Tag: gratitude

  • HAPPY THANKSGIVING

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING

    image via gemfound.com
    image via gemfound.com

    On this day of thanks, I am wishing you and yours an abundance of love and overwhelming sentiments of gratitude.

    Some of the things I am thankful for, large and small:

    • The health and current state of joy that each member of my family is experiencing.
    • My home.  I get to celebrate Thanksgiving in my childhood home… my parents are still currently living there and they have maintained the place… and our traditions… with a kind of care that has not gone unnoticed.  I am so grateful for my parents’ creation and preservation of all of our holiday traditions.  Thank you for teaching me what a “home” can feel like, Dad & Mom.  You two are the best parents around.
    • My friendships with a few women that I hold close. They are my sisters.  They are my tribe.  They inspire me.  They challenge me.  I respect and admire them.  They are beautiful.
    • Leopard print.  I am very thankful for its existence.
    • Billie Holiday.  Without her, I wouldn’t have scratchy jazz filling my soul.
    • My mother. The older I am, the more I understand her.  Each year, I am filled with ever increasing awe for her feminine, soft, gentle strength.  What a role model.
    • Each of you reading this.  If I had a way to send a thank you note to each and every one of you who support this site with your time, your comments, your messages, and your existence, I would.
    • My man.  He has taught me that there are men beyond my father and brother who hold the kind of goodness that I knew could exist, but had yet to find.  And… he can cook.  Gratitude bonus.
    • Food. Glorious food. Food. Food. Food. And…. food.  Did I mention that I’m thankful for food?
    • Freedom.  In light of current events, this concept has become something sacred to me.  I never want to take all of the freedom I have for granted.  Thank you, America, for allowing me access to art, education, a voice, work, opportunity, and exploration.  I love this country for that.
  • THIRTY

    THIRTY

    thirty scott cutler
    photo credit: Scott Cutler

    I thought thirty would look a little something like this…

    Happily married.  Two children under the age of five.  A 2,200 sq ft “cottage” with a white picket fence, solar power, grey water, and a chicken coop.  A career (lawyer, real estate agent, POTUS) that generated considerable financial success.  A published book that resulted in moderate national renown.  Home-cooked Sunday brunches hosted in the backyard (all eggs provided by aforementioned chickens and produce provided by the yet-to-be-mentioned hydroponic garden) with a mimosa in hand, scratchy jazz playing, and a spattering of the most interesting, accomplished, jet-setting company that one could imagine.

    No, no, no, I hadn’t put much thought into it.  None at all.

    The truth was that I had put so much thought into it that it had become real.  I believed that this entire world existed and that the day I hit thirty I would magically acquire all of it.  I don’t know if I thought the hard work I had put in would cause it to just appear.  I don’t know if I thought it would come my way via osmosis.  I didn’t think much about the “how”… I just focused on the “why.”

    Why?

    Because I believed that was the script that would result in happiness.  I hadn’t even considered an alternative script.  There was no alternative.

    Until I turned thirty.

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