Category Archives: Fall

Gratitude Friday

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mcmurrypondsgold021. Fall weather, sunny and cool. The light is amazing and everything is tinged gold. Wool socks, soup, and flannel are all finally appropriate choices.

2. Communicating with Sam. I don’t know if we are closer because Dexter is gone or if I’m paying closer attention for some other reason, or both, but Sam understands and can communicate so much more than I realized. Although, when he stands in front of the TV, whining and talking to the various animals he sees, I don’t know if he’s the smartest dog we’ve ever had or the dumbest.

hikingsam3. Clarifying my new CSU project, being happy enough with it to think that maybe I’ll be at that job longer than I used to think, that I can make it fit with the bigger sense of my life and work.

4. Where we walk. I realized yesterday, as I was Instagramming pictures of the fall colors and naming the locations on our morning walk, that we go through three parks and four natural areas on our route, that we simply open the front door and go, get to visit all these beautiful places. One thing I didn’t get a picture of yesterday was the three white-tailed deer we startled in the fog, who ran from us, leaping, tails raised high, like giant bunnies.

one of four

one of four

5. Open Heart Project. This evening, we will start our second annual virtual retreat. Susan schedules time for creating and resting, along with meditation and dharma talks and discussion. I can’t wait.

Bonus Joy: Eric. Two specific things this week made me stop and think how incredibly grateful I am for him. One is I’m reading a book Brene’ Brown recommended, Marriage Rules: A Manual for the Married and the Coupled Up, and it’s making me realize how good we have it, because so many of the issues the book works with are things we just don’t struggle with, or that we worked out already — not to say we are perfect by any means. The other was I noticed he’d recaulked the bathtub while I was away at my retreat. He’s always doing stuff like that, taking care of things, and not bothering to brag on himself for it, like I probably would. In just a few short weeks, we will have been married for 20 years. Partnering with him was the smartest thing I ever did.

weddingus

yep, we eloped and wore green

Gratitude Friday

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sanfranbridge051. Spit & Polish. I am only beginning to process the wonder of this workshop, this retreat. I was writing this morning in my journal, listing all the specific things I was grateful for about this past weekend, and I filled two pages. The short version is two supremely wise and kind teachers, a magic location, a group of willing and creative participants, and amazing support staff which included a sweet dog with tiger stripes, a gray muzzle, and ears that stood up only sometimes.

2. 27 Powers Court. As I said, this location is magic. It reminded me of when I finally took my meditation practice seriously enough to create a shrine. I knew that it would enhance my practice, but what surprised me is how that sacred space came with me when I left my meditation cushion, that I carried it with me, took it out into the world, a warm glow in the center of my chest that hummed with energy. 27 Powers Court is like that.

3. Eric, a partner who supports me going even though he hates me being gone, takes care of things at home and where I am, supporting me the whole time I’m away by doing things like telling me not to worry about the parking ticket I got or being fully present and comforting while I tell the story, through tears, of the shame and fear I felt when I thought I’d gotten on the wrong ferry and the workers treated me like I was drunk and the people in the cabin laughed at me, how he made me feel like it was okay in a moment when I just wanted to come home, how he encourages me to go after my dreams.

4. Fall, soup and biscuits for dinner, socks, being cold.

fallfood5. Milder weather in Colorado, less rain, flood waters starting to recede. It’s going to be a long recovery and there’s so much damage, to landscape and roads, to homes and hearts, but the rain has stopped, this storm has passed.

Bonus Joy: Getting to spend time with friends in California, some that I’d never met in person before, even though I already loved them.