Green Monday... and it IS Monday!
SO much to be thankful for. At least 20 beautiful things:
1. The heat wave is over. 100 is so hot for Maine! Sympathy for those of you in constantly hot places. (I lived in Phoenix 84-87... I remember the sizzle!)
2. For raspberries -- picked at my brother's house. What gifts!
3. For enough time to weed gardens, which I actually like once I'm in the groove. I weeded the borders at church yesterday, and it was so meditative and peaceful. Two hours went zooming by.
4. For you all, for being so compassionate about Amy Winehouse. Colleen described her first reaction of judgement (me too) and then deep regret and sorrow (me too). I agree with you all that addiction is not a lifestyle choice. I SHOULD know this with every bone in my body, I appreciate the reminder, and I am sad for her loved ones.
5. For rain... tonight... all night.... on my garden and everyone's vegetables. Right now I have a bumper crop of sugar snaps and swiss chard. Tomatoes: SOON!!! : )
6. Also tonight, the last of my 16 classes on Adobe InDesign (graphic design program). Yay, I'll have Monday nights free again! AND I know how to do that work now.
7. For dinner out last night with my husband, his son Ben and my son Byron. We went to a special beer place and tried some amazing ales, even a smoked dark ale! (Think bacon and beer together.)
8. For my sweet husband who always says, "Don't sweat the little stuff," and by that he means expenses like last night. He's also always trying to be a better person... it's something we bring out in each other. I can't say I do my push-ups etc every night the way he does but I do sometimes! (He calls them 'nip-ups' which I think is adorable but don't tell him I said that.)
9. For my mum and dad who are so much fun and so generous and kind and plucky and brave. For all they feel for me. So grateful to live near each other.
10. For the little book I made from the Scotland trip, with pictures of our little owl set to the lines of e.e.cummings poem "i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)". It is just one of a thousand ways I intend to honor Andy and his soul. (Do you know if I can make a Shutterfly website that you all can visit and look at it, book format? I'll check...)
11. For time at the beach last Saturday with my friend Anne... ALL DAY. I ran, I read, I snoozed...
12. For the comfort I feel saying Andy's name... ALL THE TIME. For everyone who seems fine with that. For knowing he is not in pain or fear or feeling bad about things, and never will, again.
13. For knowing I will be with all brothers and sister and parents this coming weekend... my mum's 83rd birthday. (Wow!) She says, "hot dogs and ice cream!" OK!
14. For my health -- that I can run 5 miles and feel great. That I can sleep and wake up refreshed and bouncy again.
15. For Tuesday and Thursday this week, on which I'm NOT going to work.
16. For my Heidi Bun Bun... who will be up soon. So glad she wrote last night to say that she'd noticed we bought the ticket for the wrong weekend. D'OH!!! But there is time to fix it.
17. For the book 'Zeitoun'... anyone read it? Yipes it's making me anxious but so much more deeply in touch with the reality of being in NOLA during Katrina. I have visited since, and worked on rebuilding projects there... the terror of the experience from one man's perspective as the water was rising however is eye-opening.
18. For my doggies. What wondrous love is this! They are the best buddies.
19. For all the flowers blooming. So many colors. Andy would love this day. It's a sparkler.
20. For my job..... er....... I think I'd better zoom back there right now! Luckily it's only 1/2 mile away from my home. I love love love being home at lunchtime. It really gives me time to reflect, to be grateful, to be centered, almost every day.
Hugs all around ~ and I love you Andy.Sarah
1. The heat wave is over. 100 is so hot for Maine! Sympathy for those of you in constantly hot places. (I lived in Phoenix 84-87... I remember the sizzle!)
2. For raspberries -- picked at my brother's house. What gifts!
3. For enough time to weed gardens, which I actually like once I'm in the groove. I weeded the borders at church yesterday, and it was so meditative and peaceful. Two hours went zooming by.
4. For you all, for being so compassionate about Amy Winehouse. Colleen described her first reaction of judgement (me too) and then deep regret and sorrow (me too). I agree with you all that addiction is not a lifestyle choice. I SHOULD know this with every bone in my body, I appreciate the reminder, and I am sad for her loved ones.
5. For rain... tonight... all night.... on my garden and everyone's vegetables. Right now I have a bumper crop of sugar snaps and swiss chard. Tomatoes: SOON!!! : )
6. Also tonight, the last of my 16 classes on Adobe InDesign (graphic design program). Yay, I'll have Monday nights free again! AND I know how to do that work now.
7. For dinner out last night with my husband, his son Ben and my son Byron. We went to a special beer place and tried some amazing ales, even a smoked dark ale! (Think bacon and beer together.)
8. For my sweet husband who always says, "Don't sweat the little stuff," and by that he means expenses like last night. He's also always trying to be a better person... it's something we bring out in each other. I can't say I do my push-ups etc every night the way he does but I do sometimes! (He calls them 'nip-ups' which I think is adorable but don't tell him I said that.)
9. For my mum and dad who are so much fun and so generous and kind and plucky and brave. For all they feel for me. So grateful to live near each other.
10. For the little book I made from the Scotland trip, with pictures of our little owl set to the lines of e.e.cummings poem "i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)". It is just one of a thousand ways I intend to honor Andy and his soul. (Do you know if I can make a Shutterfly website that you all can visit and look at it, book format? I'll check...)
11. For time at the beach last Saturday with my friend Anne... ALL DAY. I ran, I read, I snoozed...
12. For the comfort I feel saying Andy's name... ALL THE TIME. For everyone who seems fine with that. For knowing he is not in pain or fear or feeling bad about things, and never will, again.
13. For knowing I will be with all brothers and sister and parents this coming weekend... my mum's 83rd birthday. (Wow!) She says, "hot dogs and ice cream!" OK!
14. For my health -- that I can run 5 miles and feel great. That I can sleep and wake up refreshed and bouncy again.
15. For Tuesday and Thursday this week, on which I'm NOT going to work.
16. For my Heidi Bun Bun... who will be up soon. So glad she wrote last night to say that she'd noticed we bought the ticket for the wrong weekend. D'OH!!! But there is time to fix it.
17. For the book 'Zeitoun'... anyone read it? Yipes it's making me anxious but so much more deeply in touch with the reality of being in NOLA during Katrina. I have visited since, and worked on rebuilding projects there... the terror of the experience from one man's perspective as the water was rising however is eye-opening.
18. For my doggies. What wondrous love is this! They are the best buddies.
19. For all the flowers blooming. So many colors. Andy would love this day. It's a sparkler.
20. For my job..... er....... I think I'd better zoom back there right now! Luckily it's only 1/2 mile away from my home. I love love love being home at lunchtime. It really gives me time to reflect, to be grateful, to be centered, almost every day.
Hugs all around ~ and I love you Andy.Sarah
Replies
How Beautiful Sarah ..^^^^^^^
hugs to You & Andy.
How Beautiful Sarah ..^^^^^^^
hugs to You & Andy.
Will try to be more grateful, thanks to reading your journal. love ya, abby and yes, I love Andy, too.
I love reading someone\'s list of gratitudes....I believe in it so much, yet find myself with too many complaints.....I pray my gratitudes to the Lord a lot, but need to speak them to people more often. Thank you for your list, and for knowing how important it is!
Becky
How wonder it is when we sit and think about all the blessings we do have, rather than just dwelling on the one we don\'t...
You\'re right, we overlook them so easily..
Yes, say ANDY, I say JENN... ANDY JENN ANDY JENN
MaryLou
Your journal makes me smile...and you sound and \"feel\" centered to me...that is enough to smile about all by itself! Love and hugs Sarah...Karen
I really appreciate reading your gratitude list dear Sarah. It feels as if the list came quickly! Love your mom\'s requests for her 83rd birthday and how blessed you are to still have your mum! Also, for the comfort you are feeling saying ANDY\'S NAME and all the time. That one really resonates for me too with Doug... Here\'s to a few more on that gratitude list for ALL of us. Love and hugs, Joanie
how lovely to read this....thanks....love to you, may your delicious sounding veggies soon be on one of your fabulous pizzas!
What an amazing list! I sort of forgot it is Monday. Glad for the reminder.
Have a great week!
Hugs, Marlene
Hi Sarah, such a beautiful and inspiring entry...so much to be grateful for in this world. Much love to you and handsome Andy, Linda
What an awesome list of gratitudes.........you are exuding LIFE and all it\'s wonders right now. Thank you for the reminder of all the things I have to be grateful for, too! love, Margery Ann
This journal makes me smile, I am grateful for that. On my way home from work I love to read the sayings the pastor puts on his sign , this week it said :\" want to win the lottory, just count your blessings\". Winning is not just about the money counting your blessings makes you rich.......
You are rich with life...
Hugs Penny
Thanks for making me smile today, Sarah, my new friend. What an uplifting journal entry. You are truly amazing to find such happiness so soon after your tragedy. You are an inspiration to me. Lots of hugs, Debbie
I just caught up with your last 3 journals. As always, I was very touched. I\'m glad you had the joyful party on the beach for Andy, and that you went to the gathering of the other bereaved moms. I hope you will meet with them again and find them to be good support. Your list of things to grateful for was also impressive--especially the part about you still being able to run 5 miles ! Good for you!! Until recently I faithfully WALKED 3 miles a day and still occasionally do two, but my running days ended about 20 yrs ago, I think...
Yesterday in church, our minister had the organist play \"Amazing Grace\" twice. First the normal way in major key, then again, in minor key. To play it in minor key, the organist just changed one note, but it gave the song a totally different feel--like it was a dirge. The minister used it to illustrate that often in life--one thing might be getting us down, but if we use that one thing as a filter for our lives in general, we will see our lives as \"bad\", when really our lives in total are good, but just have one bad thing going on. We need to remember to look around us and see all the positive aspects to our lives, just like you did in this journal. Thank you for all the positive inspiration you offer!! Love and hugs, Cherie
If we could all think of twenty things to be thankful for each day then what a wonderful example we could be to each other and inspire goodness in one another. Great entry. Much love. Robin