A-Z Blog Challenge

I've decided to choose a theme this year in the A-Z Blog Challenge, which starts April lst and goes the entire month, or until we get to letter 26. This will be the second year I have done it. I met some wonderful people last year. This year the group is about twice as large.

My new theme? GRATITUDE.

I've had a real blessing over the past three years. My good writing coach/friend, Kristen Lamb has reminded me in her workshops and posts the value of sharp pointy objects and sharp people--who then smooth and shape us, polish us into the jewels we become.

As I sit and write this, I know some day I will be a well known author. Right now, I work at other things until this dream can be realized. But the wandering garden path that looks so enticing comes up for me each day when I awaken. By the end of the day, I've seen garages and boxes of stuff, closing statements, bills, attorney memos, banks and title companies, inspection companies and reports, office meetings, happy people, upset people, traffic and frustrations of all species. It's a bit of a challenge to remember that lovely bucolic path I took in my dreams, during my quiet time, in the morning. Even quieter now that I have sent my chickens off to a better place for them. And for me.

I read a prayer a few Sundays ago in church which sums it up for me:

We confess the daily bread you give us is seldom enough to satisfy our indulgent appetites. Our craving for recognition and significance causes us to ignore the needs of our neighbors. Forgive our lip-service in worship when our actions beyond this sanctuary do not honor you. Renew us by your grace and remind us what it cost, that we might live in humble gratitude for Christ.

I'm not going to make this a religious experience or blog. One could substitute several words in the above prayer and it would apply to other religions or philosophies, and let me make sure to say that my way is by no means the right way. Afterall, I've said it before, I'm a Christian with a bent antennae. The passion with which we get to live and love has me falling down on my knees with gratitude. And to be blessed with the gift of storyteller, is one of the best gifts a person could receive.

And like the Bible stories, the gifts sometimes come at a terrible price. It's always darkest just before the light of a new day. In our stories, the black moment comes right before the resolution. And like in our romance novels, the Happily Ever After is always there, delivering the promise, perhaps not giving us what we want, but what we need.

I'm going to do 30 days of gratitude, one day at a time, starting April lst. I will humbly walk the path and would love to have your company.

Thanks for the Gift of Your Today

I found this inspiring inscription at the Superior Court building in San Francisco. I was taking a tour, with a number of my writing friends. Employees there had created a wall to honor and thank the Vets who served in WWII.

It may be too small to read, but the inscription was credited as being carved by an unknown Marine on a rock outside a temporary graveyard on Iwo Jima.

I remember hearing a speech Colin Powell gave several years ago, when he said (and I paraphrase): "These brave men and women sacrifice much, sometimes all they have. All they ask is for a little patch of ground on which to be laid to rest."

Kristin Lamb had an inspiring blog yesterday, giving thanks for all the freedoms in her life she is able to enjoy, due to the sacrifice of a few. I think she says it better than I ever could, so I won't try. Memorial Day--To Those Who Give the Ultimate Sacrifice.

We do have a lot to be thankful for. Just being able to post something here and not worry about the boots coming to my door to take me away is huge, especially for a writer. There were times that wasn't always so. Some things are better, and much is still to be done.

Memorial Day is something special in our home because we have relatives in the military. I go to the services at Franklin Park Cemetary where the sounds of flags flying is louder than the din of traffic. There's a board with the picture of those who have fallen during the last 12 months, and a place of honor set aside for the family of that loved one in the front rows--a place I hope never to occupy. I look into the eyes of a grieving family: parents, children, husbands and wives, grandparents, friends. Maybe my being there somehow helps.

And then I vow never to let another day go by that I don't thank them for the freedom and blessings in my own life, paid for by their precious gift.

And go out and live my life to the fullest, which is the only way I can truly honor them. I'm not going to waste their gift.

What about you? Do you have a special someone you thank on Memorial Day?