DAILY GRATITUDE WONDERFUL LIFE

 

I am grateful for understanding early on…

and can say without any misgivings…

how lucky I am to to have been gifted

this wonderful live I am living.

LITTLE THINGS

 

May we be blessed to understand….

since we are only on this Earth for a short while…

it is imperative we do what makes us happy

and surround ourselves with people who make us smile.

ALL THE REASONS I WAS BORN

 

Although I have no recollection of the day when I was born…

my parents said it was a cold day in December…sometime in the early morn.

Whenever I ask myself why was I born on that cold day in December

I stop a moment to think about my life…and take time to remember… 

And though I can’t remember every moment

as the years and my memory have intertwined…

I do remember some that are etched within my mind.

I remember the town where I grew up…because it’s influence never ends…

and some of the people I grew up with…I still proudly call my friends.

I remember the day I became a teacher…

standing in my first classroom filled with apprehension…filled with fear…

and I remember many of the students…I taught in my career…

I remember the day I became a father…how proud I was…how glad…

I remember the day Bryan first smiled at me…

and I transformed from a father to a Dad.

I remember the daughter who followed…I remember life beginning to swirl…

for just as I was getting comfortable raising a son…I’d now be raising a girl…

I remember the day I married Deborah…and how when that day was done..

what started out as two separate families…were blended into one.

I remember the birth of my grandchildren…1 amazing girl and 3 wonderful boys….

and how, when I hear them call me PopPop…my heart still fills with joy.

I remember the day Damien our eldest grandchild…asked Trista to be his wife…

and I remember the day together they brought Violet to life.

And when I stop remembering I smile…felling joyous…contented and pleased…

to be lucky enough to have lived a life filled with memories like these.

Memories that began on a cold day in December…sometime in the early morn…

which through the years have helped me realize

all the reasons I was born.

DAILY GRATITUDE MEMORY

 

I am grateful for my grandpa's wisdom

and offer one of the many lessons that he taught:

How time moves fast and forever forward…

but our memory…does not.

MEMORIES

 

May we all be blessed to live a life

filled with beautiful moments

that lead to memories

we are happy to revisit once in a while.

Memories that find a way to leak our of our eyes

roll down our cheeks

and join both ends of our smile.

THE WORST CARTOONIST

 

As we’re deciding what to keep and what to let go of for our move

which will be happening soon

we ran across some old books I made… filled with with my hand-drawn cartoons…

There was a time when I was younger…

I felt by the art gods I was was kissed…

When I thought about leaving my teaching job behind

and becoming…a cartoonist.

So on our family vacations each summer…late hours I would keep…

drawing cartoons recreating our day’s activities… 

after our children were fast asleep…

Our family thought those cartoons were silly, funny and unique.

We laughed a little at the humor I created…

and much more at my unusual cartooning technique..

It seems that not only was there no perspective in my drawings…

which caused us all to scoff…

but looking at all my drawings…my proportions were way off.

Heads and feet were too big…arms were too long… 

and I still don’t understand…

the correct way to draw faces, shoulders, fingers, legs or hands.

The funny thing is in the 10 years I drew cartoons…

no matter what the circumstance….

because my perspective and proportions never improved…

my artistic ability never advanced.

But perusing through these old cartoons…

still caused Deborah and I to laugh and cry with ease…

for as bad as my cartoons were…they brought back a host of memories.

Memories of times long ago..when our family was together 

and all the world seemed right…

when we’d play as a family during the day

and I’d draw my cartoons at night.

These home-made albums held treasures from a fun-filled wonderful past…

and reminded us of times we spent together…that were over much too fast.

But there’s something in these old cartoons…

a feeling in these pages that still enthralls…

Which means these old cartoon books I drew back then

are moving with us

big heads, big hands…and all.

SPIRITUALITY

 

I am grateful for all the wonderfully different religions people practice…

for the kind and loving person their Gods and their faith 

help them to be…

And I’m grateful knowing there are many roads

That lead to kindness, 

inner peace…

and spirituality.