Turkey, Pumpkin Pie and All That Jazz

Thanksgiving is a beautiful and uniquely North American tradition and celebration and as today is Canada's Thanksgiving Monday, I wish you all a very happy one!

Now, down to business, how does one write a list of the things one is thankful for without giving the appearance of bragging or gloating about and over ones own good fortune? For example, if I say how thankful I am to have the sort of mind that can remember the lyrics to about 86 (billion) children's songs that play through my mind constantly and add music to my everyday activities so that I walk about the house and even the grocery store singing "Itsy, bitsy spider" and "The Wheels on the Bus" I'm afraid you will all be overcome with jealousy and wish that you too knew so many catchy little ditties instead of rock or alternative or country or whatever grown up music you listen to. It's a tough dilemma.

Seriously though, I am not attempting to either brag or gloat so I do hope my list of things to be thankful for will be taken in the spirit intended...

1) I am thankful to be healthy, both in body and mind. When I took up jogging in August and it felt like a sort of torture at first, I just kept thinking "At least I can jog...I may be embarrassingly slow and disgustingly sweaty but my legs and heart are strong so thank God for that". Well, ok, I didn't really think that. I thought a lot of swear words and curses actually but it would have been quite noble of me to think the former. As for being healthy in my mind, I love learning and reading and discussing things, I'm certainly not an intellectual but I have a healthy (that word again) interest in so many different topics I just boggle my own mind.

2) I'm thankful for family. First, thankful that I grew up in a loving, close and quite hilarious family. Thankful that we laugh, share, are very silly and loud, and yet also pray together and talk seriously about anything on our hearts. Thankful that our hearts are connected by bonds that are very strong and secure. Second, I am thankful for my own little family: my husband and son and dog and two cats. :) Thankful that we are in the process of building our family, building strong bonds, building our faith and home and choosing and creating the sort of relationships we want to encourage between ourselves and the sort of culture and life we want to create within our own walls. Third, I am thankful for my in-laws and their generosity and helpfulness to us. Fourth, I by no means believe that family is made up of only those who are related by blood, so I am grateful for my family around the world, my friends who I cherish and love. For all the coffee, laughter, adventure and conversation we've shared. The part of me that they are responsible for shaping. All in all, I'm so thankful for the people in my life.

3) I'm thankful for the ability and opportunity to travel, the desire to understand other cultures and people and the willingness to try strange and sometimes disgusting local food.

4) The incredible beauty of the Earth. The seasons which each have their own charm.

5) My sight. (Which I have often been afraid of losing considering the serious problems I have had with my poor eyes but they haven't failed me yet although they have been the cause of some embarrassing situations, like the time I waved for about 20 minutes at "someone" in the back seat of a parked car while people walked by me with puzzled expressions on their faces...the "someone" waved, I waved back, they wouldn't stop waving and being the polite Canadian I am, I continued as well for fear of being thought terribly rude...and on and on it went until I walked closer to the car and saw I was waving and smiling at a dog's tail.:)

6) My sense of smell. (Alright, considering I am the mother of a small child, I'm not always thankful for this actually.) The scent of freshly cut grass, pine trees, the ocean, lilacs, fresh air, delicious food, scented candles, gasoline and I am loath to admit this one but even though I don't smoke myself I love the smell of a freshly lit cigarette (I know I am strange, I know!!).

7) My faith in God. This isn't a small one for me, this is everything and perhaps that's why I write the least about it. It is what my entire life is based upon. I'm thankful for the example of love that Jesus is and thankful that God is a loving father.

8) I'm thankful for myself. That I am exactly who I am. I like myself and always have. (This doesn't mean I have nothing to work on, that list is extensive and shocking, believe me, and most likely will never be written here.;) It means that I accept myself for who and how I am. I cherish and protect my own spirit. I am aware of the need to change daily but am also aware that deep inside myself, the core of who I really am remains the same and untouched by the madness of life.

9) Freedom, peace, a home and safety.

10) My experiences, both positive and negative. The part they have played my ongoing learning process.

And there is so much more but I suspect now that this list is becoming rather tedious as what I am thankful for differs very little from what anybody else is thankful for.:)

Happy Thanksgiving! I'd like to sit around a big table with you and eat turkey and potatoes and gravy and hear what you are especially thankful for this year!:) May you all be blessed with much to be thankful for in the coming year!

What Were You Thinking Wearing Jeans, Scarf, and Sweater to a Tropical Country?

(At the Sola Airport waiting to take off.)


Lately I have been indulging in rather a lot of "exactly one year ago" or "it has been 5 years a 64 days exactly since..." sort of posts. My goodness. I hope you don't imagine this is because I don't have anything new going on in my madcap life to post about! Nothing of more magnitude than wistful glances backward to "last year at this time"! *shakes head* If you believe this, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken. For example, today, I baked blueberry muffins. Yes, I really did. I will go snap a quick picture now if you'll excuse me so that on October 7, 2011, I can sit her and smugly write that exactly one year ago today I baked blueberry muffins. (That is if we don't all die of food poisoning later tonight.)

Seriously though, sometimes I don't know what comes over me when I write. I just get started on nonsense and then it just flows so freely. It's a gift. The sort of gift that in school, enabled me to get weary comments from my teachers on my essays like "Very well written Colleen. Perhaps next time you can stick to the facts a little bit more though."

No but really, back to the point, exactly one year ago today something did happen! We woke up in the morning, got dressed in a hurry, gagged on that medicine you're supposed to take several weeks in advance of traveling to a tropical place (Well, I actually poured mine down the sink, it was too disgusting!), and went to the airport, and all a-tremble with excitement, got on a plane for Colombo, Sri Lanka to meet our little boy for the first time! And that, my friends, is HUGE.

:)

Check back in in exactly one year for a picture of those muffins.

The Age of Spiritual Machines

It's no secret that I harbor a deep and startlingly dark antipathy toward many modern forms of technology. (Yet hypocrite that I am, I quite enthusiastically make good use of them anyway.)

It's no secret that my cell phone lies gathering dust on my bedside table and any incoming calls go unanswered and most messages unread and ignored. I'm not even going to lie and say I appreciate the thought behind these things. I really don't. *Sigh* I'm sorry but there it is my friends.

It's no secret that I kind of loath, (yet still like a very teensy bit), Facebook.

You see, deep down where it matters, I'm really rather old fashioned. I like heart to heart conversations in cafes or pubs over steaming cups of hot chocolate or coffee. I like sitting on the couch, pillows piled up high and laughing with my friends over something ridiculous. I like long walks with people I love in any sort of weather where the secrets and feelings just spill out of hearts and mouths and into the warm, frosty, biting, clear, sparkling air all around us. I like stacks of exciting mail and piles of letters decorated with colorful stickers. Letters that are meant just for me. I like writing in such a way that makes it seem I am practicing creating a personal ad. No, just kidding, I'm happily married.

I've heard so many times that all this technology just makes communication easier and of course, in so many ways it does. It can unite, it can bring people together, it can introduce friends and lovers, it can give a sense of community that is perhaps lacking in real life. (In my case it's lovely to have daily contact with my family who are worlds away.) But the flip side to this is that it can also make communication cheap and careless, devoid of discretion.

(If interested, further rantings can be found here: All These Flying Supermen).

So while I will probably never get around to using my cell phone, except to send the occasional blank message to an unknown number when I press a button accidentally (apologies to anyone who has been on the receiving end), and while I will probably never totally abandon Facebook though I do so try...and sadly for anyone reading, I may even decide to rant hypocritically about this topic again from time to time...

I still really, really like you! Ok? Don't imagine otherwise. I'm just hopeless at technology and thus have decided to make it my enemy and go back to the days of pen and ink and fun, cheery letters in the mail. Anyone who wants one, you need only send me your address. :)

Love, C.

P.S. Do you know yet not to take me too seriously? I hope so. I do hope so.