gratitude thursday 7/15

Okay, calm down. Breathe. Six weeks is plenty of time.

What’s left to do to prepare for my trip?

Finalize places to sleep in Kildare and Cork
Figure out $$$ stuff: which ATMs to use, which bank will forgive the most fees
Print out all confirmations and maps, complete travel books
What to bring, what to wear!!
iPhone GPS or just low-tech paper maps?
Prepay bills for month of September
Set up date with someone with a manual transmission where she will drive and I will shift lefty from the passenger seat: practice for Ireland and UK driving!
and probably a bazillion more things; I need a travel coach/project manager/packer/coordinator!!

I am so grateful for the upcoming trip. It’s been an amazing thing for which to plan since March. I think I’ll do this again next year, cheaper, shorter but planned far in advance. Maybe a road trip… Okay okay come back to now!

I’ve got the sacred pilgrimage bug!

I had a wonderful time with my sisters Rowan and Ladybug yesterday. Rowan came over and brought tools for two projects:

Tracking down and caulking the ant entryways, which we blew off because the ants have stopped coming in her by the cupful to commit suicide under my windows. Hallelujah!! Go away and never return, ants! SMIB.

Sanding and oiling my beloved cutting board, restoring some smoothness to its surface

Ladybug joined us on my front stoop and we sat around and talked in the warm sunshine. And then we all ate together, the three of us and four kids, ranging from 15 months to 14 years. Family. Of choice.

I was thinking about this neighbor situation with Ladybug being right downstairs, and my mother. When we lived at 2261 Ocean Avenue, mom had a neighbor two doors away (that’s two apartment doors, about four feet distance). My mother spent as much time at Jenny’s (or Gunny as we kids called her) as she did in our apartment. And then when we made the big move to 2387 Ocean Avenue, mom bonded with Ida, this time an elevator ride away (we were on the ground floor; Ida on the 5th). My mom got a lot out of those friendships. As I do now. It’s a blessing.

I’m grateful for remembering my mother’s happiness. And blessing her memory. Mom, what is remembered lives….

I am grateful for working so diligently and happily on my business.

I am grateful for my t’ai chi practice. Two rounds and bone-banging every morning.

I am grateful for reliable technology.

I am grateful for new readers to this blog. Please, join in the conversation. Your comments mean so much to me.

It’s strange, how this personal practice of gratitude has morphed into a public statement. It is still personal; it is a critical piece of my daily practice of training myself to stand in love, appreciation and overall positivity. Which, as those of you who know me, is not my natural state of being. I like the way I’ve heard it stated: serenity contingent upon the daily maintenance of my spiritual condition.

And this is one of the bigger tools in my toolbox.

Blessings to all…