Self-Care, Dog Training, and Star Trek

January 21, 2022 by JoAnna 19 Comments

Your mission if you decide to accept it is to use the word, “mission,” in today’s Just Jot it January post. Thanks to Fandango for the prompt and to our host, Linda Hill for #JusJoJan. To learn more, click HERE.

I wrote a mission statement about 15 years ago. It had something to do with nature, animals, spirituality, and combining my Christian beliefs with my love for creation. I’ve done some of that over the years and hope to do more.

Having a mission is serious. I’m not sure if I want to be that serious right now. My ear is giving me twinges, like tiny shock waves every now and then, and my doctor is closed because it might sleet later. But they were kind enough to call me back and give me an appointment for Monday.

An ice storm is in the forecast here on the Carolina Coast, so many places are closed, including the rescue mission thrift store where David works. He came out of retirement to return to the director position when it became vacant. He says he likes it. As long as he likes it, that’s okay.

Today, my mission is to take care of my health. I’ve also been doing are working with our new dog Marley on leave it, drop it, get it, sit stay, down stay, and walking on a leash without pulling so much. He does well as long as he doesn’t see a squirrel. Squirrels put him into hyperdrive. Marley and Mama Cat still only know each other by sound and smell. I took him out on the catio earlier to smell around as suggested by the trainer. He was very excited, but I was able to get him to lie down stay for several seconds. The training treats help. Training Marley is sort of a mini mission. Home improvement projects, like the catio, are mini missions.

My neighbor is on a mission to save our downtown library. The county wants to shrink it, combine it with a reduced local museum, and add offices and condos to the already congested historic downtown area. The neighbor who is fighting this plan is in her 80s and has a lot of smarts and energy. I’ve helped out some but wouldn’t even try to keep up with her. Same thing with my husband David. Taking care of myself means not trying to keep up with high energy extroverts. I’ll keep working on my mini missions, reading, blogging, painting, volunteering at the farm animal sanctuary, and watching Star Trek. That’s plenty!

When the first episode of Star Trek Next Generation came out and I heard Patrick Stewart say the mission statement as “….to boldly go where no one has gone before,” instead of “no man,” I cheered out loud.