Coffee Check-In: Dynamic Growth

Happy Monday! It's a beautiful, quiet Memorial Day so far, and the stillness reminds me why I enjoy getting up before sunrise. Not that I do that as regularly anymore, but it's something I still appreciate 😊

I'm grateful this morning to honor this day in my own way this year. Having worked at organizations where holidays weren't guaranteed off, or the opposite and were, but not REALLY recognized, I have to say that I enjoy being able to have the opportunity to spend time working on projects today while also taking time out to honor those men and women who chose to pursue a career that led to their sacrifice for our country.

Since my post yesterday, I've been thinking about the current relationship in our society between patriotism and religious extremists in anticipation of this check-in.

And it brings to the forefront one of my favorite words: Dynamic.

More often than not, these last few years, I have encountered situations where I'm bewildered at the lack of understanding of how dynamic we are as human beings.

Yes, I can be spiritual while being critical of religious institutions.

Yes, I can be a hippie nature lover but also love DisneyWorld. And yes, I can love DisneyWorld but have social anxiety.

Yes, one of my favorite holidays can be the 4th of July, but I can also be critical of the current state of our country.

Yes, I can support our troops while being frustrated that donning red, white, and blue has become synonymous with the conservative political party in this country for better or worse.

I can love higher education and also criticize certain aspects of the industry and our institutions.

I can want to travel the world while simultaneously wanting to be a hermit.

The important part of being dynamic is the work it takes to change, grow, and move forward. It's the willingness to learn, grow, and be vulnerable, to be able to say, "This is what I knew and understood, and I was curious, so I kept digging, and I've expanded my understanding."

So, we each may honor this day in our own ways. But it's the honoring that matters. The learning, remembering, recognizing, and growing.

And with that, I share what I think about every Memorial Day since I had the privilege of meeting 2LT Justin Sisson's parents in 2016 and creating this video in his honor:

Took part of my coffee time outside this morning. It's a bit warmer than yesterday, but still very un-Florida-like weather for this time of year, so enjoying it as much as possible! I woke up ready to take on the day, so today's brew is my usual Fortado Decaf. It's funny to me how I drink my daily coffee with cream now because I only used to drink black coffee. Besides being able to taste the quality of the coffee that way, I also think creamers are too sweet. But I've always enjoyed a good cappuccino, so we got a NICE milk frother from Nespresso, and holy cow, is it AMAZING. Since we got it, there have been several upgrades to their milk frother options that I really want to try out, but I love ours so much, and it's still kickin', so we'll wait for when it's actually needed. We may certainly be bougie with our coffee (and overall drinks and beverages - hydration is important to us!!), but we still try to be a bit practical as well 😜