#365Gratitude Day 98: Jam isn't sticky

Yesterday on my way to work, I got caught in a whopper of a traffic jam.  

Even the express lanes on the beltway, were, for a while, at a standstill.  It was awful.

But it didn't last.  Eventually, I got out of it.  I got to work at a reasonable hour.  

Later that day, I had this enormous technical issue, that could have made me lose about three weeks worth of work if I wasn't careful.

I got through it.  Just like that traffic jam earlier in the day, it was temporary.  I fixed my issues, committed my code, and all was right with the world.

These two things have more in common than it might appear at first.  Misfortune doesn't last.  

Because nothing lasts.  Strawberry jam is sticky, but traffic jam isn't, and neither is a logical jam.  Whenever I find myself caught in misfortune, it's hard to remember this lesson.  

But it's still true.

#365Gratitude Day 97: Suggestion Roulette

Since Frolicon, Spacey, Marie Furie and I have been in a group-texting marathon.  We sort of stumbled into a funny game we play which I call "suggestion roulette".  The iOS keyboard has a suggestion bar above it, which helpfully offers you whole words to complete your sentence.

It's kind of an idiot.  It's offered up gems like "No more I want you in my room", and "Not sure if you don't have a good idea of what I want you to be."

But the absolute winner of suggestion roulette the other night was this gem:

Panties on my phone and I love you.  

We all collectively lost our minds at that one.

#365Gratitude Day 96: What comes next

I have no idea.

Okay, that's not completely true.  In a few minutes, I'll put on some underpants, eat some breakfast, and go to work.  But speaking in the larger sense, I really have no earthly idea.  I've got a lot of irons in the fire.  I'm trying to get back in shape, working on a third novel, have some other life plans up in the air which are pretty big deals, just started a new job, too.

Every so often I hit some snags, and setbacks.  But then I'll rally, and move ahead.  Recently, I re-watched a movie I absolutely adore, Meet The Robinsons.

The movie is, in large part, about moving forward through adversity, even when you're unsure what to do.  One of the characters in the film, Cornelius Robinson has the motto, "Keep moving forward."  I like it.  It's got a very Taoist flavor to it.

There's a scene in the film where the villain, The Bowler Hat Guy has every part of his evil plan solidly trumped and just has no idea how to go on.

When this happens, he's utterly hopeless, completely defeated.  (Sorry, spoiler.)  

But that's just a perspective.  Lately I've come to see that there's great power and freedom in not quite knowing how the story ends.  I like not knowing what comes next.

#365Gratitude Day 95: Moments of connection

I've been friends with PowerFlower for a while now.  We're moved by many of the same things.  Since we knew we'd be at Frolicon this year, we'd invested a lot of energy and thought into our mutual loves of spanking, diapering, and discipline.  

On Sunday, after intentionally really not thinking about it all con, as Flower, her mommy, and I spent the dwindling last hours of the con together, that thing we had been contemplating happened.

First, I gave Flower a spanking she so desperately needed.  I spanked her bottom, her thighs, insider her thighs, too.  When she was just the right shade of pink, I turned her over, and got her into her easter diaper.

And then I comforted her and told her what a good girl she was.

We both cried a little.  Come to think of it, Flower's mommy cried a little, too.  No wonder.  It was a special moment. 

#365Gratitude Day 94: I was at Frolicon and I knew it...

So on Saturday the con really got going in earnest for me.  I was excited to see what it would really be like, and I had no expectations whatsoever.  Yes, I wanted to spend quality time with Brother and Mae (✓), with PowerFlower and Miss PowerFlower's Mommy (✓), with Psyche and Gwydeon (✓), and with my friend Marie Furie (✓), but beyond that, I was open to whatever might happen.

I wound up going to a lovely story time, and a really fun sing-along, too.  And I helped make it funny, and dirty.

Listen for yourself.

What a great time I had.