CFC Blog #245: Grateful-Themed Anti Pet Peeves ROUND #3

Starting off the week with another round of anti pet peeves! I hope they give you a burst of joy. And I hope everyone had a very safe and happy thanksgiving, even if it looked/felt a little different this year. 

Wishing you a Happy Monday!

-Amanda

P.S: One more round coming later this week :)

Grateful-Themed Anti Pet Peeves

I will say that I'm intensely grateful for Zoom (and other such technologies) and the people who make them keep working. We all hate being on Zoom every day so much—me no less than anyone else!—but without it, we'd really be in trouble. Not so much on the business end—we WOULD be in trouble there, no doubt, but we'd also find other ways of being and we'd figure out how to move forward—but on the personal end. Not seeing my nieces and nephews grow up would be really, really, really hard. So even though I can't stand our new Zoom lifestyle, I'm still grateful for it and the folks who make it possible. - Flourish Klink

My new friends David and Gerard who I met a few months prior to the pandemic are possibly the best "things" that happened to me this year. Not only are they the funniest and least cynical New Yorkers I have ever met, but they have done regular zooms with me from overseas all through this ordeal teaching me how to make all kinds of comfort food, like an Italian nana, including all the secret food magic and family receipts.

My favorite meal ever was at Locanda Verde, a moment in time when I was 100% happy, no worries, so they helped me backtrack everything about it so I could recreate the meal maybe 85% if I am being generous to myself, which is good enough.

Not only did they give food masterclasses but David's mutts were always in the background, sometimes front and center during Zoom calls, elevating everything, and so cute pets taking over Zoom is another favorite of mine for 2020.

People and pets who bring happiness and humor during challenging times are definitely my favorite anti-pet peeves for 2020.

Also Muayyad in our Coburn family, who I was lucky enough to talk to when I had about a hundred questions about what is probably next. Muayyad gave me all the scientific advice I needed and was able to explain it with lots of humor in addition to the wisdom.

I love my Coburn family!

- Leonore Nielsen

With the world standing still during covid 19, we were forced to break with routines and break with old thinking. The pause allowed me to see the world with different eyes. I see a world in which we have so much more power over our way of living, but also so much more responsibility to make the most out of the precious few years that we have been granted on this unique planet. Once the pandemic is over, I see vast new freedoms unfolding for all of us - making choices that are in tune with our wants, desires, and capabilities. - Matthias Hollwich

My amazing and patient friends and the continuing realization that it’s the little things that take up the most room in your heart. - Steve Crandall

I am incredibly grateful that at any moment of any day in any circumstance, I have a best friend who I can reach out to for meaningful conversations that are sometimes fun, lighthearted, and even trivial... and other times are difficult, challenging, and raw. In the midst of these challenging times, I have found that it's been incredibly helpful to have people like him in my life with whom I can engage in conversations that represent the full range of emotions that we may be experiencing. - Bill Cummings

I'm grateful for all the customer service people that are very pleasant and respond very quickly during Covid. - Alison Posa

I have been so grateful for my little folding bike. I cannot imagine these past months without this bike. It has been a profound experience often riding the length of Manhattan (up to the GW bridge and down to the Seaport) from early in the pandemic to now, observing how the city has shut down, come back to life, cautiously figuring out how to do life (photo attached) - Jimmy Lee

- Jimmy Lee