Gratitude

Gratitude for Mt Hood

And my Portland Senior Recreation Hiking Group

And silly, creative boys

And artsy shops on Alberta Street

And Mom's left behinds

And praise for my writing

"Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann has hung inside my closet door ever since I discovered it inside the door of my mother's medicine cabinet a few days after her death. I reread it fairly often, and it grounds me. Each phrase is a reminder…."go placidly amidst the noise and haste", "speak your truth quietly..", "avoid loud and aggressive persons…", "Be yourself…", "Take kindly the counsel of the years…" and "Whether or not it is clear to you, the universe is unfolding as it should."

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I am grateful for positive feedback on my writing. In fact I rip off comments that have been written on my papers by my classmates and save them in a special hand-made book I have for just such things. In it I paste or write sayings or inspirations or words of gratitude I have received from others or written in as a memory of a person or a time or place I'm grateful for. I think it's important to savor appreciations and gratitudes so when the gas tank feels close to empty we can fill it back up by looking at kindnesses shared to us from another.

And brothers and a sister

And sunshine and narcissus in December