Yesterday I had the great joy of attending my Women's Group. This was, I think, my third time attending and it is so wonderful! This is a group that is organized through my health care provider and its aim is to help us with things like boundary setting and effective communication. I'm learning so much! In the past I've always tried to be everything to everyone and I'm learning that not only is this hurting me, it's hurting the people around me. By trying to smooth over every unhappy situation, I rob my family of developing their own coping skills. I'm also learning new ways to listen to people. That has been incredible! Now when people talk to me about the negatives in their life, instead of doing what comes naturally to me (jump in and point out all the positives), I'm doing almost the opposite. Now I listen without interrupting and then I emphathize and ask questions. I don't tell anyone how they feel anymore! Well, I try not to anyway. It's definitely a process, but I'm feeling really good about my progress.
We actually ended up doing quite a little walk-about. We ate crab (yum!) at Joe's Crab Shack
on the river in Old Town, walked over the Tower Bridge, walked through the Downtown Plaza and walked to the State Capitol Building and explored that for a while. This was my first time in the Capitol building even though I've lived here for 18 years! It was really neat, but the thing I enjoyed the most was "The Restroom That Time Forgot"! See for yourself:
Isn't that a hoot? Lest you think that this is the best California can do, let me share some of the prettier things we saw in the Capitol Building:
This is the inside of the rotunda from the ground floor. As pretty as this photo is, it is much prettier in person! This time we did not spend any time in the Capitol Park, but I have done that in the past and it is a great trip all in itself. One of the coolest things about our day was that we both agreed that a city lifestyle in Sacramento would be a very good thing! I've always wanted to live downtown, but Earl hasn't always shown the same enthusiasm. (Personally I think it's because now he has his boat and why wouldn't he want to be closer to the river? LOL) I've been a suburbanite my entire life. I am so excited at the thought of living in the city! It will be years yet before we are ready, but it's really something nice to look forward to.Sunday, Earl and I went to the Crocker Art Museum here in Sacramento. A very cool place, I must say. They have an entire large section devoted to European art and most of it is the Dutch masters. Beautiful! The museum itself is housed in the Crocker Mansion. Isn't it pretty?
We actually ended up doing quite a little walk-about. We ate crab (yum!) at Joe's Crab Shack on the river in Old Town, walked over the Tower Bridge, walked through the Downtown Plaza and walked to the State Capitol Building and explored that for a while. This was my first time in the Capitol building even though I've lived here for 18 years! It was really neat, but the thing I enjoyed the most was "The Restroom That Time Forgot"! See for yourself:So, that was our date this weekend. Fun, fun, fun! I hope all of you had an equally nice weekend! Hugs to all!
Sounds like a wonderful weekend! And your women's group sounds great too--it's so nice to have that support and other people to talk with.
ReplyDelete"The restroom that time forgot." LOL! For a second, I thought I was looking at the "Apartment Therapy" website... I'm pretty sure those couches and chairs are "in" again! (They only had to wait 30 years... good thing they didn't bust their budget buying new furnishings!)
ReplyDeleteYour women's group sounds excellent. These are lessons I've had to learn on my own (the hard way) and I'm still learning. Good for you, Bettsi! Josephine