I just opened up WordPress and was happy to find a post about gratitude from The Snail of Happiness in my daily feed.
There are a seemingly-ever-increasing number of energies and actions on planet earth that we can be aware of — due in large part to the magic of electricity and our wide-ranging embrace of modern media — yet which we can do very little to influence directly.
And I am easily overwhelmed by this onslaught of information.
However, we CAN re-align our own energy/perspective by doing something as simple as writing down three things for which we are grateful.
And then — from a more grateful, grounded emotional space — we can send a card to an elected official, give a little money to a compelling cause, or volunteer our time at a local non-profit.
Or make some art.
Or write a song.
Or simply sit and breath.
Today I am grateful that a friend’s husband is alive in New Orleans.
I don’t see this friend very often (our paths used to cross because of work) and have never met his husband.
I learned about his husband’s recent assault and robbery — while he was attending the Unitarian-Universalist annual general assembly being held at the end of June in New Orleans! — when I checked my Facebook page.
Apparently it is all over the Boston and New Orleans news — since our media have (sadly) functioned for decades with a mindset of “if it bleeds, it leads…”
But I have been out of town and away from the local news.
So today I am grateful that my friend’s husband is finally out of the hospital in New Orleans and back at home in Boston.
And I am grateful that the other person who was (less severely) attacked is also recovering well.
And that two of the four young men who perpetrated this crime (some of whom had been staying at a Covenant House shelter for homeless/troubled youth) have turned themselves in.
I hope they — as well as the two people whom they attacked and robbed — are being treated with compassion and respect by the judicial system so that some unexpected healing might take place as a result of this sad and brutal event.
And I am grateful for the basics: health and patience and delicious food — more and more of it organic — and a roof over my head.
I am grateful for people who visit my blog even though I haven’t posted anything new for four months.
I am grateful for progress (sometimes very sloooow) and persistence (sometimes almost imperceptible) on larger tasks such as letting go of un-needed possessions, processing complicated emotional situations, and crafting a CD of original songs.
Which leads me to the song at the beginning of this post.
I wrote it last summer while I was camping with family in heaven a.k.a. North Truro, MA.
Some of the words came from a little piece of paper I picked up after one of my cousins was married a few summers ago on a hill overlooking Cayuga Lake in upstate New York.
The little piece of paper turned out to be a crib sheet that the mother of the bride had used when she spoke during the ceremony.
I expanded her words a bit, consulted my trusty ukulele to find chords and a melody, and eventually brought it to pianist Doug Hammer’s studio on the North Shore of Boston to record.
Thank you to anyone and everyone who reads this blog post.
I am grateful for your interest.
I am also grateful for the beautiful images from Pixabay that I have used in this post.
My cousin who got married loves horses and is an excellent — and very hard-working —equestrian.
She and her husband also just had their first child.
And I am very grateful for that, too.
I’m willing to wait for your blog posts, Will! You give so much of yourself in these writings and the photos you choose are lovely, too. The song is beautiful, as is your take on the Gratitude post.
Thank you, KerryCan. I have saved your Michigan Red Hots recipe to put on my grocery shopping list and then savor with my younger sister and nephew later this week…Yum!
Let me know what you think! I just made the sauce recently and added a little more of the chili powder and hot sauce than usual–I hate to admit, I could eat these every day!
My first visit to your blog Not the last! I keep a Gratitude notebook by my bed.
I know that many people say prayers before bedtime, and the older I get, the more wisdom I see in this practice. Noting what we are grateful for before we fall asleep each night seems like a 21st century, Oprah-approved variation on this millenia-old tradition.
Thank you for another lovely post and another lovely song. You are so talented, Will!
Thank you for your ongoing support AND the flow of ideas you share with your blog!
Thank you for the beautiful song blessing.
I am relieved that your friend’s husband is recovering.
Your summers in Cape ‘heaven’ yield so many blessings for all of us; they are the gifts that keep on giving.
Thank you for singing *your* song.
Thank you for listening to and reading this blog post, Jinsing — as well as sometimes singing my songs! We’ll see what other music might come into form this summer…
thanks for this bit of heaven 🙂
You are very welcome. Thank you for making time to listen!
I only just now listened to the song. Fantastic, Will! So beautiful!
Thank you (as always) for your enthusiastic support and encouragement!!!
Fantastic composition; great mix of words, pictures and music. I’m looking forward to more!
THANK YOU for making time to read and listen, pedantry! I truly appreciate your enthusiastic feedback.
*cough* at the risk of sounding like a pedant, that’s ‘peNdantry’ to you! 🙂
(No worries, it’s just that if you should try going to ‘pedantry.wordpress.com’ instead of ‘peNdantry.wordpress.com’ you’d go to the wrong place.)
Aha! I was leaving out an “n”… I found myself thinking earlier today why someone would want to name their blog pedantry (according to one online dictionary a pedant is someone who is ostentatious in one’s learning and/or overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, especially in teaching…) but now I think I understand that you are making up your own word! Clearly I need to read more carefully, peNdantry!!!
F*** me Will – another winner. Lyrics gorgeous- melody AHHHHH! Hits you right in the heart!.