Day 222: Understanding Death + Niece Friend

Today I learned…

…that very small children can understand death as a happy thing.

Today I am thankful for…

…the adorable conversation I had with my 2 year old niece about how Jenn Friedman is HER friend and not MINE. Hahahaha.

Day 199: Chance to Understand + Frozen Yogurt Friendship

Today I learned...
...that other people can understand hard-to-understand things if you give them a chance.

Today I am thankful for...
...dinner and frozen yogurt with a friend in the oppressive heat.

Day 193: Understanding + Chronic Pain

Today I learned...

...that the understanding of another person can start with a completely different person.

Today I am thankful for...

...a man named Ed who helped me help my husband with his chronic pain & fatigue saga.

Day 47: Addiction Empathy + Momma

Today I learned...
...having had an eating disorder makes me understand alcoholism really, really well. Of course, I've made the correlations before. If I struggled with an addictive sort of mental illness in the past, it makes sense that I would be empathetic towards people who struggle with alcoholism. But tonight, watching the new movie Flight (Denzel Washington) with Rick, I realized that I watched the whole movie with a hyper-empathetic social worker lense. And I totally connected to the place the main character comes from, not because I learned about it in books and graduate classes, but because I GET IT. Now, I'm not going to pretend that I know what it's like to be a person with alcoholism. I don't. Yet, I tend to be a lot more understanding regarding addictions than the typical world at large...because the pain that happens when something is so terribly out of your control is a feeling I once knew too well.


Today I am thankful for...
...seeing my mom at lunch. Since I work down the street, I popped over at lunch time to see my parents. I showed my mom some flash mobs from One Billion Rising. Her response: "I want to do it with you next year!"

Day 6: Asking + Chatting

Today I learned...
...that asking for someone to try to understand you is a really good starting question. Especially if the person says that he will try. Everything else can come later.

Today I am thankful for...
...time for phone calls with two very important (and faraway) friends.