HOLIDAY GRATITUDE

🎉 🕎 🎄🥰🎅🏼🔯 💝

AS THE SPIRIT OF XMAS IS MEANT TO ENCOURAGES MINDFULNESS OF FREELY EMBRACING AN ATTITUDE OF LOVING KINDNESS WHEREVER WE GO, I feel inspired to share today’s train of thought with everyone who hopes to embody a healthy sense of heartfelt generosity that grows ever more aware of our communal need to share the very air we breathe ... peaceably.

And so, wrapped within our holiday gift basket for you who are celebrating Christmas, today, is this loving hope—may your little corner of the world be filled with good health, loving kindness, prosperity and the bright sunny warmth of peace of mind, all of which depends upon the depths of your need and mine to transform hopes into realities, requiring our working together toward creating change for the better unless you still believe in Santa granting wishes to good girls and boys while I, who believe in the magic of the loving mind, fall somewhere between childlike fantasy and realistic maturity, sometimes leaning more toward one side of my nature, sometimes toward the other based in my having started out as a cockeyed optimist as had been true of Nellie Forbush, whose heart—having crashed, head on into the prejudicial side of human nature—ultimately landed happily on her feet, being that she, who’d served, during wartime, in the military on an island in the South Pacific, could not wash her love for Emile and his dark skinned children out of her hair  ...

Beginning in October 2019, when my diagnosis proved life threatening, I was strongly advised to cocoon months before the spread of Covid saw the world at large in need of quarantine.

Over these past several weeks, as my lack of energy following life saving surgery began to refuel, family and friends, one couple at a time, asked to relax around our patio table, while Will, David and I sit inside, right next to our Arcadia Door, and thus do we all enjoy each other’s presence via cell phones on speaker so as to hear each other as clearly as we enjoy breathing in each other’s smiles.

Other than hospitals, I’ve not been in direct contact with anyone other than Will, David, doctors, nurses and hospital personnel for over a year—–so as you can imagine, my arm is super ready to accept the Covid vaccine ASAP.

On the other hand, the depths of my gratitude to Will and David, whose smiles continue to meet my every need, buoys my spirit along with evening calls from Barry’s family in CA, patio visits with Steven’s family, FT calls, emails, and texts from loved ones, all around the country, with small surprises left at our front door along with dinners, baked goods, flowers, mochas, yummy pumpkin bread, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory taffy apples covered with peanuts, Fannie Mae chocolates, get well cards, books, hand written poetry—all of which continues to surprise us, warming our hearts to the max, being that these gifts of love continue to lift our spirits long after we’d have thought that our personal trials had become yesterday’s news as seen through the eyes of others facing trying times of their own.  To my good fortune, the opposite proves true each time I have reason to consider the endless generosity of my family and friends.  And thus is my spirit’s smile enhanced, as if we all remain proactively engaged within a merry heartfelt dance, which, seemingly is lasting throughout each next welcome stage of my lengthy recovery during the aftermath of a small portion of my heart, a large portion of my lung and a major vein, returning deoxygenated blood to one ventricle, having been surgically removed at a world renown cancer center in Houston.

During Chanukah, we celebrated festively with all of the traditional trimmings as Eric and Stessa enjoyed play dates with Gramma Annie and Papa Will at our patio table, and though we’d wished to invite additional family and friends as in years past, that decision would have opposed safety measures set in place in hopes of participating with those who hold themselves personally accountable for curbing the spread of Covid so that life can, once again, flow forth naturally rather than our being fearful of exacerbating the death count, which sadly has not yet peaked..

And speaking of hope, a dear friend who works to exhaustion (helping clients to reduce anxiety during these trying times) while considering her own retirement, thanked me for offering her encouragement in relation to readiness to embrace highly personal leaps of faith to which I replied— Glad you see what I said as encouragement, which proves to be love’s most nourishing ingredient as encouragement re-energizes hope, which, once absorbed, eases the active mind to consider steps toward creating change for the better, if not today then tomorrow, which is just round the bend. I remember Will’s anxiety while contemplating his retirement from surgery, which upon taking that leap, my husband rejoiced over awakening to peace of mind, every day, because accountability for the physical well being of patients was no longer preying heavily on his mind, and whenever he was asked to assist a colleague, after having scrubbed in, he’d realized how much he’d NOT missed doing surgery though that had been a worry before he came to enjoy the concept of free time of which he’d had so little, throughout his entire adult life, which is why the mere thought of inviting a change that huge had initially caused spikes of anxiety to strike until he found that filling his free time with grandkids, golf, novels, golf, crossword puzzles, golf, late to rise, late to bed (unless the availability of an early tee time with golf buddies was to be had, offered a sense of peaceful repose, which he’d never experienced, ever before).  In short, Will’s retirement saw my hard working husband gain the freedom to do WHATEVER HE WANTED WHENEVER HE WANTED, and as he’d NEVER contemplated that possibility for himself, upon becoming the master of his time, 24/7, my husband felt as relaxed as if he’d been gifted with life in heaven right here on earth amidst everyone he loved—and what I ask (once threat of Covid has passed) could feel better than a change as self determined as that!

And just as with our small, unusual celebration of Chanukah, last week, Will and I hope your Xmas treats your precious families to enjoying festive memories filled with love, laughter and lots of fun, followed by all of us welcoming in the New Year with hopes for good health and prosperity inclusive of more folks than ever before, and as the power of intuition opens your eyes and mine to gaining insight into how best to transform hope for change for the better into the manifestation of reality awaiting our arrival just round the bend that’s when this wondrous world of ours, wherever you and yours happen to dwell, will offer us sound reason, as proves true of any ancient institution, to freely participate in a thorough house cleaning of our closed mindsets in order to remodel narrow opinions which are mistakenly seen as facts, as has been needed for quite some time, providing everyone on the planet with cause for concern, being that none of us can predict which aspects of change will be to our liking and which will not, being that no one in the history of the world, part 1 enjoyed everything that made our neighbor’s life hum like a well tuned violin in the practiced hand of a duly acclaimed virtuoso—even so, though a virtuoso we may never be, it’s quite likely that the concert ready musician learned to play chopsticks before mastering Beethoven.🥰  

And so, as 2020 faces retirement, I want to thank all of you for being there for us during these trying times just as, hopefully, you and I will leap to our feet to tap dance in joyous celebration each time a right of passage feels immeasurably enriched when experienced with treasured family and deeply valued friends—and until we feel free to rejoice by dancing together, again, for real, please remain safe, stay well, and wherever within this wondrous world that we are learning to share ever more generously, let’s open our hearts so as to feel the depths of our capacity to offer and receive love, one and all!

❤️Annie and Will💃🏻🕺🏼