beBetter 

It’s Tuesday morning and I have just completed a blazing 3.5-mile jog. (I have to tell myself these exaggerations so I will go again.) Completing my stretching on our carport, I open our patio door and step inside. Before I can close the door, CeCe greets me with some bad news.

Last week, we had just cleaned up the duck eggs from our front yard when one egg exploded filled the air with a stench that nearly brought me to my knees. After hosing the sidewalk down, I ran into the house to get away from this smell that was continuing to make me gag.  

CeCe is feverishly telling some of our best friends about TJ, our neighbor’s long-haired Persian cat, who likes to roam our neighborhood. TJ is a big, beautiful cat. As I’m listening to the story, she shares that TJ has been missing for three days and this is very unusual. Our neighbors are naturally upset and beginning to put posters out, driving around the surrounding neighborhoods and asking everyone to be on the lookout for TJ. CeCe is wrapping up her story when I decide to pipe up with my knowledge of cats.

Today, February 3, CeCe and I celebrate our 20th anniversary. Hopefully, and Lord willing, as you read this, we are on the beach checking off one of our “bucket list” destinations in St. Lucia. I’ve just finished writing CeCe’s anniversary card. Now I could share the card’s contents with you, but that would be the end of my beBetter blog and ME! CeCe is such a great sport to provide me the liberty to share some of her experiences, both good and bad, so I want to be careful and not get too loose with the stories. 

There are two comments in the card that I think could help each of us to #beEvenBetter.  

CeCe has asked me to run a quick errand for our Aunt Kate, who lives in an independent living facility close to our home. Aunt Kate is in her early 80s and CeCe is her primary caregiver. Today, I’m on the way to pick up a contact to replace the one that she lost.  

CeCe is standing in my home office and I’m staring down at her shoes as she asks, “Do you notice anything about my shoes today?” Thank goodness, I finally realize they are not the same shoe! Wow, they are almost the exact same color, appear to be the same style and very similar sole. The only difference I can really see is on top of the shoes where the laces (which are the same color) are styled differently. Why does anyone need two pairs of shoes this similar? 

One of the MANY things I admire about CeCe is she never suffers from or allows her decisions to be influenced by FOMO. We recently had friends invite us on a trip, and I immediately started advocating for us to join in the fun. CeCe paused a moment and asked, “Do you think we will enjoy that trip? Lots of schedules. And it doesn’t sound like a lot of the activities that you and I really love. I don’t think we should go.” I knew immediately that she was right. I was letting FOMO get in my head. What is FOMO? Fear of Missing Out — a term I actually learned from Seth Godin’s blog.

CeCe and I have spent a lot of time at home together with the COVID-19 shelter in place orders, as I am sure you have with your family. So when the Governor opened up the restaurants for 50% dining capacity, we were the first in line at our favorite spot. It was delightful, and we reflected on how much we had taken this privilege for granted when we were able to go whenever we wanted.

I’m reaching for my gumbo pot to pour in my sautéed vegetables for my favorite duck gumbo recipe and it’s GONE! I know I just put it on the counter after boiling the duck breasts. Have I gone completely crazy? It takes a couple of days of doing various tasks to make gumbo and today, I get to put it all together. YUM!

Looking into the freezer, I’m excited to see my canister of homemade chocolate peanut butter bars are right on top — probably because I was standing at this exact place last night, too, while CeCe was in the back of the house. They taste better when I sneak a few as CeCe likes to “encourage” me to meet my weight goal.

CeCe and I are sitting outside next to the fireplace, entertaining some close friends pre-social distancing. It’s pretty chilly tonight with a strong north wind so I have the fireplace roaring. In my feeble attempt to dress a little hip, tonight, I reached on my top shelf of shoes and pulled out my retro Cole Haan boots. 

Dressed for work, I’m walking into the den to kiss CeCe bye this morning.  I get two steps into the room and hear, “Ha! You changed your hair!” CeCe, as you might have noticed in previous blogs, is the most observant person I have ever been around and that includes my Mom, who always knew when we were up to no good. 

CeCe and I are driving in from the Fraser River Valley area to the rental car return at Vancouver Airport in heavy traffic. What should have been a 2-hour drive has turned into 4 hours of stressed filled stop and go. Five days earlier, we had rented a car in downtown Vancouver to enjoy some scheduled vacation time fly fishing and hiking, which happen to be our favorite things to do together. Our rental car is practically brand new and loaded with technology, including a GPS.