DAILY GRATITUDE FAMILY

 

Today I’m grateful for the deep roots and long branches

of my family tree…

for all the ancestors I’ve never know…

who are a part of me.

DEEP LOVE

 

May we be blessed to love someone so long and so deeply…

that we can’t remember a time before we met them…

The kind off love that lingers long after they are gone,

so we never will forget them.

DEEP LOVE

 

May we be blessed to love someone so long and so deeply…

that we can’t remember a time before we met them…

The kind off love that lingers long after they are gone,

so we never will forget them.

ENDINGS

 

A neighbor of ours died recently…unloved, old and all alone.

She was found, by a person walking his dog, in the doorway of her home.

She was a little bit crazy which made her angry, abusive, and mean

with no-one to say goodbye or mourn her…it was the saddest ending I’ve ever seen.

But the world is filled with sad endings isn’t it?

People dying of starvation, disease, abuse, natural disasters, the bullets and bombs of war…

Some children die who aren’t even old enough to understand what they are dying for!

And when it comes to our partners, our family, our children, our grandchildren…our friends…

It will always be difficult to find happiness when life comes to and end.

In a way we are programed for happy endings aren’t we?

In our Fairy Tales, our books, our movies, our stories on TV.

I wonder…knowing in real life…every ending will have its share of sorrow

will be accompanied by it’s share of tears…

If that’s the reason we love experiencing happy endings

as we grow older through the years.

When you think about it…when we find love and love find us..

for the duration it’s like a cloud we’re floating on…

and how can we not be sad…when the person sharing our cloud…is gone?

It’s inevitable when we love our partners, our children our grandchildren

our friends, our pets our Mom’s and Dad’s

that the same love that fills our hearts with so much happiness…

when there is an ending…makes us sad.

We will feel heartbroken, lonely, depressed, and we will always feel sad

after losing a person who helped make our dreams come true…

even dreams we never knew we had.

It’s ironic isn’t it…how love can be so wonderful while at the same time so heartrending…

that the happier a life we share with someone…the sadder is the ending.

I hope that everyone who dies…from the youngest to the oldest…

while they are alive will find love and happiness…and home…

So no one else will ever have to die again…unloved…and all alone.

DAILY GRATITUDE SAVING SEATS

 

Today I’m grateful for all the people seated next to me

who accompany me on my journey every day…

And I’m grateful to be saving seats for the those

who will be joining me along the way.

TOTAL HAPPINESS

 

May we be blessed to be surrounded by those 

who show us love in all they do…

in their smile, their touch, their caress

who just by being a part of our life…

add to our total happiness.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE

 

Knowing what you know now about life…

from the knowledge you’ve acquired every time you win…and every time you lose…

If you could, this moment, determine how to live the rest of your years…

which attributes would you choose?

Below you’ll find a partial list…for your convenience printed alphabetically…

all answers to the question…Who would I like to be?

Accepting

Beautiful, Brave

Compassionate, Courageous, Creative, Curious

Decent

Empathetic 

Famous, Family-oriented, Friendly

Generous, Grateful

Honest

Intelligent,

Joyful

Kind

Loving

Mindful, Moral

Neat

Objective, observant

Quick-witted, Quiet

Reliable, Resourceful, Respectful 

Strong

Talented, Trustworthy

Unbiased, Understanding

Virtuous

Wealthy, Wise

Xiphophyllous (see quick-witted)- (hey you’re lucky I found one with ‘X’!)

Youthful

Zealous

If spread out before you…were all the qualities you could possess…

which ones would you choose to bring you peace and happiness?

Of course we all have different answers…different qualities we’d like to possess…

but wouldn’t it be wonderful if the qualities we choose…

led to not only our own…but to everyone’s happiness?

DAILY GRATITUDE UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF KINDNESS

 

Today I’m grateful for understanding 

the power in the gift of kindness:

Knowing any time we reach for kindness

and are blessed to have achieved it…

How it cost nothing for us to give it…

but was priceless to those who received it.

LOVE, COMPASSION AND KINDNESS

 

May we be blessed when we look around the world 

when we see people filled with hatred for one another

people being inhumane…and as as thoughtless as can be…

To do our best to show people 

love

compassion

and kindness

to offset others’ cruelty.

THE THING ABOUT A HUG

 

The thing about a hug is how it can show up at the most unexpected time…

in the most unexpected place and yet…

when it does…chances are that unexpected hug is one you never will forget.

We sell socks in our bookstore (on a display stand we installed),

Colorful book-related socks that come in sizes large and small.

But the sizes are written in the tiniest hard to read font

so we make sure the customer checks…to get the exact size socks they want.

An older lady came up to the counter to buy two pair of socks…

immediately I saw the confusion in her eyes…

When I said, “Make sure when it comes to those socks…that you have checked the size.”

Her confusion wasn’t with the socks…it was with me instead…

When she asked “Qué?” And I realized she did not understand a single word I said. 

She entered with her family but they spread out leaving her alone…

which meant, when it came to helping her, I was on my own.

So with Google translator on my phone I walk around the counter

(wondering how I was going to handle this at all)

then showed her one of the pair of socks was grande (large)

while the other one was pequeña (small)

Now, fully committed, I entered the next part of my plan…

I showed her which sizes were for a mujer (woman) and which size was for an hombre (man)

She looked at me…nodded her head…her smile was undaunted…

as she went back to make sure she was buying the size and socks she wanted.

After ringing her up…I showed her the price…she took money out of her wallet

and as we counted it together I knew this would be rough…

because I could see her wallet was empty…and she didn’t have enough.

But once again Google translator made something easy out of something hard…

When it said in its best Spanish (and I repeated in my worst),

Tienes una tarjeta de crédito? (Do you have a credit card?)

After she nodded held up her card, smiled, then payed her bill 

she motioned for me to come around the counter…to join her on the rug…

When I did she put her arms around me and gave me a big hug!

A wonderful hug that came at an unexpected time in an unexpected place and yet

It is one hug I know…I will never forget.

DAILY GRATITUDE HENRY JAMES KINDNESS

 

Today I’m grateful for the novelist Henry James….

perhaps because when it comes to this particular view

our thinking is aligned….

He said:

Three things in human life are important.

The first is to be kind.

The second is to be kind.

And the third …is to be kind.

THE REAL HEROES THAT DAY

 

May we be blessed to understand what a hero is…

when it comes to our dominion

because in our country at this moment there is a difference of opinion…

I believe the Capitol police who died defending our Capitol 

and safeguarding our freedom January 6 were heroes…

To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States 

and the laws of the District of Columbia 

these oaths…they were fulfilling them.

While President Trump issued a blanket pardon 

to more than1,500 people charged in the insurrection…

including those responsible for killing them.

But we will not be swayed by those trying to re-write history…

Those of us who witnessed the insurrection that day…will not be deterred…

For we will always remember what happened

and we know who the heroes were!