VernetteOutLoud

The One Where We Are Under Storm Watch And I’m Still Grateful

Rainy Day Storm

So today is a holiday here in Trinidad, and I am so grateful for a short work week. But it is also somewhat bittersweet, as we are under a tropical storm watch. We are told that we should start feeling the impact in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow. So far schools are closed but no word yet on whether we are expected to show up at work .

All the same, it’s Monday and I’m sharing seven things I’m grateful for today:

Rainy Days

I love the rain, storms though not so much. As an island, we always seem to be blessed when it comes to storms and hurricanes. There is a local saying, “God is a Trini.” because despite all the warnings, we always seem to escape unscathed. This storm though…doesn’t seem likely. So far we are in it’s direct path. So as much as I love the rain, I pray that everyone stays safe and we come through this with minimal damage.

A roof over my head

As we prepare for the storm, I cannot help but be grateful that I have a cozy little home to ride this storm out in.

Sharing dinner with my sister

One, I have food to eat. Two, I have enough food to share. Three, I can cook and share a meal with my sister. Life is good.

And speaking of food…

I have enough to eat

I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. Sometimes, I am too lazy to cook, so I buy food and the fact that I have that option, fills me with gratitude.

This phase/part of my journey

Things have been a little tough these past couple months, in more ways than one. While I have mostly stayed positive and having this gratitude practice has helped. I have cut back on many of the non-essentials, culled even those people I have in my inner circle. This helped me go back to the basics. It has been a most freeing time.

So thankful for Life

I am alive. I’m still here.

Quotes that remind me to be grateful

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

So that’s my seven for this week. On Mondays, “we post seven positives from the previous seven days of the week as a reminder of what we have so that the week starts out on an upswing. There is much truth in the belief that happy people attract good things, so it is important to start the week out right. Sometimes it’s the more grand, but other times, it’s the simple things.” 7 for Seven originated at Key + Arrow.

I hope that by continuing to pay attention to the little things, the mundane details that make up all the blessings in my life and by sowing the seeds of faith and gratitude, I can truly carry with me and reap the rewards of “positivity + balance + bliss” throughout the days ahead.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate you! This is me blowing some glitter and confetti on you because you’re super blessed to have received the gift of another 86,400 seconds today, to spend any way you desire.

Make those seconds count!

I love hearing from you…what are you grateful today?Feel free to share below!

What Do I Say On Father’s Day

 

Happy Father’s Day.

I sat down to write today’s post, but three glasses of red wine later…still nothing.

I eventually went through some of my older posts written on Father’s Day for some spark of inspiration, but all that got me was a walk down memory lane.

It feels weird that after all this time, I cannot bring myself to write any words of anything today. I acknowledge that I know some great fathers and men I have the utmost respect for…but when it comes to saying anything beyond the trite: Happy Father’s Day…I have nothing.

Squat. Nada. No mas.

Languid

So instead I will talk about the word, Languid. 

languid
adjective
  1. “his languid demeanour irritated her”
    synonyms: relaxed, unhurried, languorous, unenergetic, lacking in energy, slow, slow-moving
  2. weak or faint from illness or fatigue.
    “she was pale, languid, and weak, as if she had delivered a child”
    synonyms: sickly, weak, faint, feeble, frail, delicate, debilitated, flagging, drooping;

After three glasses of wine, the word that comes to mind is languid. I have absolutely no energy to do anything other than float. Float on dreams of what was, what could have been and what will never be. Or is it, what is to come?

I’m not sure, I’m feeling languid.

I wrote a post about Fathers and Daughters four years ago, you should read it. Because it is as true today as it ever was. This walk down memory lane was a reminder that more things change, the more they remain the same. While I continue to grow into the woman I’m supposed to be, and along the way that meant changing my mind, opinions and the way I approached or did things.

The feelings for and about my father…those remain the same. And at this point, that’s okay.

 

Rainy Days Were Made For Slow Starts And Slow Coffee

Rainy Days, Slow Coffee Chemex

Rainy Days, Slow Coffee

Here in Trinidad we get two seasons: Rainy and Dry. We are into our rainy season now and for a pluviophile like myself, this time of the year is my absolute favourite. Because rainy days were just made for slow starts, extra snuggles under warm covers and slow coffee. Guess what, you guys? It’s raining again today.

So join me is a go-slow Saturday, let’s have some recreational coffee, come in for a slow pour over while we catch up. Like I said it’s been a wet week here on my island in the Caribbean. We had a public holiday on Thursday and we have another one again on Monday. So this is long weekend for me.

Fun fact about my easy-going island home, we have one of the highest number of public holidays in the world. We have 18 holidays per year…but we waaay behind Sri Lanka. They enjoy 25 public holidays! In this month of June, we have three holidays, which means four-day work weeks for 3 consecutive weeks.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that the downside of short work-weeks is that you end having to make up for the lost day and that usually means one work day can feel like two or a whole month. And unfortunately Friday felt like a month. So today, feels like an extra special lazy day.

Lazy Days And Travel Stories

This week I shared a bit about some of my adventures on my trip to London. I talked about exploring Bath and how much of good time I had in just a few short hours. I have been craving a jet fuel fix lately and what keeps me sane, are those travel memories and the ones I plan on making later on this year.

The funny thing about that London trip is that it has taken me this long to post anything about it. I had such an amazing time and I felt like I truly met myself on that trip. It was such a monumental, personal experience, I wanted to keep it all to myself.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you travelled to a new place and had such an amazing experience that you want to hold on the magic for as long as you can? You want to cherish all the memories over and over but only you, because sharing would mean sharing the magic too?

Tell me in the comments below. I would love to hear some of your favourite travel memories and experiences and if you were never the same for it. 

#WeekendCoffeeShare is an awesome link-up where coffee is being shared over great conversations. Join in this week’s fun here.

Measuring My Worth, Whose Life Is This Anyway?

Photo By Vernette Superville

It’s time for another Five Minute Friday link-up and the word prompt this week is WORTH. I will admit, when I saw this week’s prompt I was a little intimidated. I have been finding, when I only have five minutes to write, what comes up is usually stuff I that I would never tell another soul.

The minute I saw the word “WORTH” I knew that what would come up would be some deep seated personal insecurities. So I delayed in sitting down to write. I managed to spend the entire day successfully avoiding thinking about the word. But I have this commitment to write every day this month so I have to get into it. So here goes.

You can join in too. The rules are pretty simple – write for 5 minutes on the word prompt for the week and post to your blog, then add your post to the linky party over at the Five Minute Friday community.

Setting timer now…

GO

I was chatting with a friend on Wednesday evening and we got to talking about travel. He wanted to know how I did the solo travel thing so well. And I told him, because it was worth it. Solo travel is probably the best way to get to know yourself.

Like I always suspected that I was kinda awesome, but I didn’t really know just how awesome I really was, until I got lost in a city I didn’t know and had to find my own way back to my hotel. Not once, not twice…

Good times I tell you.

Of course, when I said this to him I was more than half joking.

My secret? I really wasn’t joking. I actually do think that I pretty awesome. Some of the time.

Not always.

Sometimes, I hover somewhere between this is enough, I am enough and whose life is this anyway?

Is this okay?

STOP

Today’s post is brought to you by a rocking soundtrack as I prepared to write this by  Sinach no shame that I needed to remind myself of exactly who I am and who I belong to.  

Full disclosure: I sat staring into space after I wrote that last line and the timer buzzed me out of my reverie. I suppose it’s just as well, because I have no clue where this post was headed.

5 Quotes On Life And Writing From Joan Didion I Love

Writing Quote

Photo by: Alvaro Serrano, Unsplash

Confession: I collect quotes, Kindle ebooks and more recently, plants. Whoohoo green thumb!

It is also no secret that I admire and would love to have coffee with Joan Didion. She has been a professional writer for over 50 years, and she definitely knows a thing or five about writing and living.

I met Joan in the pages of her book, The Year of Magical Thinking about seven years ago, just after my mum died. It was a memoir of her own journey with grief after the sudden death of her husband. The book made me think and certainly made me appreciate grief and other people’s journey with grief. I was so struck by her words, I’ve been playing catch up, reading more of her work since.

Reading her work and collecting quotes along the way. Today, I’m sharing some of my favourites with you:

On staying present to the present:

‘Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.’ The Year of Magical Thinking, 2005

On writing to remember:

‘Memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to what we think we remember.’ Blue Nights, 2011

On grief as a journey and the importance of empathy – who feels it knows it:

‘Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.’ The Year of Magical Thinking, 2005

On starting:

‘There’s a point when you go with what you’ve got. Or you don’t go.’ The Paris Review, fall-winter 1978

On moving on:

‘I have already lost touch with a couple people I used to be…’ Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968

 Joan’s work and her importance as a female essayist, continues to inspire me. It is tough work this writing and living and being seen. I would love to hear from you, share some of your favourite quotes below!