THANKFUL FOR MY BIRTHDAY

 

Today I’m thankful for my birthday…

To be one year older than I was before….

And thankful how…as each year my outer body grows a little older

my inner child comes out to play a little more.

BIRTHDAY WISHES

“Today’s my birthday!” The little girl announced as she picked a book off of the shelf.

“My birthday wish this year,” she whispered, “was to pick out a book all by myself.”

She paid for her book, picked up her bag…and remembered her change too.

then walked into the arms of her parents…the ones who made her wish come true.

As I watched her celebrate with her family and into their embrace dissolve…

I thought of how, over the years, our birthday wishes evolve.

I imagine when I was a baby…to young a wish to make

the only thing I wanted was to get my hands into the icing on my cake.

When I got a little older…moving from a baby to a boy

every birthday wish I made centered on some toy.

Older still I’d close my eyes and blow out the candles’ flames

wishing for money…or clothes…or, perhaps, the latest video games.

When I became a husband and a father…my wishes changed…I must profess

I wished my family to remain healthy…that they’d know peace…and happiness.

As my children grew and grew…I’d wish they’d live a life without turmoil…

that they would always make me smile…and give me grandchildren to spoil.

Today’s my birthday!…and at 71…having had most of my wishes come true 

let me take a moment to share…this birthday wish with you…

I wish for love and happiness…for peace and harmony

to grow another year older surrounded by people I love

and people who love me…

It’s actually the same wish on my birthday…now…every year I make…

because if this wish is granted…

then everything else…

Is just icing on the cake. 

THANKFUL FOR MY ABILITY TO SLOW DOWN

 

Today I’m thankful for my ability to slow down

to move at a relaxed…more determined pace….

Remembering:

Life should be more of a leisurely walk…

than a rushed and hurried race.

THE DUALITY OF TIME

 

There are intervals in life… like celebrating dinner with our niece 

that are wonderfully sublime…

Times when I am overwhelmed by the duality of time

For instance wasn’t it just the other day…into this world our niece arrived?

If that’s the case…

how can this beautiful and talented young woman across form us…now be 25? 

And how time which is always moving forward…and always moving fast

will sometimes slow down for us on our trip to the future from the past.

Which leads to another time perception I have never truly comprehended…

how during dinner with our niece…did time slow down…it’s as if it was suspended?

Except for a musician in the corner of the restaurant…whose music filled the air… 

Deborah, Natalie, and I were the only people there.

We visited for a couple hours…talking about life and love and family

but it wasn’t until we prepared to leave I was struck by times duality.

It’s as if in our two hours together…times was nullified…

I hadn’t heard one song from the musician…

and now…the restaurant was fully occupied!

I wonder if time understands how we live in moments…

and being that she is compassionate…as well as wiser and much stronger…

she allows some of these moment in our life…to last a little longer…

Moments like with our niece Natalie (with family and friends)

knowing…since she is time…she’ll catch up in the end.

I’m okay with time moving forward…never visiting the same moment again

as long as in some moments she takes a moment…every now and then

and allows herself and the rest of the world to fade into the background…to recede….

and…like she did in a restaurant with our niece…

she slows down…to give us all the time we need.

THANKFUL FOR PEOPLE I HAVE LOVED

 

Today I’m thankful for having people in my life whom I’ve loved…

who somehow find a way….

to continue to make me smile…

when I think about them…

long after they’ve passed away.

GOODBYE

 

When a person we love passes…when it’s time to say goodbye…

we think how ephemeral life is…how one day we all will die.

It makes us look at how we live…it might fill us with misgivings…

as we look a little closer at the life that we are living.

We’re blessed to cling to the people we love who are alive…

as we remember those who’ve died.

We think of the tears already shed…

as well as tears we’ve not yet cried.

Even though we understand it’s inevitable…that one day we all will say goodbye

we cannot stop our tears from flowing when a person we love dies.

We talk about the life they lived…we share memories we’ve made throughout the years

each memory brings a smile to our face…each smile accompanied by tears.

For a while our lives are filled with darkness we have trouble seeing the light.

Sadness clings to everything…it’s as if we’re blanketed by night.

But as time moves ever forward…the light starts peeking through…. 

and through the clouds of darkness…we begin to see the blue.

And we begin to realize…as each page of the calendar turns…

the person whose death made us so sad…would want our smile to return.

They’d want us to overcome our sorrow, our misery…our fears

to remember them with smiles…love and laughter…

and occasionally a few tears.

They’d want us to remember how blessed we were 

to have someone in our life whose passing made us sad enough to cry….

Lucky to have loved someone…

who made it so hard to say goodbye.

THANKFUL FOR THE FOG

 

 Today I’m thankful for the fog

and for author Jonathan Lockwood Huie

who had the wisdom to write

How

Sometimes we need the fog

to remind ourselves 

that all of life

is not black and white.

A PELICAN IN THE FOG

 

I have mentioned this before…yes, it’s something many of you have heard…

without my glasses…when I look around…my vision is quite blurred.

I suppose that’s why in life…I love the color grey…

walking in the fog…and paintings by Monet.

Walking on the beach the other morning…they sky changed from blue to grey

and when the fog settled over us it was like walking in a painting by Monet.

 

Once the fog surrounded us Deborah said, “I forgot how beautiful the fog can be.”

I smiled and reminded her…without my glasses…this is the world I see.

Then Deborah…hoping for more height…stepped upon a fallen log…

and pointed into the distance saying…”Is that a pelican in the fog?”

The beauty of seeing a pelican in the fog for me…to her I quickly exclaimed…

is with or without the fog…that pelican looks the same.

When I was young I thought of my blurred vision as a reason for discontent…

something to feel sorry for…a handicap to lament…

But as I’ve grown older…perhaps I’ve also grown a little more wise…

because I’ve come to see my blurred vision as a blessing in disguise…

Deborah finds beauty in that pelican in the fog…only when fog comes her way…

but I’ve been blessed to find pelicans in the fog, anytime of any day.

Which makes me stop and give thanks every now and then…that the creators found a way

to create me not with perfect eyes…but with the eyes of Claud Monet

THANKFUL FOR LETTER WRITING

 

Today I’m thankful for letter writing

For there are few acts that pay more lasting dividends

Than taking the time to write to…

or opening up a letter from…

family and friends.

LETTERS TO THE FUTURE-LETTERS FROM THE PAST

 

 We began an new tradition this Christmas…

each family member wrote a letter to our future self…

which Deborah and I collected and will keep safely on a shelf…

The only directions were to think about the year ahead…and where we’d like to be…

Things we’d like to accomplish…placed we’d like to go…

things we'd like to see.

To write our thoughts on this coming year …any experiences we hope to amass…

to be opened next Christmas…at which…time it becomes a letter from our past. 

Our letter to our future self could be long or short…it could be big or small…

and if anyone was hesitant…they need not participate at all.

There is a simple beauty to this idea…as time moves on so fast…

to take a moment to gaze into the future…before that future becomes the past.

Of course none of us know what the future holds…how in the end Destiny will route it

but once a year, I think, it’s kind of nice to think about it.

Come next Christmas when it’s opened…when another year’s flown by

we’ll read what we wrote to ourselves…perhaps we’ll laugh…perhaps we’ll cry…

Perhaps we’ll learn a little about ourselves…and we’ll be a little more prepared…when

we sit down next Christmas…and write to future selves again.

THANKFUL FOR CHRISTMAS LOVE

Today I’m thankful for Christmas love…

but thinking of Christmas in a different way:

What if we taught our children that any day they show love to another person

They are celebrating Christmas Day? 

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

 

The days before Christmas are wonderful aren’t they?

Filled with anticipation as we, once again, feel like little girls and boys.

When the whole world acts a little kinder…when, in the air, we can feel her joy.

Joy that seems to permeate…that increases a little every day

as we excitedly watch the calendar…counting down to the holiday.

And how many times before Christmas..wherever we go…do we hear…

how Christmas and the holiday season…is the best time of the year?

It’s not that bad things aren’t happening…that our world is suddenly peaceful and free 

It’s just…on the days before Christmas…we remember 

and act like the people we were created to be.

Then comes the day after Christmas…once the celebration is over we find…

how often those feelings we felt before Christmas…are easily left behind.

How, again, we are faced with a world where bad things are happening…

A world at war…where not everyone is free.

and we find it easier to avoid and ignore the people we were created to be.

But I think we’re looking at this all wrong…I think the best way for our world to survive…

Is not to look at this day…as the day after Christmas…

but 364 days until the next one arrives.

364 days to be filled with anticipation..as each day we feel like little girls and boys…

When each day the whole world acts a little kinder

and, in the air, you can feel her joy.

Joy that seems to permeate and increase a little every day…

as we excitedly watch our calendars…counting down to the next Christmas Day.

So here’s a Christmas wish if have…which you are all free to explore…

Instead of thinking of this day as the day after Christmas…

Think of it as 364 days before…

Perhaps if more and more people felt this way…

there’d be less prejudice and hatred and fear…

and every day we might hear someone say…

THIS…is the best time of the year.