Windy Monday

It's super windy here, which I generally like, but  Ruth and Liam found it too windy even to fly kites.  When I went out to KK's little house to wake her this morning Liam's swing on the pecan tree was swinging as if giving a ghost baby a ride - both amusing and a little eerie.  This afternood I heard that thereare major fires south of Manor where Chris teaches and also north of town, making the highway is so smoky it was  hard to see.  Ruth saw seven fire trucks while out and about today and there are branches down all over and have been significant but not overwhelming power outages.I hope this wind doesn't lead to much destruction and death.
 

Bob and KK and I went to a school board meeting this cold windy evening to hold up signs and thank the board for putting a proposal for a designated dance facility with an appropriate safe for the knees floor at the arts high school into the next bond proposal. It was a new experience for me, my first school board meeting, and a chance to see KK very grown up with her dancer friends, figuring out ...where we should sit and holding up her 'thank you" sign enthusiastically. I was especially impressed with her managing all of this on a day whe her pain level was very high. I put her to bed after the meeting like a little girl and felt an overflowing tenderness for her. I also felt gratitude for having the opportunities - like going to the school board meeting - a second time around because she is in our life on a daily basis. I think the co housing, having her and Liam in the family, keeps me feeling younger than I would in a family without every day children.

 

Dorothy quote of the day is "The only response to feedback, whether one likes it or not is 'thank you'. No defensiveness in ths presence of criticism or complaints. No deflecting or minimizing praise. Just "Thank you." Later internally one can evaluate the feedback, run it by one's inner mirrors, decide what to act on and what isn't a match, but in the moment the only answer to feedback is "thank you". I have fond memories of Dorothy, at summer workshops playfully tossing a funny stuffed turkey (the turkey award) to anyone who argued with feedback, especially throwing away compliments.