Encouragement

Food, water, shelter, and encouragement.  Throw in a couple dogs, some wine, laughter, faith, family, friends and you've got it all.  Well that is my recipe for life.  Yours may differ.  Mine also requires flowers, cooking, gardening, hugs and walks along the river.

But I digress, encouragement is the topic of the day. Somewhere along the way we need a source of encouragement. Acknowledgement, without criteria for improvement, of what we are doing right.  It's like food for the soul, energy for the journey and shelter for the heart.

You did good.  I love you.  You've learned so much.  I like the way you did that. Good thinking.  Brilliant.  I know you can do it. Your talent shines.  You give the best hugs.  You make my life easier. I am so grateful to work with you.  Your friendship graces my life.  You're my rock.  I can trust you. You are making progress. I value you. I couldn't do it without you.  You are important to me.

You catch my drift.  To encourage is to plant seeds in another. It's like sunshine for personal growth.  Would that we could give it, as easily as we find reasons to find fault.  

May your journey be full of encouragement.  May you give it daily, may you receive it generously.  Whether they are city roads, or country roads, may they begin and end with encouragement.  Life will be sweeter if they do.  Give some today and watch it return in ways you could never imagine.

Roads to Home...

I love Fridays....end of week, end of stress and all roads lead to home.  Any other day of the week it's city streets, to highway, to interstate, to highway, to gravel roads.....ahhhh and home. On Fridays I take the first interstate exit and cruise through the country.  Almost no traffic.  I need that to wind down, to let go, to shift gears.  I don't want to see anyone and if I do, it's a country one finger wave and each goes their own way.  

Roads to home sometimes never even occur on roads.  I have an old dog on the road home too.  His destination is not at all the direction I want him going. Many years ago he changed my life.  In 14+ years I'm pretty sure he's only had one bad day, maybe two tops.  One was the day, shortly after I adopted him, that the cord from the iron caught on his collar.  Like a bat out of hell he raced down the hall, down the stairs, bang, bang, bang.  Pretty sure he thought his tail was on fire. Thankfully, the iron was not hot, nor would it ever be again.  His other day, may not even count as a bad one...just a funny one.  He rooted through the laundry basket and managed to hook a bra over his head.  Out in the yard he went, flying like the wind, bra sailing happily behind him.  To run is to live, bra or no bra.

I am certain his road and mine were meant to be.  Just as I know I'll take his last walk with him no matter where it leads. Roads change in life, and who you travel them with makes all the difference in the world.  My roads used to be all big city roads, now I am happiest when the pavement changes to gravel. Gravel, fields, sunsets and silence.  And a grand old dog at my side.  

Beginning Anew

It is that time of year....our brains, bodies, tummies and hearts are full, and we're tired.  Okay, maybe that's just me. Christmas came and went, it's a new day, a new year and a new chance in our lives.

Chances are good.  Chances indicate hope and promise.  Who wouldn't like a second chance?   Funny how willing we are to look forward to the new chances coming our way, even though we may have refused chances that already came our way. Chances bring change and I sometimes fight that tooth and nail. Change for the better is so much easier to accept.  Of course, how I foresee change is often not the way it unfolds.    

I'd like to take a chance at accepting change without resistance.  Proof right there I'm a dreamer.  Add that to my list of titles, dreamer, crazy dog lady, humorist (again in my dreams), writer, designer, Mom, wife, Grandmother, friend, sister, niece, aunt, neighbor, boss, employee, mentor, and, did I mention crazy dog lady?

All that, and I'm still defining myself.  Each day, each year, we get to begin anew.  I'd like to begin softer, more gentle. I'd like to begin with an open heart and willing hands.  I'd like to laugh more and stress less. I'd like more celebratory shots and high fives. I'd like more flying hugs. Those are hugs from people so excited to see you they literally fly to your open arms.  I'd like more foster dogs, but we have a three dog rule around here. I'm forced to slow down a bit in that area, which is probably a good thing.  I'd like to work less and play more.  I'd like to do more crafts. I'd like to make more snow angels.

So, as this year begins...what would you like to do...to begin anew.  And how will you do it?

Maybe Christmas Is Just A Little Bit More...

As years go, it's been a tough one.  A lost job, impossibly tight finances, disappointments, challenges to our faith.  It gives you cause to dig deep for hope and for gratitude.  And then the holidays came fast upon us. 

As Christmas' go, it's been a different one.  It's not coming with buttons and bows, big fancy tree's, extravagant gifts, who-hoozles and fandangles.  And yet, the Grinch did not steal our Christmas. 

We've discovered our paired down Christmas comes with just a little bit more. More understanding, more love, more acceptance.  Sure, we'd love to come bearing physical gifts, big presents, lavish feasts, delightful surprises.  Instead we come simply, genuinely with thankful hearts and a wealth of love. 

I've be remiss not to admit we've been humbled by the "adventure'.  All along I've said some day we'll look back on this and laugh.  One says that when faced with absurdities.  Some day we'll understand why this journey came our way. Or maybe we'll never know...and that's okay too.

The less you have, the more you realize what has value.  Those who share your journey and love you in spite of it, are the greatest gifts of all.  

So my heart is light and the song in my head is from the Grinch...

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome, welcome Christmas
Welcome, welcome Christmas
Day

Christmas day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp.  Infinite thanks for holding our hands. We love you for it.

1000 Gifts

In the midst of hardship comes great gifts.  In times of joy there are also great gifts.  In the middle of this holiday season we are consumed by the thought of gifts. Some are tangible, some are spiritual, some are hilarious, some are hard to even see as gifts. Some come wrapped in festive paper with a pretty bow and some are in disguise.  Nonetheless, I was challenged by a friend to start a list of 1000 gifts that grace our life.  

So we are doing just this.  It's in our kitchen and anyone who visits is free to add to it. Now, I've kept lists before.  Grocery lists, lists of the dogs we've fostered (I can't keep track anymore!)  There are lists of projects to do, plants I'd like for the garden, dates to remember. Laundry lists, lists of things I did and loved.  Lists of things that I did and never want to repeat. There are naughty lists and nice lists. There are bucket lists. Now that's an amazing list to work on. 

A thousand seems like a lot.  But if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times we are so blessed.  We are thinking of lists in a whole new way.  For the record....we are up to 18 things.  Obviously I haven't been giving the list as much love as I should.  I know there are way more.  So it's on my list to work on the list.  Day by day, gift by gift until we reach a thousand.

  

Holding It In...Letting It Out.

No matter the circumstances you can only hold it in so long before you have to let it out.  So you might be thinking belches? sneezes? other not so savory bodily functions? Maybe a giggle burst forth at an inopportune time. Maybe you held your breath as long as you were humanly able.  What are you holding in that needs to be let out?  

I can't speak for men, well, sometimes I have been known to try.  Generally speaking I can't speak for men, but I can for women.  Women are sometimes masters at holding it in way longer than we really ought to.  It can be a heavy burden to bear.  

Laughter is a fabulous thing to let go of regularly.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  Nothing better than an infectious laugh.  But the flip side is tears. Sometimes you just need a good cry, and sometimes it's hard to get to that place.  Woman will get that sentence without explanation.  No offense to the men.  

Then there are those times when a situation touches your heart and the tears just come. You didn't plan it, didn't see it coming and whammo the flood gates open. Even in your dismay you realize it is a moment of grace.   If you are truly blessed there is someone to help you mop up, to prop you up and share the burden so you can go on.  And you do go on... a little lighter for letting it out.  

Dicing The Bread

I can never think of Thanksgiving without memories of making the stuffing, cleaning the silver, peeling potatoes and using Great Grandma Weber's china.  It's part of the process..

Take the bread for the stuffing.  I dice it myself and let it dry. Yes I know you can buy it already dried.  Sure it's easier. I could by it dried and already spiced. But it sure wouldn't be the same. Sometimes we have to do things the same for the experience to be the same. Other times we make adjustments in life, and in cooking, to get the same, or better results.

Different seasons in life require changing up the recipe as we know it.  In some parts of our life we have less than ever before.  More struggles, way less comfort zone.  Yet, the losses intensify the graces we still enjoy.  Like the bread we have to be dried out a little to be reinvented into something more. Dang that drying out process is not a comfortable place to be!

Truth be told the phrase "it is what it is" used to irritate the heck out of me. Now, I have come to accept it. No pain, no gain is another one.  Raising my hand, ready for the gain part! But aren't we all.

So today, as I dice the bread for a feast later this weekend, I know this.  A little drying out is not a bad thing.  When I peel potatoes and clean silver I'll remember we how blessed we are in life.  In fact, we have more blessings than we have numbers to count. If that isn't reason to get out the good china, I don't know what is.