Re: Attitude for gratitude
There are too many things in my life for which I am grateful to list here. But chief among them are that fact that I am alive and cancer free for almost 3 years and that this state was achieved via surgery alone not chemo or radiation, for my rapidly growing grandsons who are intelligent, funny, kind, and loving human beings, for my brother and his family who have stood by me through the worst times of my life and the best, for my home which has brought much comfort the last few years, for friends old and new who share old memories and help create new, for my babies past and present who bring joy, sorrow, and the lessons of love each of those hold, and for this forum which came into my little world during the darkest days I've ever known giving me hope and life once again not to mention friends from all across the globe. And then there are all the so-called little things - the sound of Cardinals singing while thunder rumbles in the distance, the tiny white bells blooming on Solomon's Seal and the teeny, fragrant blooms of the Bluets, the scent of Rosemary when I brush by her leaves, the many varied hues of green surrounding me, the honking of geese returning to the South, the wondrous colors of sunrise and sunset, the magical light of the full moon while stars dance around her, the morning dew sparkling like diamonds on the too tall grasses in my yard. For so much I am grateful but most of all for the next breath and the next heart-beat that allows me to revel in them all.
"May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"
Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.