Team Wordle

Posted on by gracesmuggler
A wordle grid. The first line has two yellow squares; the second has three green squares; the third has five green squares.


I’m an avid Wordle player. In fact, it is always the first thing I do upon waking each day. There are several people in my life with whom I exchange scores each day, but one group text has become especially fun.

Some members of Michigan Nones and Dones, a community I facilitate, have a group text entirely for the purpose of sharing our Wordle grids. And recently, we’ve morphed into a team of sorts. One of our members adds up our scores each day collectively, and we try to have a good day as a unit. Or occasionally, we try to beat our collective score.

I’m not sure we’re going to do that last part though because last week, 5 people on this group chat got a collective 14. How are we ever going to pull that off again?

It’s satisfying to take a small, daily, autonomous game and make it a team sport.

Well done, us!

-Renee Roederer

Values

Posted on by gracesmuggler

Our values should determine how we hold our elected leaders accountable — all leaders, every party —

how we speak out,
what we say and do,
how we say yes and no,
what we support and challenge,

instead of our values constantly shifting and morphing,

instead of what-we-will-tolerate constantly shifting and morphing,

to fit, support, and justify that we voted for someone or a party.

We can hold them all accountable — publicly.

We should.

Our values determine how we do that. These people and parties don’t get to determine our values.

–Renee Roederer

The Blue Water Bridge Turns Purple

Posted on by gracesmuggler


Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of traveling to Grand Rapids, Michigan to a celebration held by the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan. November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month, and in honor of that, the Blue Water Bridge (pictured above) turned purple, which is the color of epilepsy awareness.

The epilepsy community in Grand Rapids turned out mightily, which was quite impressive because it was outrageously windy. It wasn’t unsafe, but that wind was fierce!

The most touching part of our celebration was when Heather Ward and her daughter Josie addressed the crowd. Last year, they saw this event on the news, and they wanted to be connected to our community after Josie’s new diagnosis. Heather actually called the news station to find out which community turned the bridge purple. This year, they were both present, and they were the ones interviewed for the news story.

I also have a quote in the story. You can read that here:
Blue Water Bridge turns purple for Epilepsy awareness

Thanks for celebrating with us!

Out of Sync

Posted on by gracesmuggler
A tree in autumn with orange leaves. The sun is shining through.



I stood at a crosswalk, waiting for traffic to stop so I could walk across the street. I waited there in my sleeveless dress, having completed a walk in the unseasonable warmth of 73 degrees.

A person pulled up to the intersection, and she was waiting for traffic to stop too. And she was blaring music in her car,

“Sleigh bells ring! Are you listening? In the lane, the snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight! Walking in a Winter Wonderland!”

I had to chuckle. It just didn’t… fit. Maybe she was willing the weather to change.

The traffic stopped, and I crossed the lane with no glistening snow, walking in a Warmer Wonderland.

—Renee Roederer

NOvember

Posted on by gracesmuggler
Image Description: The words “Yes” and “No” written on a green chalkboard. “No is underlined. Public domain image.


We’ve entered the month of NOvember.

This month, I’m reflecting upon, choosing, and acting upon what it means to say, “No.”

This might mean…
— saying no to tasks that aren’t best for us to do,
— saying no to what brings down our energy,
— saying no to beliefs that no longer serve us,
— saying no to narratives (external, internal, or cultural) that are painful distortions,
— saying no to injustices,
— saying no to systemic ways of doing harm,
— saying no to old patterns we no longer want,
— saying no to doing too much,
— saying no to unreasonable expectations,
— saying no to… (fill in the blank)

And I’m also going to reflect upon, choose, and act upon this realization:
When we say “no,” to some things, we are making way to say “yes” to other things.

We are making space for our best affirmations, intentions, and priorities.

Want to ponder this with me?

–Renee Roederer

Mundane Halloween

Posted on by gracesmuggler

I’m excited to share this with you this morning. Go look at this thread. So silly!