Gratitude is not to be tested. On the contrary, gratitude is simply to be performed and accepted.
Whatever you celebrate is symbolic of what matters to you.
Can you silently celebrate?
I do it all the time.
Do you have to speak to say something?
Not hardly.
If you’re doing the right thing for you expect to be criticized and hear the noise, and, at a time when you’re most vulnerable.
Out of all four seasons, we are most vulnerable and tested during winter.
Winter is a time of survival. Everything around us physically and emotionally is at risk of drying up. Of withering away. Of falling by the wayside.
The winter that just began holds the unknown for us just like countless winters before.
Survival is more than a word this time, though.
We can stock up.
We can read until we get a headache.
I think what we’re all looking for in winter is some light. Doesn’t have to be light at the end of the tunnel. Doesn’t have to be light of day. The light could be anything that brings us hope.
The hope of warmth.
Hope of a full belly more often than not.
Hope for a better tomorrow.
That last one gives me pause.
All days are relative. As are years.
Relative to your experience and not anyone else’s.
This year that is closing is said to have been a bad year.
We all can’t wait for it to be over.
All years have their share of good and bad. There are 365 days in one and even during a pandemic year, there are things to celebrate. They vary for us all.
I wanted a white Christmas.
I got one.
I’m very satisfied with that. It wasn’t a ton of snow, but the streets and sidewalks were covered. The grassy areas received a dusting.
No matter what happened the rest of the day, good or bad, thinking of the white Christmas that was delivered is soothing.
It’s nice to be home, too, for the holidays.
I get wanderlust.
But travel is very much overrated and has been since the days of rubber chicken being served on airplanes. I used to say to anyone who asked that I thought that was terrible, that it was good they’ve gone bare bones and you’re lucky to get a small bag of nuts on a flight now.
Truth is those were the good old days.
Technology is great but people get tech’d out of a life to live.
For those who have a nice home, why the ants in your pants and wanting to travel so much?
You wait in line to get out of the plane and you wait in line to get on.
I used to wait in line all the time when I was in the Navy. You can understand, or at least I’m thinking you can, that my taste for waiting in line to do anything was pretty much used up by the time I got out.
From the waiting in line or waiting for the flight to get there or waiting for the taxi, uber, or rickshaw to bring you to your hotel, every time I have to wait for something when traveling, my thoughts return to one sentiment.
There’s no place like home.
So enjoy it while you can. Make the most of it and be happy.
Never mind winter is coming.
Winter is already here.