During my last 1:1 meeting at work with Zach, we were chatting about our annual traditions centered around the new year- e.g. he and his husband typically love to enjoy a fancy meal in Old Town, while I tend to stay in with the dogs and Jason so we can awake early and go for a hike.
When the topic turned to resolutions, Zach inquired nonchalantly if I was planning on returning to this blog? I’d honestly forgotten that I mentioned it to him as admittedly it was post-election, when a neighbor shared this article and an invite to happy hour to commiserate with like-minded folks.
So, thank you Marylee, for the wisdom, and thank you, Zach for the nudge…
10. I ❤️ my holiday lights and inflatables and really don’t want to take them down anytime soon!
9. I 🧡 road trips with Frieda and Zorro
8. I 💛 clean sheets and warm blankets
7. I 💚 cinnamon rolls with orange icing fresh out of the oven
6. I 💙 hot coffee with warm peppermint mocha creamer
5. I 💜 my new portable bubbly water maker
4. I ❤️ cuddling dogs in pajamas
3. I 🧡 elk and javelina who DGAF
2. I 💛 having family over so Ryker could open all of our presents
A few weeks ago a call for volunteers to answer phones on March 12th was put out by the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s office. There was a jurisdictional election today in the cities of Litchfield Park and Tempe, but call volume was anticipated to be low so it would be good prep for later this month when call volume ticks up. I gladly agreed to help and had the most humbling, fun, rewarding day of work I’ve had in quite some time. I love what I do daily, but this was different and an opportunity to directly help people, which if you know me at all, you know that is all I really ever wanted to do in life (plus we were told there would be doughnuts).
Now mind you, I worked for years in call centers in high school doing everything from directory assistance (“Good afternoon, City and State, please?”) to renewing Time magazine subscriptions. But let’s just say it’s been a minute…
While I expected callers to ask where they can update their party affiliation, when ballots needed to be in the mail for them to count, etc, I wasn’t expecting, “where can I find the Notary Public application form on your website?” That one had me scrambling.
I found the info quickly enough, but in the time it took me figure out how to unmute, the caller was gone. I like to think they found the application at the exact same time and *that’s* why they hung up…
Two different callers absolutely made my day, though.
The first was a Mom, frantically trying to make sure her daughter’s ballot didn’t need an extra stamp if it was mailed from her school in the Pacific Northwest back to Arizona. She’d been reminding her regularly to mail it back in time and panicked thinking she should have told her to put a stamp on the green envelope. She was about to Venmo her $10 in gas money to drive to the post office to get stamps so it would make it home in time. I assured her that wasn’t necessary as the envelopes state no postage is necessary if mailed in the United States. “Oh, duh,” she laughed, then continued a few minutes more telling me about her daughter and how much they’ve stressed the importance of voting and staying on the active early vote list even though she’s away at college. What a great mom, I thought. I couldn’t help myself.
Maricopa County Early Ballot Mail Envelope
“That’s awesome! What a great mom!” It just came out. She sounded grateful for the acknowledgement of her efforts, and I wanted to say it reminded me of something my Mama would have done for me (despite my younger self’s tendency to lean towards ungratefulness).
I took a break and a couple of laps around the floor to stretch my legs before getting back online. I remembered my lunch in the fridge and went to retrieve some snacks but then I spotted a Crockpot brimming with our newly named State Elections Director’s famous election night lasagna. I quickly forgot my bagged salad, loaded up a plate and got back to work.
The second caller was a Daughter, calling from her mother’s hospital bedside, wondering if there was any possible way her mom would be able to vote next week in the Presidential Preference Election. I could hear her on the side relaying our conversation to her mom as I placed her on hold and messaged colleagues for help.
As I awaited a reply I again thought of my Mama, only this time I imagined her four years ago recovering from surgery as COVID was beginning to rage and lock everything down. She’d always voted by mail, so my Dad was able to bring her ballot to her in the PT rehab facility. I imagined how distraught she would have been not to be able to vote because she was trapped in a hospital bed. I began to tear up thinking about helpless it would feel.
Then the help came- and that’s when I learned about special election boards! I scrambled with excitement to take my caller off of mute, “Voters with a confining illness can request voter support from a special election board to assist with casting a ballot in the hospital. The Boards are made up of two members of different parties trained to support voters in a secure, confidential manner. “
I paused.
As she relayed this info to her mom I could hear how genuinely relieved they were to learn this news. I offered the email and phone number as well as the Recorder’s website with additional information. When I heard her ask her mom to hand her a pen and the Kleenex box on the bedside table so she could write the info down for her, I had to mute myself quickly and giggle. I couldn’t help myself.
I pictured all the random faded receipts and torn, used envelopes with “IMPORTANT! DO NOT THROW AWAY” and some random phone number in my Mama’s handwriting I used to find. I unmuted quickly again (by this time I was a pro) and offered to email her the information so she didn’t have to worry about the Kleenex box being thrown away. She was very thankful as she rattled off her gmail and promised her mom she would forward my email.
She then proceeded to write the phone number on the Kleenex box with the word “VOTE!!!” all down one side (just in case).
10. I ❤️ classic glaze and crullers
9. I 🧡 dog walks at lunchtime
8. I 💛 patio Hulu watching
7. I 💚 Zorro’s baby goat style bouncing
6. I 💙 the weather of late!
5. I 💜 baby Ryker’s pics from his first day of “school”
4. I ❤️ the dinner invite to Dad and Kubbye’s this Friday night
3. I 🧡 SEB’s and the people who serve on them!
2. I 💛 comfort food and potlucks.
1. I 💚 those who are doing everything they can to make sure their own voices are heard along with their moms and daughters in this year’s election.
10. I ❤️ Motown on pandora in my apartment.
9. I 💛 my girls curled up on their own section of the sofa.
8. I 💚 saki, pho, and the fact both are within walking distance of my new place.
7. I 💙 that I had enough quarters tonight to wash my sheets in the laundry room.
6. I 💜 Google poems.
5. I ❤️ that my mama let me hang the Veloy Vigil, Bart Forbes and R.C. Gorman in my living room.
4. I 💛 to-go cups filled with coffee and smoothies.
3. I 💚 that I can hear planes and light rail from my bedroom.
2. I 💙 that I cried a little tonight.
1. I 💜 lunch with two guys who have more in common than they know.
Looking For Love In All The Right PlacesTonight when I went to pull out my heart covered dish towels for February I realized the last year had not been kind to them…and by ‘last year’ I mean ‘me.’ They were ratty and stained with coffee and wine among God knows what else, so they were banished to the dust rag drawer instead of adorning their usual spot on the stove. It dawned on me that with Valentine’s Day around the corner I could likely find something similar so I decided to run to the dollar store before they closed because I’m obsessed with things that have my last name on them and this is the perfect time of year to stock up on all things LOVE.
Needless to say I made out like a bandit. See exhibit one:
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Gift boxes, ribbon, stickers AND replacement dish towels! I grabbed a few other silly gifts for my interns and made my way to the check out stand. There was one woman ahead of me so I set my reusable bag filled with stuff down, thinking I didn’t need the wand to distinguish my purchases from hers. I got on my phone and spaced out for a second until I realized she was gone and the cashier was ringing up stuff on the belt that wasn’t mine. I informed him as such and then heard a voice say, “Hold on, that’s mine-I’m coming around!”
An elderly man in a wheelchair with a long Santa beard appeared from behind another aisle. His hair wasn’t very clean, his clothes were in disrepair and he was shuffling his chair with his feet as his arms were filled with vegetable oil. “I’m sorry! I had to go back for cooking oil!”
I smiled and moved so he could pay the young man at the register. The old man looked sheepish and laughed as he informed me “I forgot eggs, too, but I’m not going back now!” He paid, took his bags (which once again filled his arms), then began pulling himself out of the store a la Fred Flintstone.
I asked the cashier to add eggs to my order and he sent a young woman to get some while he figured out the requisite code to punch in. I stepped out the door to tell the man to wait and as I did I saw him angrily grab a shopping cart on the sidewalk and fling it onto its side. The loud crash was startling and it occurred to me he might have mental health issues. I returned inside and began to question the intelligence of engaging with this man. I figured I could just keep the eggs so I took them from the stock girl and went to leave. When I got outside the store I saw this:
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People had filled the entire front of the store with carts so that there was literally no way for this man to leave without pushing them all out of his way. I realized I had just assumed he was angry and possibly crazy; now I was a little angry. He was nowhere to be found so I walked to the street and looked both ways. I spotted him cruising towards 12th so I took off yelling while clutching the eggs, “Sir! Sir, wait!”
I caught up with him pretty quickly since I was fortunately in running shoes not heels (though I’m pretty fast in those when need be). His face lit up when I handed him the eggs and I explained that my mom has spent a lot of time in a wheelchair so I know it’s not easy to get around but that was no reason to not have eggs. He looked over his shoulder to where I had just come from then grabbed my hand, turned it over, and kissed the top of it. “Look how far you went to bring me eggs! Thank you!”
The truth is I ran less than a quarter block, but to him it was a great distance. My eyes filled with tears as I was reminded that so many things I get to do every day I take for granted.
I always put my grocery cart back in the pen with the others but tonight I rounded up a few more. Next time you see a stray cart on your way out of Fry’s or TJ’s, please think about putting it away. You never know who you might be helping.
On a deeper note, I’ve not been good at expressing gratitude lately and I think tonight was the Universe’s way of reminding me I need to come back to this blog. I know from experience that consciously focusing on the good in people, in life, in myself, is one of the easiest and fool proof ways of achieving happiness. I went looking for LOVE and ended up finding it- not stamped on the side of a cardboard gift box made in China but in the sparkling eyes of a grateful stranger.
10. I am grateful for the egg frittata I baked myself this morning while getting ready for work.
9. I am grateful for the hike I squeezed in just before sunset.
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8. I am grateful for the conversation I had with Mike about the issues firefighters and cops have in family court.
7. I’m grateful for the phone conversation I had with PBS.
6. I am grateful for my mama who raised me to believe that we have a moral obligation to help out those in need.
5. I am grateful for professional advice I sought and received from Katy today.
4. I am grateful for Big League Chew.
3. I am grateful for the chat Lesli and I had about an upcoming charity dinner.
2. I am grateful for the excited welcome I received from Gracie and Couscous when I got home from work and my hike…even though twelve hours passed before their first sighting and only 45 minutes elapsed before the second, they were equally jazzed to greet me as though I’d been gone for days.
1. I am grateful to once again be back in my happy place. See you tomorrow.
10. I ❤️ hearing Zofi say my name.
9. I 💛 that my mama has plans this weekend for me to have to schedule around.
8. I 💚 Christina for always welcoming me in and taking care of me.
7. I 💙 recognizing when to turn the lens inward and grow from experience.
6. I 💜 all the great opportunities that are being presented to my friends.
5. I ❤️ the natural wonder of our bodies ability to heal.
4. I 💛 getting to know Tim more on the way home today.
3. I 💚 that Mike told me he appreciated the fact I am always willing to tell him the hard truth and reality of things , even when he doesn’t want to hear it, because that’s what friends do.
2. I 💙 that I have the tools and resources available to make my life what I want.
1. I 💜 being in a position in life that one day I may be eating lunch with an appellate judge and another I’m sitting on a tour bus in a snow storm with my favorite band headed to watch a neon pine cone descend from the sky.
10. I ❤️ sweatshirts right out of the dryer.
9. I 💛 those who sense your impending departure and express anxiety at the thought.
8. I 💚 picking fights with Ted that end in us both showing our softer sides.
7. I 💙 knowing in my bones that I’m right. And I won’t give up.
6. I 💜 a really good cry.
5. I ❤️ stingray and my digital date.
4. I 💛 that the glass is always full.
3. I 💚 that Anne and Kwyn will be my interns and that Nick said under my guidance there’s no way anyone could do anything but succeed. He doesn’t say much but when he does…damn. It felt good.
2. I 💙 breaking my own rules and realizing humans have a desire to test themselves.
1. I 💜 that my flight to Dallas is now non-stop so I can totally sleep on the plane!
10. I ❤️ driving to work feeling like a superhero.
9. I 💛 knowing I’ll come home to a clean house and the associated relief that accompanies that knowledge.
8. I 💚 voting.
7. I 💙 guilting my brother into voting.
6. I 💜 political round tables via text.
5. I ❤️ starting the day off with the right perspective several miles up.
4. I 💛 how the mind and body are connected and all my esoteric vibes.
3. I 💚 the countdown to vacation.
2. I 💙 that I’ve got packing down to an art.
1. I 💜 that everything will be ok.
love for arizona 