This year was no exception, but it had every exception.
THANKFUL FOR FAMILY.
My description at the dinner table of what I am thankful for consisted of, "ALL the people in my life and the lessons I have learned." What I really meant to say I am attempting to explain here in greater detail. This year has been extraordinarily blessed- so much has been given to me by the universe. An incredible first year of marriage, a home to truly call 'our own,' a sister to get to know in person, a new and a super adorable and creatively challenging class of students among the most outstanding. This year has also given me some hard lessons to learn. And I learn them from my encounters/experiences with others. Everyone is a teacher in the circle of Life.
This year it seemed like my birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled up into one amazing month of get togethers, time off from work, family, nature, sunshine, snow, and so much more-- the gratitude ever abundant. - - - A significant part possible because my mother dearest, has blessed us with her presence for a whole month, visiting after her first year working in Colombia.
THANKFUL FOR WORDS
We also shared words, thoughts, and several poems. Two by Rumi that I highly recommend: "What was Told, That" and "The Guest House" (see below). One participant, who literally is staying in my grandma's spectacular GuestHouse, recited his favorite single line from a poem that went, "pinnacled dim in the intense insane." Doesn't make much sense without the rest of the poem I suppose, but there is something to be said about the literary composition of words, something I am particularly drawn to at this moment in time thanks to the book my sister shared with me that I am immensely enjoying reading, "The Fault in Our Stars."
It was a lovely gathering and I can't even remember the exact number of years it had been since we were together on Thanksgiving day.
Thanksgiving morning as we were loading up the car, we experienced a miracle. Hundreds of cranes circling, dancing, singing right above our house. The day after Thanksgiving Matt and I drove down to the Bosque del Apache to enjoy the birds and take photographs in that golden late afternoon sun. Another miracle blessed us as we departed. Thousands of snow geese moving locations, singing and soaring through the late evening sky. These experiences will always and forever make me think of my dad and the joy he finds in them.
THANKFUL FOR LIFE
I'll give you a forewarning that I am about to digress onto a much darker topic, but one that jolts us back into the present moment to remember to be grateful and truly alive every moment that we have:
The other day a friend of my uncle's stopped by and we sat around catching up and then stumbled across the topic of ..... how do you say.... global destruction? Specifically, we were discussing Fukushima and the melting reactors that have caused the largest/continual radioactive leak into the ocean (might be wise to avoid eating fish unless farm raised and not Pacific caught) and how they are trying to safely recontain them, but if anything goes wrong and one breaks, basically the entire northern hemisphere of the world is up shit creek, excuse my language. Which depressingly could happen with the next earthquake, tidal wave or the like... This conversation really struck a chord with me, and seriously disturbed my thoughts for the entire rest of the day. And yet as the sunlight drew to an end of this particular day, I found myself standing on the top of a boulderous mountain in northern New Mexico, watching the sun dip down behind the mountain line, snow speckled across the ground: an expansive, and impressive sight indeed. Just you and the earth and the sky, the wind, the air, the sound of a bird here or there. And I thought to myself: "Wow, what a beautiful place we live in. How I hope to have many more days, months, years here on planet earth. How I hope we as a global community will work harder every day to realize its gift to us, and how to care for it. And for the grand plan- all that's out of my control- one never knows what moment will be the last, I am oh so thankful for here and now, for being alive today. For this moment."
Which brings me to the last and most basic Thankful for. We all have our struggles, our periods of darkness to face. **Spoiler alert: Life is not a picnic and it's not fair (wise words from my grandmother). But life is an amazing journey, a beautiful dance, an awakening. And out of the pain and despair we rise to find that which we love and cherish, that which awes us, that which is new.
THE GUEST HOUSE
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
-Rumi
