The holiday season has come and gone once again. As always, I view it as bittersweet. The holidays bring up too many reminders of my son Paul who died just three months shy of his 28th New Year's Eve birthday. We visited his gravesite on his 45th birthday as we do on his death day and birthday every year. I also view the holiday season with gratitude. Besides my continued good health, the love and support of so many family members and friends, and my ability to live a productive life, that I can even think in terms of being grateful is a miracle. However, as bad as life was after Paul died, and as much as I continue to miss him, I have found out that with such a tragedy come unexpected gifts. Paul's death has made me a stronger person, physically and emotionally. It was as if I accomplished getting stronger through brute force. I met and interacted with people who had been through similar experiences; I took writing classes and workshops; I went back to work outside my home with … [Read more...]
The gratitude challenge
My Facebook friend, Dorothy Sander, invited me to take the five-day gratitude challenge and I accepted. That means for each of five days I need to post three things I'm grateful for and invite three people to join the challenge. This was a real challenge for me because I don't normally think about my life in terms of gratitude - especially in a list. I've thought of benefits and gifts that have come my way. I also very much appreciate my family and friends who have stuck with me through some extremely tough times. So it's not as though I'm ungrateful. I just found it hard to put the words down. Even so, I have completed my list of fifteen. Three went up on my Facebook timeline yesterday, three went up today, and I will post the rest in the next three days. My Grateful List For being with my godson Hugo and his brother Oscar and their mum and grandmum this morning. We got to show 4-year old Oscar the paleontology exhibit at the Page Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits. What a … [Read more...]
What are you grateful for?
My blogging friend, Pam Young, wrote down her list of things she's grateful for, and I decided to copy her. This is the season to think about such things. Gratitude has been on my mind a lot lately - especially since my husband Bob of 42 years seems to be experiencing a lot a pain in his hip, and I worry about him. I don't want anything bad to happen to him, and I'm trying to be positive that nothing will. Our marriage and our friendship is something I am very grateful for. Here's my list - at least so far: My good health and healthy life style of a good diet and lots of exercise My happy marriage My wonderful son and daughter-in-law That I can continue to write and work toward ending the stigma of mental illness and preventing suicide Many loving friends and family members That I can still workout or take a walk every day of the week That I live in what I think is the most beautiful place in the world only 10-minutes from the beach That we live comfortably … [Read more...]
