Problems are problems, and diminishing our feelings does us no good - Heller is right.

Also, it’s helpful and important to keep things in perspective.

Ten years ago today I received a call from the camp director at my kids’ overnight camp saying everything is fine, but we’re going to take Lucy for x-rays just in case.

Everything was not, in fact, fine. It turns out twelve year old Lucy had an impressive spiral fracture of her tibia, which required being transported by ambulance 1.5 hours to the nearest city; Dave and me driving 7 hours to meet her there, arriving at 2am; Lucy being put to sleep in the operating room to set the leg; and then eight weeks in a cast from the top of her thigh to the tip of her toe. There was a wheelchair, there were crutches, there wild machinations. It was chaotic. It was scary. It was upsetting. It was an ordeal that lasted three months, or more.

And also, everything was fine. The camp was amazing, we have health insurance, and a friend who is an orthopedist who advised us, a cousin in the city who brought us food and a wheelchair, the resources to check ourselves into a hotel, a minivan to transport our daughter and her giant cast. She is resilient. Her body healed. She has no lasting effects from the experience. We are so lucky.

Were there a lot of tears? Yes. (Hers, and mine.) Was there fear? Yes. Was it hard? Yes. Did the hard part end? Yes, thank goodness, yes it did. Did we learn a lot about ourselves in the process? Yes, that too.

So even though it didn’t seem like it at the time, everything really was fine.

Such an important reminder.

Why am I telling you this (long) story today?

Because it was in the aftermath of this incident that I began the practice of noticing, naming, and sharing good things each day.

I was down. I was out. I knew there was goodness - I could see the goodness. I could see the traffic parting like the Red Sea as Dave and I drove up 95 on a Friday in the summertime. I could see the wheelchair my cousin produced out of thin air. I could see the good, but I didn’t feel it at the time. And I had a feeling there was another way.

It turns out there is.

This is why we practice.

Thursday:

1. Time for a quick swim this morning. As my friend Cat says, “the name of the game is staying in the game,” and my quick swim was me staying in the game.

2. Susan called to suggest we drive together to the book event. Time in the car with a dear friend is precious, and hearing from our friend Nina about her thoughtful and important work is a gift.

3. Parmesan cheese. That is all.

Now you? Tell me 3 good things?

Xo.

“These Things Take Time” ~ Emily Gaines Demsky, 2020