It’s FRIDAY!!!!!

That means it’s time for some Good Vibrations Gratitude.

These are the five things I am grateful for this week.

1.  Brunch with friends

   I like brunch.  But I like doing it the Mom way meaning we get there right when brunch starts, usually around 10.  It’s a good time.  The kids are ready to eat and it’s before the hipsters show up.

   I also like that I get to brunch my way now.  I prefer brunch is establishments that are not diners. Bryon loved diners and I am not a fan. I feel like diner food is not any better than the food I cook.  I like to go to brunch and have something fancy that I could cook but generally don’t have the patience to.

   Plus, I don’t like diners because many of them are small and I am claustrophobic.  Now I know many other establishments are small.  But I can deal with my claustrophobia for fancy brunch.   Like, I can tolerate being in a small space but not for generic food that I could make at home.

   Bryon was always more of the breakfast fan than me so he would win.  That and because the issue wasn’t important enough to me.   I am glad I went along with it because diner breakfast always made him happy.

   I guess of the “perks” of widowhood is I get to do whatever I want.  It’s bittersweet, really.

   And Kimmy Gibbler has the same attitude about brunch so we had brunch at a local place called Savoy Taproom.

   

   
   
   I had the adult ice coffee with aquafaba  and creme brulee French Toast.  I had no clue what aquafaba was but the waitress explained it to me.  It’s apparently a vegan alternatives to egg whites and apparently putting egg whites into iced coffee is a thing now.  The egg whites create the froth.  I tried it but I made it clear to the waitress that I was not a vegan.  For some reason, I felt that that was important and that the waitress wanted to know.

   I always considered myself an iced coffee snob and I had no clue.  *shrug*

   

2. Advocating for MS

   For the second year I got the honor of advocating for people living with Multiple Sclerosis at the New York State Capital.  I am not going to elaborate on that because I will be writing a post about that.  I have several friends with MS and I am thankful that I get an opportunity to advocate for them.

   

   
3. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

   Because…duh

4. Signs from Heaven

   I know I spoke of Bryon’s Valentine’s Day sign that came in the form of Vagisil.

   But I have heard that the deceased communicate through songs on the radio.  There are certain songs I hear all the time since Bryon died.  There was even a period of time I heard Hall & Oates at least once a day and I don’t spend much time in my car.  My deceased husband also seems to really like Michael Jackson, particularly “Billie Jean”, The Police- “I’ll Be Watching You”, Earth Wind and Fire; “September” (I think that is because we got engaged, married and became parents in the month of September), and Berlin’s “Take My Breathe Away” because Top Gun was his favorite movie.

   I haven’t heard much in the car for the past couple of months.  I just figured that Bryon was done sending those signs.  He was going to find a new way to communicate with me.  But the past three days have been a Bryon McKim jam session every time I have been in car.  It’s nice to know that he hasn’t forgotten about me and will still try to spend time with me in the only way he can now.

   

   

   

   

   

   
5. Having the courage to cut off my grief hair

   I had been wanting a change for awhile.  I hemmed and hawed over it for months.  I liked my hair long but it was so damaged.  The ends felt like straw.  I also wanted something different and I have never been a blonde so I went for it.  I am a new person so my outside should reflect my inside.

   This was a big step for me.  I have never been a risk taker but I told myself that it is just hair.  It grows back.  It can be changed back.  But it was also hard because I was attached to that hair.  I have hid behind that hair for almost two years.  But I decided it was time to get rid of it and shine.

   Now I just need to lose some weight and maybe get a tattoo and my physical transformation will be complete.

   

   
   
   What are you grateful for this week?