Today I am cranky. Not crabby. There's a difference. It's a fine line, admittedly, but still a difference. Cranky is grrrr; crabby is waaaah. Cranky is feeling grumbly and it's short term. Crabby is bad attitude and it can be chronic. Today I am cranky.
In the middle of a crab to hubby this morning, about what I don't even remember, if flashed through my mind how much I love him and my partner in the next room and the dogs at my feet and the cat in the doorway. I thought about that all the way to work and about how I've fallen out of touch with some people, mostly because it's just life getting in the way. Every day I think tomorrow will be less crazy than today and I will have more time to catch up on letters and emails. But every day dawns more hectic than the day before and in a blink of an eye a week, a month, a year, or even more has gone by. What if something happens to me? How will everyone I care about know that I care about each of them?
I decided to send an email blast to let everyone know.
This is what I sent:
I'm cranky today. In the middle of a rant earlier I thought about how much I love my family and pets and how much my friends mean to me.
At Easter, I decided to make some baskets for my coworkers using flight progress strips. Strips are light card (probably 65 lb paper) that are about 1 X 8 inches. The computer spits them out for airplanes that are departing or inbound on a flight plan. We have a lot that get thrown away. I thought it would be easy because they're uniform size but it turned out to be harder than I thought to make them weave together and hold together and shape them together into something recognizable and usable.
I was thinking about how all of you are woven together into part of my life. Some of you are true blue friends of long standing and some are more than acquaintances with whom I am friendly and some are somewhere in between. But each of you is important to me, and even if I don't communicate as often as I should, I think about you more than you know and appreciate that you're a part of my life.
I'm not trying to be all sappy but I really value the part of you that is woven into the basket of my life. I just want you to know that.
Have a good week!
Diane
I wasn't anticipating the responses from some of those near and dear friends and some of those far and away friends. Some people apparently thought I was being moribund, but I'm just cranky. Now I feel like it sounds like I was fishing for compliments! The responses do indeed make me feel sappy and happy with affirmations of love and friendship!
Who knew that what I wrote could be cathartic as well?!! I heard from a friend who lost her beloved dog last week. I heard from friends from my support group. I heard from a friend who hopes I’m not still in "rantnation." I like that. I DO visit rantnation regularly! I heard from someone who took a basket weaving class once (although I'm not sure that was the point of my email). I heard from a fellow pilot who pointed out the days (weeks?) of rainy, dreary weather would make anyone feel cranky. Maybe there's something to that. Not to mention dreary weather plus co-worker headbutting equals cranky.
And so it goes.
