Things Bloggers Are Proud of Doing

From LongAndShortReviews, the survey says bloggers are proud of doing these things:

1. Being writers. Whether they've written bestselling novels, niche-market novels, or just a steady ongoing blog...writing doesn't pay well, so if it weren't a source of great pleasure and pride we wouldn't do it! Six bloggersmentioned this.

2. The children in their lives--natural offspring, foster/adoptive children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and other young relatives. Five bloggers mentioned this.

3. Teaching or counselling others. Three bloggers mentioned this.

4. Saying no, setting boundaries, and sticking to them. It seems to me as if the tricky part of this life skill is knowing when...there are times to say no and times to say yes. Being able to do both is important. This and the other things below were mentioned by one blogger each.

5. Being a blood donor, That's something to glow about. That's one thing on this list I've not done, because I had "chronic" mononucleosis, with liver infection, before I reached the minimum weight.

6. Tipping off an older person who didn't realize he was being scammed.

7. Learning to knit/crochet/etc. 

8. Staying married. Patrick Prescott could boast of having been married for 43 years.

9. Fostering shelter animals. Marianne Arkins operates one of those animal foster homes we so often read about on Petfinder. 

10. Seeking treatment for a chronic health problem.

Now, about me...I've done most of these things too. I think one reason why I can't think of anything I've felt proud of doing, lately, is that it was so easy to reel off a Top Ten List a few years ago and I've not done anything to top those achievements since.

I have been an achiever in life. I have the sort of curriculum vitae that made older achievers in Washington say things like "Well, young lady, if you ever decide to pick a career and stick to it, you'd be an asset to whichever of those 'odd jobs' you choose." Unfortunately it made employers in my home town turn pale and say "We'll call you," and carefully not say "...if all 200 other applicants any pink-collar job opening attracts, around here, happen to have died." But yes. Dean's List at Berea, professional singer in college, offered a reward if anyone could find a better typing service and never had to pay, etc. 

I haven't felt like an achiever this winter. We lost Grandma Bonnie Peters. two years ago. We lost my Significant Other. We lost Adayahi. We came close to losing both Yona and Lisiwayu. I'm the only member of this web site who's not been in a hospital during the past year. It's been a time of grieving, not a time of achieving. I'm a writer, an aunt, a teacher, a warner about scams, a knitter, an animal rescuer, a  Celiactivist, a faithful wife until I became a widow, and an expert at saying no. Maybe if we'd won a total global glyphosate ban I'd fel proud of being a Celiactivist, even this winter, but so far we've not and I don't.

It's just been a time of feeling "lost and lonely" more than "glad and proud." 

I'll say this, though. There is someone else of whom I feel very proud. "Youth behaving well" is a theme at this web site, though we don't get to use it often...My Significant Other was 6'4". I'm 5'4". The faithful foster son was 6'2". We agreed that the foster son should be free to go his own way and live his own life when he chose, but neither of us wanted to put any pressure on him. But the foster son stayed with his foster father, serving as nurse, chauffeur, cleaner, cook, and yardman whenever needed, for eleven years,