Feb 8 Cool Brees

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/glorius

Saints 31, Colts 17

I wasn’t going to watch the entire game but despite living in Atlanta and having a soft spot for Peyton Manning, I really did want the Saints to win. The images from the 9th Ward during the pregame commentary were still heartbreaking.  Hurricane Katrina struck the heart of New Orleans in 2005 and to this day, nearly five years later I am bewildered by the marks of the storm that are still not healed.

On this hazy Monday morning I am thankful

1. for traditions like the Super Bowl (minus the screaming chickens).
2. for access to and insights from the global conversation.
3. for a slice of time, explorations and giggles with good friends.

For what are you thankful?

Feb 1 Train Wreck

Train wreck at Montparnasse Station, at Place de Rennes side (now Place du 18 Juin 1940), Paris, France, 1895.

Last week was a bit of a train wreck for me at work where I found myself in surreal WTF moment after moment and by Friday the course of events actually took me off the track into a meltdown.  Office politics are the rue of my existence;  I don’t play so I sometimes have to pay.

I took time to go through the natural progression of disbelief, confusion, then frustration and anger which can be sometimes where I get stuck for a long time.  However, this time I did what I haven’t really done well in the past – I looked for the hidden messages and a way to apply them positively for myself. I let go of my disappointment in and expectations of other people and set my sights back on getting things done.

It was wildly liberating.

I am starting to listen to my life beat – those tiny impulses that we can actually moderate for the better.  I am learning to let go of the stuff that doesn’t matter and keep my sights on the happy bits.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not all tulips and daisies, but even train wrecks are starting to look like a good thing from the right angle.

Today I am thankful for

1. developing the personal presence to not completely lose my shit and make matters worse.
2. friends and colleagues that went out of their way to help.
3. an hour of clarity, an hour of laughter, and an hour of laser focused attention.

For what are you thankful?

Jan 25 Kiki

©Matthew McDermott /Polaris /eyevine

His name is Kiki; I will never forget it. He was pulled from the rubble of his apartment eight long days after the quake that rocked Port-Au-Prince Haiti.

Today I am thankful that

1. Kiki reminds me to be joyful, even in the midst of despair.
2. despite bitter ignorance, the world has embraced a tiny country in need beyond our comprehension.
3. we can come together virtually and make a difference.

For what are you thankful?

If you would like to contribute to the Haitian relief effort, here is an extensive list of organizations.

January 11 Dawn

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/scooterflix

I do not say that John or Jonathan, that this generation or the next, will realize all this; but such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn.  The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.                           – from Walden by Henry David Thoreau

There is indeed more day to dawn; we are eleven days into the New Year 2010 – a milestone for many, a mile marker for others.  This morning I stood and watched the pink dawn slowly fade against the canopy of frozen trees that frame our neighborhood and wished there was a rewind.  I’m slow to move but anxious to face the day after a long time away.

Today I am thankful for

1. getting home safely
2. so many good friends to lend a hand
3. a gentle pink dawn

For what are you thankful?

Jan 4 Trials and Trails

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/bogenfreund

Sometimes the most foreboding trails are where you discover the most interesting things, and sometimes they are simply more trying.  Either way, when you come to the end you feel a little more satisfied than when you started.

Today I’m thankful for simple things that make the trails and trials bearable:

1. the kind woman that takes out the trash with her quiet humor.
2. laughter and smiles just when you need them.
3. hot coffee in the icy morning and a glass of red wine at the end of another long and trying day.

For what are you thankful?

Dec 29 Instructions

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/drp

If Life came with instructions, would anyone actually read them?  I guess a few would pour over them intently, and then spend their days reminding the rest of us that we’re “doing it wrong“.    This year has felt like perhaps I should have read the instructions, or at least asked an instruction reader a time or two:  “Does this sound right to you?“.

I feel a little like 2009 has overstayed its welcome and I’d shoo it out the back door but it’s swollen and stuck shut from all the rain.  Does anyone have instructions on how to open a swollen door?

Today, I’m thankful that ..

1. despite the storms that have rocked this year, somehow we are still hanging on – singing a sailor’s song.
2. Life doesn’t come with instructions.  I would be tempted to look up all the things I’ve done wrong.
3. the ones that love me don’t read the instructions either.

For what are you thankful?

Dec 21 Flame

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/29487767@N02

These moments we share are gifts of immeasurable beauty.

Be thankful for every second that ticks while you are reading this post.  I am.

1…  2… 3 ….

Dec 14 Birthdays

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/robbrooks

Another life year has passed and this blog is a year old.

I don’t think much about birthdays.  Maybe it’s because I’m a December baby and this close to Christmas the last thing people want to worry about is a birthday. It’s more likely because I resist obligatory routines, but whatever the reason I’ve never been a “birthday person”.  I think I will try to change that moving forward because birthdays do provide a good place to say “thank you” to those people in your life that make all the difference.

Today, I’m thankful …

1. for birthday wishes from people around the world
2. for the people that come here and share their thanks
3. for this morning’s milky white blanket of fog

For what are you thankful?

Dec 7 Two Roads Diverged

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/garyj

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

from The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

I didn’t post yesterday.   I sat down to write but there was this thing circling around in my head refusing any sort of meaningful articulation, and then I saw this image this morning and it resolved.

Ask yourself honestly what you thought of these two men when you first looked at this picture.  Did your mind race to dichotomy?  Did your mind tell your stories about them – who or what they were, in stark black and white?

But this isn’t really a black and white image, is it?  Isn’t it merely shades of gray layered one upon the other, much like the decisions we make every day?  Do this, not that.  Go here, not there.  Wear this, not that.  It’s maddening really.  Equally maddening is how we cast people, like fish from a net, into two buckets – keep, throw away.

Look again, you may see shades of gray.

Today I am just thankful that …

1. I have the luxury of making decisions.
2. you notice the little things.
3. I forced myself to post, albeit “late”.   This little blog has become a special place for me.

For what are you thankful?

Nov 30 Anticipation

cc image courtesy flickr.com/photos/deapeajay

 

It’s dark on the drive home and the glare of street and holiday lights strays into our eyes – it’s the time of anticipation and anxiety.   Can the dreary economy persuade us to stop and be thankful for each tempestuous moment and what it offers as it passes, or will we cover ourselves in blankets of consumption and wait out the storm?

Today I am grateful that I’ve been blessed with

1. folks that have adopted me as their own, seemingly without hesitation
2. a child like wonder and anticipation for the holidays
3. the security of purposeful employment

For what are you thankful?