On July 12, I had tympanoplasty type III surgery on my left ear. The drum ruptured in January with no healing in 6 months and over half of my ear drum was gone. The surgery went well, and I’m still recovering. It will be a few months before we know if the graft has worked. In the meantime, I really can’t hear very well. In an effort to find the positive, I made this PSA video for women (especially the over 50 crowd) who will be having surgery. Enjoy 😉
Bobcat Sightings and Sighings
As I work on moving and revamping my blog while entertaining some new health issues, I wanted to share a few pictures with you lest you think I’ve totally disappeared. Last June, we moved from our little apartment to a rental house in the farthest west neighborhood of my town. We have a hill directly behind us, and we get to enjoy all kinds of wildlife sightings including birds (especially my husband’s favorite red tailed hawks), bunnies galore, jackrabbits, squirrels and tiny lizards in the summer.
Yesterday, we saw this bobcat on the rock wall at the top of the hill. He (she?) hung out there for at least 30 minutes after we noticed him. I had time to dig out the Canon and telephoto lens, and we’ve decided we need to keep it handy! He sat there and groomed just like any cat and then laid down for awhile. Such a gorgeous face. My newest medication was causing a serious case of the blues and the gift of seeing this amazing animal did so much to lift my spirits. What a gift! Do you find seeing nature like this lifts your spirits?
Enjoy! We certainly did! If you click on each picture, you’ll get a larger view.
Healing Gratitude Quotes
Gratitude is a flower that blooms in noble souls. ~ Pope Francis
Gratefulness makes two hearts glad. ~ Else Pannek
Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. – Maya Angelou
It’s not possible to be upset and worried while feeling appreciative. ~ Patti Teel
If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice. ~ Meister Eckhart
Gratitude can occur in the most unlikely of circumstances. ~ Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. in his book, Thanks!: How the new science of gratitude can make you happier
Gratitude is absolutely the way to bring more into your life. ~Marci Shimoff
Identity Crisis?
Last fall, we found ourselves in a major upheaval (aren’t all upheavals major?) when we needed to sell our house quickly to avoid bankruptcy. We did, thankfully, and in the process had less than 30 days to sort through 26 years worth of junk possessions. What do we toss, sell, donate, store, take with us to an apartment 1/4 of the size of the house we were leaving? Where can you go when you can’t buy right away and your bad credit score prevents an apartment complex from accepting six months rent in cash? We did it though even when someone told us they didn’t want to rent to “people like us” (from the place where we offered to give them 6 months rent the day we moved in when we closed escrow). We did it even though we lost our beloved German shepherd the day we moved. We did it! We did it with broken hearts over our Rolf and we did it with glad hearts for a fresh start in new digs. We did it even though our last remaining child at home moved elsewhere and we became empty nesters (even emptier without our dog). We did it even though we didn’t like each other very much through the process. We did it even though it was embarrassing. And we survived.
Once the fog lifted and it was time to get back to business as usual, I had a shock. A few days before my blog name (domain name) expired, I tried to transfer it away from WordPress to my usual registar so my whole blog could be on my VPS. Wordpress blocked it (supposedly for my protection) and through a comedy of errors on both their part and mine (being that I was preoccupied with the above), when the block was removed, I didn’t realize it and a Japanese lingerie site (soft porn!) took over MY NAME. My domain name was my personal name which I’m not typing here because I don’t want you to go there and give them any traffic. But people, MY NAME dot com! I am not a soft porn site and oh the agony and embarrassment. I’ve spent four months trying to fix this. I’ve spent those same months trying to get my first name dot com and they never respond. So this blog has hung in limbo as I’ve tried to sort out what to do. In short – a bit of an identity crisis. It’s turned into a long process and the links to my name dot com are everywhere so using my name dot net isn’t going to be helpful – people will usually go to a dot com.
It’s time to move on. Until I figure out if this blog even needs a name, I’ll be hanging out here at maribethdoerr.wordpress.com.
Friday Faves – The Most Important Question You Can Ask

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”
Eric Klein has an amazing website and newsletter called Wisdom Heart. In his newsletter on Wednesday, he closes with this incredible thought:
Friday Faves – Helping, Fixing or Serving?
For those of you who like to serve others, here’s a wonderful article by Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. I think it’s important to think about the why behind our efforts to work with others and this article helps us do that by asking if we’re there to help, fix or serve . . .
Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.
Doesn’t that make you pause and rethink what you’re doing and what’s your motivation? I love to “help” but I don’t think I see life as weak. Have I been conveying that to people? Perhaps I’ve been serving all along (because it does feel like soul work) and it’s a matter of semantics. Whatever it is, it’s good to think about it and reassess my big WHY. Here’s another juicy quote:
Those who serve have traded a sense of mastery for an experience of mystery, and in doing so have transformed their work and their lives into practice.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article!
Friday Faves – What’s your miracle?
I admit I’m a sap about a lot of things, but this Youtube video probably makes even the toughest of the tough cry. Meet Charlotte Bottger who has cerebral palsy. Like most little girls, she has dreams of being a ballerina. Her father raised enough money to bring Charlotte to the USA for surgery that would help her walk. This video is Charlotte dancing with David Pickering and Sander Blommaert of The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in London. It is precious and delightful and full of inspiration, and you’ll need kleenex at the end when she says, “I’m a ballerina.” Yes Charlotte, you are!
Charlotte’s story was featured on a TV show called ‘What would be your Miracle?’ on ITV.com. This makes me ask, what would be your miracle? It doesn’t have to be some big medical cure. Miracles come in all sizes. So I ask, what would be yours?