In My Copious Free Time

thankful to be thankful

It's been a tough year in the world - the economy in near death spiral, so many people struggling, the Yankees winning the World Series...so I thought I'd take a minute or two today before the craziness of cooking tomorrow sets in to think about the myriad ways I am blessed and so very thankful. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, all-inclusive or earth-shatteringly original, but rather a snapshot of a life that is quite fortunately too full to catalog in a mere blog post.

So, let's get on with some thankfulness, bullet style...

• A child who is a delight and marvel and a joy, who changes a little bit each day but still carries this incredible sweetness with him
• A husband who does the not-fun stuff without fail, massages my hands to help me fall asleep when I have a headache, and knows exactly where to squeeze during a hug to pop my back
• A body that is healthy and strong and serves me well
• A sister who makes me laugh, picks me up at the airport and always tells it straight
• A few friends who are always there for me, no matter what - friends who I should talk to more, but no matter how often we talk, we easily pick up where we left off
• The awesomest workplace imaginable, with opportunity to grow, where people care about each other and work is seen in the context of your life rather than work being a separate entity with life tucked in around the margins
• A year filled with some great travel for both work and pleasure - including that view of the Eiffel Tower from my hotel room
• The love of my mother that still fills my heart - the quiet realization that if you love someone, they really are always with you
• The Alabama Crimson Tide is 11-0
• The perfect pair of black riding boots
• Great soup in the freezer
• My iPhone, which ensures that I always have directions, email and a way to pass the time in long grocery store lines
• Glee
• Chanel Vendetta polish on my toes
• Starbucks chai latte with no water
• Poetry all around me
• Vaccines in nasal mist form so that Alex freaks out a bit less
• Southwest Early-bird Check In
• That some people actually read this blog and occasionally post comments to let me know they're paying attention
• My ever-expanding collection of mini bags and pouches to keep stuff organized in my purse
• Glitter and sparkle
• Hot, buttered whole-wheat toast
• The ability to give back and help someone who spent a lot of years sacrificing for my sake
• The times I actually remember to bring my reusable bags into the grocery store or Target
• No snow before Thanksgiving!!
• Disney Vacation Club
• Co-workers who make me laugh and are good enough to laugh back, even at my bad jokes
• Bamboo sheets
• Not being afraid to get up early to shop on what really is the single best shopping day of the year. (note to self - post about how awesome people really are on this shopping day)
• Hair that curls with no effort
• Sleeping late on weekends
• Online shopping and free shoe return mailing
• Being able to sign up for a 5k even though I haven't run in weeks and weeks with reasonable certainty that I will finish the race with no problems
• Plurk, Twitter, Facebook and Gmail
• Awesome apps like Shazam and Evernote
• Singing along with Alex in the car (current favorites - "Build Me Up, Buttercup," "Man in the Mirror," and "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys")
• My sterling silver tongue scraper (so much better than the plastic ones you get at Target)
• Vosges milk chocolate bacon bars and Bapchi's caramel toffee
• An organized makeup storage chest
• Quiet time in the morning to do things like make long lists
• Hot baths
• Ed, my shoe guy
• Guitar Hero
• Obama in the White House
• The prospect of health care reform
• Johnny Depp
• 3 out of 4 office plants that are still living

This could go on all day, but since today is a short day at work and I usually don't roll into the office until 10 or 10:30, perhaps I ought to close this up and get ready to go so I get at least 2 hours of work in. (Thankful that we are closing at noon!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all - may you have more blessings than you can count, and may you find ways to spread your good fortune with others.

I've been mooned

For as long as there have been creatures who could dream and wonder, they've gazed at the moon with fear and awe. It was a moon much like the one pictured here that helped inspire this poem, along with the memory of a poster on the wall of my high-school girl self and snippets of song lyrics by the person on the poster which happened to come out of my iPod that morning.

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Measures

 

The measure of a morning,
Twelve even, brick-red ovals,
A misshapen, onionskin moon
Ambling toward the horizon.

I look ahead now,
Toward a wall that isn't there.
A wall I will myself towards—
One more, one more.

I, I was standing
You were there.

I'm not standing anymore.

Once, when he looked back from another wall,
Eyes heavy and beckoning,
I thought I was moving,
But it was a chimera,
Created by the speed
Of life flowing around me.
Just as the passing river
Could trick me into thinking I was moving
As I watched the ripples lap past my grandmother's pier.

Happiness is not rooted in place.
It is the flowing water, not the solitary dock. 

But once I started moving,
No one ever kept up.
He can't now, of course,
But he isn't the only one.

It is always the same—
Out of the void comes
A peripheral jumble and then
…Convergence.
Footfalls in unison.
And I want it to
Go
Please, let it just go on
Forever.
But I cannot maintain forever.
I can only maintain this singular stride.

Neurons still vibrate with the wish as
The feet fall out of sync,
The planes diverge.

When you looked back from the wall, you were wrong.
Worlds don't collide.

And when each trails away,
I am betrayed
I find the fault in myself,
Doubting my own gravity.

Perhaps there is no fault,
Only a difference in pace,
Mine always pushing me ahead
Until looking back reveals nothing
But the gentle arc of what once was
As I orbit the center
And the moon slides away.

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And the song that played a part in this...

Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcwetboy/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0