I really like cats. I had my first cat around the age of 8, and had others growing up. I would say they are my favorite animal. This isn’t to say I don’t like other animals: I do! But I am most comfortable and experienced with living with cats, more than any other animal.
Each has their own personality yet each exhibits the same cat-like behaviors: sleeping a ton, pouncing on toys, jumping up on things and purring! I love the sound of purring. It is so soothing. The photo below are of my two cats I have now: Zelda (left) and Linguini (right).
They provide me with loads of love and entertainment everyday!
One of my daughters asked me recently which cat was my favorite. I couldn’t come to a conclusion, as they have all been special to me in some way.
Although I would rather communicate with people in person, online communication fills a big space in my life. Today’s writing prompt asks about the ways we communicate online. I have used various methods of communication online.
The oldest way was email. I don’t use it as much now as in the past, but it’s still a part of my communication methods. The most frequent way I communicate online is through social media outlets. I belong to some Facebook groups and I’m very active on Twitter. I also use Instagram and very minimally Snapchat. The Facebook groups have been particularly useful, and I created one for our last high school reunion. They’ve also been a wonderful way to connect with others with similar interests. I also have a YouTube channel, but I haven’t done any videos for a long while. I do, however, watch others and will join broadcasts and comment and interact with them at times.
During the pandemic, video chat became a huge part of my life. Zoom made a household name for itself and I took advantage of that time at home to gather up several girlfriends from my hometown to communicate with each other weekly. It was so beautiful to catch up with them as some I hadn’t heard from in years. Most of them I’ve known since kindergarten and I appreciate those times a lot.
Writing online has also been a method of communication for me. I’ve always loved to write and so blogging became a way to express my thoughts years ago. I also had a couple of websites.
I appreciate all of these modes of communication for connecting people, spreading my voice and to learning from others.
When I was younger, we used to take a lot of road trips in the car. I loved going places. While I’ve been to many different countries in my life, I have fond memories of trips in the car in the U.S.
Perhaps my most memorable road trip was one where I drove west with my mom and two cousins who were visiting from the former Czechoslovakia. It was during the days when it was nearly impossible for most Czech visitors to come to the U.S. due to the country’s strict laws. While I had more cousins there, only the older ones could visit at that time. So our family gathered up funds to bring them here for a visit.
This road trip took us from Iowa to Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota. We visited the Rocky Mountain National Park, The Grand Tetons National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Mt. Rushmore Monument, The Badlands National Park, Deadwood and the Corn Palace.
It was tiring because I drove it all. But it was a beautiful time together and to see my relatives’ reactions to the beauty of our national park system. I appreciate that time and the opportunity to show them a bit of my country’s beauty.
Today’s writing prompt asks what I’d eat right now for a snack. Given that it’s early morning as I write this and haven’t yet made my breakfast, lots of breakfast foods come to mind! Those aren’t snacks, though. One of my favorite snacks are almonds. They are perfect for me any time of the day or night. I appreciate almonds!
Today’s writing prompt made me laugh. Rather than linger on it, I just spent about a minute and came up with this: Rubik Cube Solutions. I envision booths found in all airports where people often get delayed or have to sit around for hours for their next connection. In the booth, a video would teach you a way to solve it, after paying a fee for playing. Each player gets two chances only. The attempts would be timed and at the end of the day, a winner for the person solving it in the fastest time would be awarded a travel voucher. Participants would have to enter their emails and preferred frequent flyer airline. The times for each day would be from midnight to 11:59 and a winner would be chosen everyday.
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
As a young child, I was always inspired by music and Music class was my favorite class, starting from kindergarten. I can fondly remember playing those plastic recorders from a very young age. By fourth grade, I had a clarinet, and I begged my parents for a piano, and was gifted an old upright to learn from. It was my guitar that I got at 12 years old that was the most precious to me of all.
While I had lessons with the clarinet in school, I didn’t have any lessons on the guitar, so I am self-taught. I spent everyday of my younger years playing and singing with my guitar. It was almost like an emotional support animal to me: always comforting, always soothing, and always keeping me company. I can really relate to this John Denver song called “This Old Guitar.”
I wrote my first song when I was 12 and wrote several more over the years. I even gave some guitar lessons to people in my hometown when I was in high school.
While I added another guitar to my collection when I lived in Spain, that first guitar is so special to me. I still have it and right now, one of my daughters wants to learn from it. I hope she’ll get as much enjoyment with it as I did.
Today’s prompt asks about my mission in life. It wasn’t always clear to me for most of my life. Major life changes helped me to reach within and work on myself until it came to me that I am here to help spread tips on living a more joyful life. By using the tools and techniques I’ve learned through various teachers, my journey as Barbara, The Spirited Strider, began over 14 years ago.
It started with a Memory Walk for the Alzheimer’s Association and I called my team of walkers “Team Spirited Strides.” That quickly led to my first blog and so many connections with new people. It led to learning many techniques from classes and workshops, to creating my website and a small business in coaching. While I no longer have my main website, having lost it earlier this year, I am appreciative of everything I learned while building it.
We often don’t realize the effect our words and actions can have on other people. It was through a powerful moment of inspiration that I knew that I am here to serve in love, one person at a time. I’m reminded of a sermon I gave once as a Certified Lay Speaker and a couple of years later, I returned to that church and an elderly woman came up to me to tell me how much that sermon affected her in a positive way. We often don’t get that kind of feedback about ourselves, but when we do, it’s such a good feeling to know that we made a difference in someone’s life.
For me, it was an affirmation that I’m doing something that is of value to others. I know my mission for myself and for others. Life is meant to be filled with joy and I appreciate that I can contribute to it in my own small way.
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
Just living a very long life isn’t necessarily ideal, if the life isn’t full of beautiful moments, relationships, passion and love. I’ve already passed the age of my maternal grandmother when she died and I feel like I’m living a life of quality in most aspects. I’m living comfortably, have had a wonderful professional career and a beautiful family. I laugh frequently and I feel young. I personally would love to continue living a long life, as long as it’s healthy and full of loving and fun moments.
Today’s writing prompt asks us what we could do differently. Being a very adaptable person, I am fairly flexible when life throws me a curveball. It’s probably the day-to-day things that I might change up a bit. As I tend to get bored with routine, I don’t stay long in a daily routine. Whether it’s adding a walk to it, or reading a new book, or trying a new recipe, I find pleasure in mixing my day up with activities.
But when I think about approaching life differently, I don’t expect to do things differently, as I’m overall happy with my decisions in life. Focusing on what I could do differently brings up emotions of regrets to me, and I like to live a life with no regrets.
If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?
This is an interesting writing prompt today. A billboard doesn’t say much, so mine is short and sweet. It would be “Be Kind.” That’s my message for today!
Appreciation Magic 