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What brought you joy today?

Posted by northoftheborder @northoftheborder, Jun 28, 2024

If you've been living with cancer for a while, you know it's not all gloom and doom. Where did you find joy today? I'll start:

1. Working in my garden.
2. Meeting my daughter for tea.
3. Home-made pizza for dinner.
4. My spouse (always).
5. Some interesting online discussions.
6. Rereading a good novel.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Cancer Support Group.

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northoftheborder | @northoftheborder | Jul 8 5:35pm

What brought me joy today was installing the new flush-mounted medicine cabinet in the bathroom as a surprise for my spouse when she gets home tomorrow (it's been sitting in its box in the living room for a week).

I'm not a super handy guy, but disabled ≠ unable (take that, spinal compression!), and I even managed to drill new mounting holes in the aluminum sides. I just need to do a bit of plaster touch-up around the edges and put in the shelves.
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dailyeffort | @dailyeffort | Jul 8 9:50pm
In reply to @northoftheborder "What brought me joy today was installing the new flush-mounted medicine cabinet in the bathroom as..." + (show)
Profile picture for northoftheborder @northoftheborder

What brought me joy today was installing the new flush-mounted medicine cabinet in the bathroom as a surprise for my spouse when she gets home tomorrow (it's been sitting in its box in the living room for a week).

I'm not a super handy guy, but disabled ≠ unable (take that, spinal compression!), and I even managed to drill new mounting holes in the aluminum sides. I just need to do a bit of plaster touch-up around the edges and put in the shelves.

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@northoftheborder
You are a man of many talents! She will be pleased. Way to go, North!

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zenren14 | @zenren14 | Jul 9 2:06am

sitting under a patio umbrella...grabba java...sipping thru the afternoon sun.

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zenren14 | @zenren14 | Jul 9 2:53am
In reply to @northoftheborder "@zenren14 Yep. The best thing you can do with a bucket list is put it in..." + (show)
Profile picture for northoftheborder @northoftheborder

@zenren14 Yep. The best thing you can do with a bucket list is put it in a bucket and carry it out to the trash. I've never seen the point of gaping at things just to check them off a list. 🙂 The best moments travelling are the unexpected and unplanned ones.

In 2021, after my de-novo stage 4 diagnosis, when I was paralysed in a hospital bed and thinking I'd never walk again and live only a few more years, my thoughts weren't "I wish I'd made it to see Machu Picchu/walked the Camino/visited the Great Wall of China/hiked the Grand Canyon" or anything like that. They were "I wish I could go back home and walk down the street and buy groceries again, or sit in the local pizza restaurant with my spouse, or go to the family cottage." It turned out people who haven't faced death close up don't know what they're talking about when they drone on about "if you were going to die tomorrow...": there are no regrets about big headline-level things; the little things *are* the big things.

p.s. I was incredibly fortunate, and contrary to expectations in 2021, I can do all those "little things" again now.

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@northoftheborder

You had me at:
" the little things ARE the big things"
We only have a day to sieze.
The choice is ours to take.
Only if we can have a slice of pizza.
We miss what we can't have.
All trial n error though.
Hold our head high in the big blue sky.

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pat9892 | @pat9892 | Jul 10 12:39pm
In reply to @californiazebra "A wonderful neighborhood potluck celebrating the 4th of July. Great friends, great food, lots of shade..." + (show)
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A wonderful neighborhood potluck celebrating the 4th of July. Great friends, great food, lots of shade under trees, perfect weather, lots of fun stories and laughs. A good time was had by all!

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@californiazebra Being around other people is so uplifting. A neighborhood pot luck sounds wonderful!

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grldweiner66 | @grldweiner66 | Jul 11 8:15am

A good nights sleep 🙂

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myoga | @myoga | Jul 12 10:55pm
In reply to @kitty2 "Waking up with my cat lying by my side and snuggling up with me. Got to..." + (show)
Profile picture for kitty2 @kitty2

Waking up with my cat lying by my side and snuggling up with me. Got to together with friends last night for a while. That brought me Joy.

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@kitty2
My son’s cat likes to sleep under the blanket with him, by his feet. They are such funny creatures. I’m a dog person but I like cats too, just not as much.

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dailyeffort | @dailyeffort | Jul 13 12:10am
In reply to @stevecando54 "Today my joy came from watching out the window, 14 turkeys in my back yard. Been..." + (show)
Profile picture for stevecando54 @stevecando54

Today my joy came from watching out the window, 14 turkeys in my back yard. Been living here almost 20 years and is first time seeing them, plenty of others but not the turkeys. Appeared to be 3 moms and 11 young ones. they would walk around then plop down to relax. On and off I watched them for over 3 hours, it was a pretty joyful site to see them. Best to all.

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@stevecando54
Seeing wild turkeys is awesome. So many, that is very special, Steve. I've only seen a couple of hens and chicks at a time and consider myself lucky for that.
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jgaoffice | @jgaoffice | Jul 19 7:34am

Lovely suggestion @northoftheborder

joy for me often = either

*being out in Nature, a walk around the block or to a nature center preseve where we have affinity

OR

*being creative at home, collaging or doodling a card for a friend, creating a poem, usually based on a Nature moment, or photographing outdoors wonders, such a a flock of wood storks, that came wondrously to our treatment site, Mayo Clinic/JAX

smiles of thanks for posing this lovely Ask...

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