It has been a quiet and relatively uneventful day. After all the boisterousness of the past 72 hours or so, one could almost call it dull. Tonight is one for simple gratitude for the days just past–time with family that reminds me of the richness of life and the connections with those with whom I share family history and many, many memories.
I received what I needed from these past few days. I needed to laugh at completely outrageous, silly things and laugh I did. I needed all the hugs and snuggles I enjoyed with various members of my family. I read somewhere that humans need on the average four hugs per day. If that is even remotely true, then I suffer from a serious case of HDD (hug deficit disorder). As I look toward things I will improve upon in 2012, giving and receiving more hugs will rank up there with a number of other important areas in my life.
Tonight I find that I am once again writing my blog in California time and preparing to rise on Indiana time. I haven’t gotten much sleep the past few days. It’s alright, though. I’ll trade sleep any day for the time I’ve been able to spend with my sibs, their children, and my children. I am grateful for the wonderful hospitality extended to me once again by my brother Alan, his wife Myra and their three kids Wes, Amanda and Mikaila. Theirs has been a second home to me for many years. It’s a comfort to be able to come here and relax and be part of what’s going on. They are each in their own right kind, caring, loving, and giving. I am thankful to be part of their lives and to have them be part of mine.
I am heading home tomorrow (Tuesday) and look forward to an easy travel day. I am grateful that my children traveled safely to St. Louis today to spend time with their father and his family. The others traveling either left this evening or will leave tomorrow as well. May we all have safe, uneventful travel home. May we spend the last few days of the year in reflection and gratitude for the blessings in our life over the course of the year and anticipate the blessings for the year to come.
Between Tuesday and Saturday night it will be just me and Honor at the house. I expect that for the most part I will have relatively quiet, contemplative days–perfect for the end of the year. I am quietly pleased and amazed that I have been consciously thinking and writing each day about gratitude for the past 180 days–approximately six months. Looking forward to 2012 I find that I hope that I can continue this thinking and writing, not for the sake of doing something this or that many days in a row; but in part for the sake of developing a gratitude practice similar to engaging in any other practice with steadfastness and discipline. My hope is to continue moving forward and see where it all takes me. In the meantime, I’ll walk the path with as much grace and gratitude, equanimity and ease as I possibly can. Let it be so!
