Wonderful Weekend, Botanical Adventure, and Zen Luck Needed

6:20 am

This past weekend was wonderful. I’ll try to journal about it throughout the day because I feel it is important to document it. It is the sort of weekend I do not want to forget. I didn’t really have any expectations for the weekend. Yet, it was truly a blessed one.

For now, I need to shave my head and face. It’s time to get this day started. I just finished my opening prayers and daily refresh devotional time. I’ll journal about that after I get things going for the day…hehehe

9:40 am

I’ve debated internally as to whether I would continue the timestamp trend this week. I’ve decide, at least for today, I’ll continue. It will keep me writing. As I’ve expressed before, writing my thoughts gets them out of my head…hehehe It allows more room for new thoughts. New thoughts are mostly a good thing. They are only bad when they are negative or those that trigger bad emotions. That happened earlier this year when I was constantly writing. But that experience taught me that I need to capture my thoughts and hold them captive. You know, to control my thoughts instead of them controlling me!

My former boss, now contractor colleague, reached out to me this morning. He wanted to have a quick chat. I don’t yet know what he wants to talk about. Microsoft Teams, a poor excuse of a Slack alternative, crashed. So we weren’t able to connect and chat. He said we will try again later. I’m hopeful it is about whether or not I’ll be moving over to the new company later this year. Regardless of the answer, having an answer would be great. As I’ve talked about a few times, I just need answers. Regardless of yes, or no, having an answer keeps my thoughts in check. Sometimes the answer is not yet. That answer, although being an answer, isn’t as calming at yes or no. Not yet is more like still not having an answer that’s disguised as an answer…LOL That one teaches patience and perseverance; which as we know, leads to character; which leads to hope. Was I suppose to use the semicolon twice in a sentence? I don’t think that’s allowed. Since this is my journal, we’ll go with it. But I digress…hehehe

When my parents arrived Saturday, they were ready to have lunch. I was as well. Because I figured they’d be ready when arriving, I paced my food consumption in such a way that I’d be ready too. We were headed to Whiskey Joe’s but their parking lot was full. They have an overflow lot. But we saw that as a sign they were too busy. With it being around 2pm, that’s a bad sign. Restaurants aren’t typically busy at that time of day. This isn’t always the case here in my area. Anyway, that brought us to a place called Catches. It is a seaside themed place that I haven’t been to in 2 years. I checked them out once when I first moved here. I thought they were pretty good back then. I have no idea why I hadn’t gone back. Our experience Saturday was fantastic. The food, service, and price were really good. My parents were impressed; which isn’t really that easy to do…LOL I went with the yellow tail snapper. It was delicious!

After that, we went to their hotel for them to check in and unload their luggage. Then we proceeded to go to the movies. They wanted to see the new Planet of the Apes movie; as did I. It’s opening coincided with their trip. That’s why we did a movie on their vacation…hehehe It is the 4th installment of the current remake of the franchise. It was okay. Had it been a standalone movie, I would have liked it better, most likely. With it being the 4th, my expectations were a bit higher than I should have had them. That’s on me. They setup the franchise for another movie and storyline. So, for me, the movie feels like a segue into yet another Apes movie. That’s okay…good for them!

11:10 am

Why do people hate Mondays? Why do they love Fridays? I use to be the type who hated Monday and loved Friday. I would work for the weekend, so to speak…hehehe I believe I’ve written about this before, but I now see the blessing of each day. I don’t live for the weekend. I live for the today. One way I have learned to love Monday as much as Friday is by being grateful I have a job. Not everyone has one or has one they enjoy doing. So, I’m blessed because I have a job and I enjoy it. Weekends are still nice. But not because I don’t have to work. In fact, I use to work weekends and enjoyed doing so. These days, I love the weekends because I get to communicate with and/or see friends more. Most of the people I call friends also have their weekends off. So what I’m most grateful for, for the weekend, is experiencing more in my friendships. It doesn’t make the weekend more valuable. It simply means that is one of the many reasons I find value in those days. Each day I am given has value. I’ve learned to balance those values into making each day equally important. I sure wish I could find that balance in other aspects of my life…LOL

12:15 pm

My phone tripod arrived!!! Yay!!! I got one that I can also use with my digital (mirrorless) camera. It seems sturdy and easy to take about my adventures. There have been several times when I missed an opportunity for a video or photo because I didn’t have such a device. I recently saw one someone was using at Disney World. And then Chérie mentioned she uses one. I have no idea why I hadn’t thought to look into this sooner…LOL I also ordered a microphone system for my phone so I can better capture ambient sound. It comes with a dead cat windscreen so the breeze isn’t picked up. Both will help with my sit/walk with me a minute videos I share with friends. The tripod will help in other situations as well. These are simple additions to my life. But they make me happy. I’m happy because my art through videography and photography is an extension of who I am. Being who I am makes me happy =D I haven’t been allowed to be me most of my life. Now that I’m being me, I like me xD

2:00 pm

I’ve been text chatting with Tyrese today and we have created a Golden Girls saga through the day xD I love when happy little things like that happen. Unplanned and just what we needed for a good laugh. She’s doing a time consuming work task and I’m the comic relief…LOL She started it this morning and we’ve built upon it all day.

My grandmother’s ringtone is the Golden Girls theme song. It’s extra fun when random conversations bring to mind personal connection =D

4:00 pm

I made a quick trip to the grocery. I needed a few items. My parents will be here in about a hour and I didn’t want them to be inconvenienced this evening with my errand. So I took care of it after my 3 pm meeting…hehehe

As far as Mondays go, this one has been one of my average. Just business as usual. I still haven’t heard back from my former boss about what he wanted to talk about this morning. Must not be anything urgent…LOL That, and I’m certain he is quite busy.

Yesterday was an amazing day. By the end, my parents were telling me how much they enjoyed it. It makes my heart so happy that they had a great day. My mom was especially happy because she got to spend Mother’s Day with my sister. I won’t go into why that is important here. But it was something that mom made sure to talk about with me last night.

In the morning, I took my parents to my church. They like going to my church when they visit. I believe this is the third time they’ve gone since I’ve been down here. After that, we drove by my sister’s house so I could show them where she lived. We didn’t stop in, though. We then went to the restaurant where we were all going to meet up for Mother’s Day lunch. We got to meet my sister’s soon to be mother-in-law. She seems sweet. We ate at a place called Tarpon Turtle Grill in Tarpon Springs. I liked it okay. I had the rainbow trout. Our waiter is an aspiring comedian and he was fantastic. He was incredibly entertaining throughout our meal. It was like having dinner and a show…LOL

After lunch, my sister’s fiancé needed to go to work. My parents, sister, and myself decided to continue our time together by going to downtown Dunedin. We stopped in a few shoppes and finished our time there having ice cream. After that, we drove down the coast through Clearwater and into the south western part of St Petersburg. My parents and I hadn’t been to Fort DeSoto before and that seemed like a nice place to visit. My sister wanted me to see it as it appeared to her to be a great place to kayak and paddle board. The Fort DeSoto park is so beautiful! I can’t wait to go back with my digital camera. Plus I’d like to get out on the water. I’ll probably spend half a day there and have a nice picnic in the wooded area.

When we were done there, we headed back to my sister’s place. We ordered a pizza from a joint that my sister recommended and we ate it at her place. It was as great an evening as it was the entire day.

Today, I have been working. I got a text this morning that my parents went to visit the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens. That’s the gardens I went to for my shared experience with Chérie last month. I had told them all about that adventure. When we went to the movie Saturday, we drove near the gardens and I pointed it out. So today, they decided to check it out. I’m looking forward to hearing what they think!

I’m not sure what we’ll do tonight besides have dinner. Maybe we’ll play cards or something after dinner?..hehehe I work again tomorrow. But I think they’re planning to be with my sister part of the day. I’m sure I’ll see them again tomorrow night. Then I’m off Wednesday through Friday. So, I’ll be spending all day with them Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday is my sister’s wedding and Thursday is Disney. We’ll have breakfast on Friday before they begin their journey home.

5:45 pm

Mom and dad loved the botanical gardens. Sounds like they spent quite a bit of time there too! They told me about some folks they chatted with. They pulled up the replay of yesterday’s church service from their church and watched it while sitting in the gardens. I’m so glad they went. It makes my heart so happy ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Now, we are headed to Ford’s Garage for dinner =D

7:30 pm

Dinner was really good! I went with the Firestone shrimp and rice bowl this time. The fire part is an indication of heat level and not just a clever name based on the tire company xD Of course, it wasn’t all that hot to me…LOL

My dad went with the Jiffy burger. It, too, isn’t just a play on Jiffy Lube. It had peanut butter on it xD

Mom went with the pulled pork. I’m not sure if it had a fancy name or not…hehehe She didn’t say anything that sounded clever. Just pulled pork sandwich please…LOL

Once again, the food was excellent; as was the service. I love this location. Yes, it’s technically a chain restaurant. But this location just feels different =D

9:00 pm

Mom and dad just left xD Sounds like they had another fantastic day. They shared with me their photos and videos from the day. There was a memorial brick in the memorial garden that could possibly be a relative of ours! Dad grabbed a photo and plans to research out family tree to find a connection =D

That led us to reminisce about my Great Grandmother and some fond memories. Some of the stories we talked about hadn’t been discussed in more than 20 years. It was a fun journey down memory lane ❤️

Tomorrow, I’ll be taking them to Zen Kitchen & Bar for lunch xD That should be an adventure…hehehe They don’t normally eat that kind of food. Wish me luck…LOL