February 28th: Today I acquired a first class ticket to Boston for a trip I’m taking in a few months with my brother and sister-in-law. We’re taking my father’s ashes home and following the path of his youth. First class on a coast to coast flight is a rare luxury. Back in[…]
February 27th: I am grateful, on the anniversary of my father’s death, for the soothing poetic words of Sarah Blondin. To my lover, my husband, my wife, my child, my dearest friend, my mentor To the stranger I pass on the street, the kind eyes who met mine, the gentle breath shared while[…]
February 26th: This is a strange time. I’m helping to plan a Celebration of Life for one of my oldest and dearest friends on the first anniversary of my father’s death and while my husband recuperates from surgery to repair a severed tendon in his hand. I’m wrapping up a year[…]
February 23rd: The clarity of January has flown out the window and a little bit of chaos has landed in its place. I hate when this happens. Every morning it is a struggle an adventure to define my day. Hundreds of ideas and suggestions floating through my head, some accompanied[…]
February 20th: The final assignment for my numerology course was to write a personal mission statement inspired by my numbers. The attributes of the numbers help to fill in the blanks. This should’ve been an easy task as my numbers accurately reflect my past, present and future; and I’m fairly comfortable writing about[…]
February 19th: I had pre-planned today’s gratitude post to coincide with last night’s book club. Our book, The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, made me grateful for authors whose words and metaphors invited me to linger on the page and who exposed me to unfamiliar situations, people and feelings. Through the eyes of a[…]
February 18th: I feel the pressure to write today when this quiet, rain filled day begs for a more tranquil activity — a simple art project, a good book, a nap, or just some quiet time watching the world go by outside my window. Writing, while pleasurable, is still work and today I[…]
February 15th: Pablo Picasso said, Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up. Well I’m trying to re-acquaint myself with the artist inside and today I was very successful. My mom and I spent the day making art with shaving foam. It’s a very messy[…]
February 14th: I’m grateful for a husband who, after 30 years of marriage, still remembers me on Valentine’s Day. For the last 10 years he’s surprised me with pajamas from Victoria’s Secret. I know lingerie is more romantic, but I love pajamas. My first and favorite pair of pajama bottoms[…]
February 13th: I’m celebrating my first milestone; completion of month one in my Year of Gratitude project. I’ve posted every day except one, and only in a few cases did I resort to just a sentence or two. What have I learned so far? I can show up when I put my[…]
February 12th: A storm cleared out yesterday leaving in its place a warm, sunny, spring-like day. The Pear trees are in full white bloom; the hills, usually a fire concern, are covered in a lush emerald green carpet; the trickle of water in the normally bone dry creek twinkles in the sun. A perfect day for[…]
February 10th: Today I am grateful for the thoughtfulness of my sister-in-law. Yesterday, out of the blue, she sent photos and a nice email regarding an Apple tree that we had planted in her yard last October. Two trees were actually planted, one in honor of my Dad and one[…]
February 9th: I’m a bit adrift this week. The displacement caused by the fumigation of termites in my house is the likely culprit. Or a side effect of binge watching Gilmore Girls on sleepless nights; my brain suffers from the constant chatter of all the show’s female characters talking as[…]
February 7th: This year’s creative expression is writing. In addition to my daily gratitude writing I’m participating with a group of friends in a 52 weeks of journaling project. Every Sunday a new prompt is posted and we respond in any form we wish — writing, art work, photos, etc.[…]
February 4th: I have always wanted to do more. Be more involved in my community, be more involved in our democracy, do more to contribute to the well being of others. It’s been this idea in my head for as long as I can remember — almost another life that I’ve[…]
February 3rd: Sometimes gratitude is a very intentional exercise of turning a negative into a positive. Sometimes gratitude is turning inward and reflecting on the basics, the things in our life we take for granted or do without any recognition of their importance. Nothing screams “write about me” today so[…]
February 2nd: Don’t laugh, but I’ve been studying numerology. It’s part of a self-directed initiative to expand my horizons and it’s the information in this course that I’m actually thankful for today. Numbers 1-9 each have personality types associated with them making numerology not much different than the personality types[…]
February 1st: There’s no better pick-me-up than helping someone else and today I needed just that. A sympathy letter composed today to my recently widowed best friend is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to write. Afterwards I felt as if I’d been punched in the stomach, winded by the grief of also[…]