Happy Thursday, friends!! Thank you for joining me for this month’s edition of Tell Us About 06.2025. Today, the gals and I are responding to a prompt suggested by my friend Sue at Women Over 50 Living Well…blooming!! Which also happens to be Sue’s word of the year (WOTY). You might remember that my WOTY is nurture and I feel like I have really taken that word to heart. In fact, over the last couple of months, I have really been nurturing myself!! I feel like I am really embracing this season of life by showing myself more love. And PC and I have discovered new ways to bloom and experience life to its fullest. Please read on.
Tell Us About
Tell Us About (TUA) is a global writing challenge where bloggers from all around the planet respond to a different prompt on the second Thursday of each month. Have so enjoyed writing these posts each month.
You can find my TUA posts for the first half of the year here:
Tell Us About –
Hope you will check them out if you missed them earlier.
Before we wade in, just a reminder: Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links which are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
Please find the places and posts where I link-up on this page.
Little Miracles
Have you ever heard the term ‘glimmer’? Several of my blogging friends introduced me to that term for simple, little bits of joy that we encounter in daily life. I called them little miracles and wrote several blog posts about little miracles in my life. You can find some of those posts by clicking here. Whatever name you give these fleeting moments of bliss, they can turn a bad day around. They can bring sunshine on a rainy day. And when I start noticing these little miracles in my life, they seem to multiply and happen more often. Which, of course, is not what’s really happening but I am just taking time to notice those bits of goodness throughout my days.
In writing this post about blooming, I did a some research on glimmers. An article by the Newport Institute: Young Adult Mental Health & Substance Abuse Treatment Centers offered this concise definition of glimmers.
- Glimmers are small moments of joy or peace that arise from appreciating simple things like the colors of a rainbow, the scent of a flower, or the sound of the rain.
- Glimmers and triggers are opposites in that glimmers spark positive feelings while triggers spark negative ones.
- The practice of noticing and appreciating glimmers can cue your nervous system to relax and have a positive effect on your mental health.
- To increase the odds of noticing glimmers, spend time in places that nourish you, connect with people you enjoy, limit screen time, and practice mindfulness.
~ source
Some Examples
The article continues to provide examples of glimmers. Many times encountering a glimmer or little miracle just comes from taking a moment to look around, to smell the proverbial roses.
[source]
One of the silly little miracles that always makes me smile revolves around the weekly filling of my daily pill dispensers with my vitamins and supplements (thankful I don’t have daily meds that I take). I always smile when I randomly dump out a number of multivitamins then count them out only to discover I dumped out the exact right number – 7 – vitamins to fill my dispenser. I am a simple soul!!
The Newport Institute suggests that the following are glimmers we can discover in every day life.
- spotting a rainbow
- hearing your favorite song in the grocery store
- feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin
- getting a hug just when you need it
- relishing the taste of your morning coffee or afternoon tea
- listening to the birds chirp in a nearby tree
- looking at a photograph of someone you love
- watching a child laugh or a puppy frolic
- gazing at the stars on a clear night or snow falling on a quiet winter day
AND
- stopping to smell flowers in bloom
Glimmers and Blooming
So, what do glimmers have to do with today’s prompt: blooming? I think that glimmers and little miracles encourage a positive mindset. An optimistic outlook on life. And when you are optimistic about life, a sense of blooming becomes intrinsic. For years, I searched for the pot gold at the end of the ‘glimmering’ rainbow. I sought happiness. But in the last 6 months, I have had a change of attitude. Instead of seeking happiness, that dangling carrot (in a race), that pot of gold (after a rainbow), I’ve begun appreciating the race and the rainbow, and in some ways even the rain that brought about the rainbow!!
I attribute part of my change of heart, or evoluation to the work that I have done with my blogging friend Christie from So What? Now What?. Christie is working toward certification as a life counselor and she has been providing me with life counseling for a couple of months now. One of the takeaways I have gleened from her sage advice has been to enjoy me time. To MAKE TIME for ME TIME. Which has resulted in me blooming (more so than usual) in this latest season of life. So much so, that I added this message to my message board in May and it only rings truer today.
Let me let you in on a little secret. See that end table? It has probably been a couple of weeks since I dusted it. Partially because we have been out of town, and partially because I am too busy doing things I love to do to clean and vacuum, mop and dust all the time these days. I’m too busy blooming.
Blooming Activities
It has been almost a year since PC retired. You might remember that while I was excited for him to no longer have to go to work every day, I was a little concerned about having him home with me all day every day. But we took some trips and that helped ease us into our new normal. About 2 months into his retirement, I broke my heel climbing over a stadium seat at a Dayton (Ohio) Dragons baseball game. I was pretty darn needy for 8 weeks into my recovery when I was unable to walk or put any weight on my foot. Thankfully, PC was able to be at home with me and help me do…EVERYTHING.
On Halloween, I was cleared to finally start walking and I became a little more independent again. And we began making plans to get back to living and enjoying life. I created a winter bucket list, see it here. We took a couple of trips again and before the holidays, this wilted flower started blooming once more.
Recent Opportunities to Bloom
This spring, I have experienced a shift in priorities, in part thanks to Christie’s coaching. I am prioritzing myself and my time, concentrating on getting what has to be done but then allowing myself down time to just enjoy life. We are blessed that in retirement we can still afford to travel some, eat out, buy things that bring us joy. You can check out my bucket list for spring, here and on 06.16.2025, Monday, I will be posting my final update.
These are some of the things we have done lately that have this gal blooming:
- not setting an alarm in the morning
- eating breakfast on the patio
- working in the yard
- hiking
- swimming and better than that…floating in our pool
- scrapbooking
- crafting
- grilling outside
- reading
- writing
- taking occasional naps
- going to the gym or not
- running (as in jogging slowly) again
- working on projects around the house at a gentler, less demanding pace
- taking photographs
- getting dressed up or not
Can’t wait to see what the summer brings.
Then there’s our Alaskan cruise. It like a huge dose of MiracleGro on this blossom! So much fun. A brand new experience that was everything I had hoped it would be.
And the trip to Colorado from which we just returned home. More about that in a future post. But it was a celebration of the lives of my parents. On the last day of that vacation, we went white water rafting. Who am I?
Upcoming Opportunities to Bloom
We have a trip planned to Ft. Worth to visit Brennyn and fam the end of July. Looking forward to being with those sweet kids. PC has rediscovered his delight in fishing so we are planning an overnight stay in Abilene on the way home from Ft. Worth, so he can fish and I can cheer him on.
I have lots of ideas for my summer bucket list and goals. Best part of that, though, is the freedom to scratch something off the list or nix the list all together!! That’s the bloomin’ me. Hope you will stop by to check out my list on 06.23.2025 and possibly be inspired to create your own list to link up with us on that day.
Now it’s time to check out how my blogging buddies are blooming. That’s a lot of Bs.
My Tell Us About Friends
I am anxious to read what the other Tell Us About gals have written about this month’s prompt. Won’t you join me in visiting them?
- Debbie from Deb’s World tells us about the many ways she’s been boldly blooming since she was made redundant, and how it’s not about being fearless – it’s about showing up, growing and embracing a new way of being.
- Marsha from Marsha in the Middle is a lot like that smelly flower, the Corpse flower. It blooms once every ten years. After a little more than ten years, she is blooming once again.
- Rosie at Rosie Amber talks about a blooming friendship.
- Sue, who blogs at Women Living Well After 50, has been watching her orchid slowly come back to life and bloom. She reflects on the joy of anticipating the bloom and finding beauty in the becoming and how our own lives follow that pattern.
- Suzy from Suzy Turner reflects on blooming later in life—through creativity, self-expression, and soulful growth, not babies or begonias.
- Our friend Mary Katherine from MKsAdventureis taking a brief hiatus from blogging as she settles into retirement from her long-time career.
Why don’t you join us by linking up a post about how you’re blooming this season?
Your Turn
Would you say your life is in full bloom? Or is there an earlier season in your life where you have felt more in full bloom? I went into retirement fairly kicking and screaming and stomping my feet but, girls, I have got to say I am lovin’ it now. Hope whatever season you are in, you find ways to bloom and be your best YOU.
The weekend is upon us. What plans do you have? PC says we are going fishing on Father’s Day. We only have what amounts to a large puddle in which to fish here in El Paso, but it is a pretty spot. While he casts his line, I can read or write or both. And be ready to snap pictures of fish he catches.
Thank you for choosing to stop by to visit today. I appreciate YOU!!
Hugs and kisses,
Hi Leslie, I was smiling as I read through your post, you sound so happy, blessed and you’re definitely blooming. How great was your cruise, I’ve so enjoyed reading your posts and seeing the joyful smiles on your faces. You have some great quotes in this post and I agree with your change of thinking. How good is Christie’s coaching and how good is your post??? So happy for you my friend.xx
Thank you, sweet friend. Christie is just fabulous and I give her so much credit in helping me figure things out. We are experiencing much joy right now and I often pinch myself. Of course, the other shoe will drop at some point, but I am thankful that we have had this period to adjust – happily adjust – to PC’s retirement. Thank you for always saying the kindest things and warming my heart.
I love this, Leslie!! And I’m so happy to read that, despite the fact that you entered into retirement kicking and screaming, you are now loving it!! YAY!!
I try and always take the time to spot those little glimmers every day…the coffee taste in the morning, the delightful feeling of stretching my body during a bit of a yoga in the morning, cuddles with the cats and dog, hug from hubby, watching the builders put the final sparkly gold tiles in the bottom of the new swimming pool! The clouds on a hot day, the beautiful fairy house my best pal made me for a house warming gift! There are so many at the moment, I just love life!!
Big hugs
Suzy xx
Ooooo, sparkly gold tiles in the bottom of the pool!! We need pictures. That sounds so exotic. So beautiful. I am so glad you look for and FIND glimmers in your day to day. When we notice them, they seem to appear in abundance. Coincidence? I think not.
What a wonderful idea glimmers are. I have not thought about them before but I can immediately appreciate the idea.
Yes, glimmers are amazing. And rapidly multiply – like rabbits – when they are detected!!
Hi Leslie, I can read the joy in your post and you are definitely blooming these days. The work with Christie is obviously paying off. I love your take on the prompt this month, incorporating the glimmers in life that even small bring joy to our hearts and lives. Your cruise was amazing and you have so much more energy flowing from you. Happy to see you are happy and enjoying retirement and life in general. Have a beautiful weekend. Sue L x
Thank you, Sue. Something has clicked and life is really wonderful right now. I was so worried about PC retiring and the two of us stepping all over each other all day long. But we are finding our rhythm and enjoying the freedom of not having to work. Well, there are the occasional kitty-sitting jobs, but that’s it. I am glad my energy and joy are evident through photos and words. Thank you for this fabulous prompt and for supporting me on my journey. XO
The first thing I noticed in this post is how you and you PC are just glowing! I think his retirement is looking good on you both! You’ve had some really great trips, what a nice way to kick it off. I am glad you are slowing down and enjoying the little things that please you more. I always have to remind myself to do that. It is hard! It is nice to have your own hobbies apart as couples and together! I love how my runs are my time to myself and keep my sanity in check! Ha, ha!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Oh, girl, I was so worried about PC’s retirement!! But it has been really, really good. Thank you for the kind words!! Once we got my dumb broken heel ‘healed’ then we were able to begin enjoying life again. We are continuing to evolve through this season but are doing lots of fun things together and exploring activities on our own a little, too. Yes, I always felt the same way about running. It was my time – a kind of down time or stress reliever. We are going to the gym these days but I miss running. When we sold all of our home gym equipment I begged PC to let me keep my treadmill. And I am trying to work my way back to being able to run…hope to be able to do a 5K by fall. You and some of the other young bloggers always inspire me with running.
I love this connection between blooming and glimmers. Just seeing flowers blooming certainly brings me glimmers and cheers me on my way. Wonderful to see all the ways you are finding joy and contentment and blooming this year!
Thank you, friend!! I enjoyed your blooming post, too. It was very thoughtful. I am new to the word glimmer – had always called such things little miracles. Having a glimmer or little miracle in your day certainly makes the difference.