Thankful Thoughts

 Photo Credit: BoredPanda.org    “The Book of Life” – Artist David Kracov

If I had a lot of money, I would so purchase this piece of sculpture. It is metal, and each butterfly is hand-painted. The book contains diary pages, poetry and notes written by the children of Auschwitz. I find it haunting and incredibly beautiful.

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It has been a tough few weeks for me so I thank you for bearing with me while I restructure my writing life. I’m getting better sleep, my smiles come a little easier, and I don’t feel frayed at the ends all of the time.  The thoughtfulness of multiple bloggers who nominated me over the last week to ten days for an award really took me by surprise – made me think a bit.  So to you lovely people and others, here are my thoughts.

There is nothing different inside of me than what is inside of every other person. We each are extraordinary though in some way – you, and you and yes you, over there against the wall, hiding behind your writings. When anyone, in 3D life or blogging life, finds something that lifts, inspires or motivates them by anything that I write or do, that’s really humbling. It makes me stop and think and relates to something a friend said to me earlier this week…

“We all die sometime–it depends on what you leave behind.”

As most of my long-time readers know, death came very close to me very unexpectedly five years ago when my young husband died at forty. People talk about leaving a ‘legacy’: buildings, endowments, hospital wings, charities, etc. What about the ordinary among us? What do we leave behind? Only the memory of who we were. Maybe some scribbles on the internet nowadays too -poetry we thought wasn’t too bad, musings on life and getting through it, photos of things we found beauty in. Words we spoke to others, in anger and in kindness. Deeds we did for others, seen or not.  Encouragement, and strength to do the right thing, even when the right thing is difficult and nobody else is looking.

While my personal life has presented challenges that many do not face, every single person has strength inside of them they may not even know they have yet. And equally, every single person has the choice to do right when the option comes. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. But we always have a choice. We all carry burdens of some sort; some of us face even further challenges from within our own minds.

So to answer the kindness of others who nominated me, here goes!

Three awards from three different individuals – thank you very much for your kindness in nominating me.

http://piecesofbipolar.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/the-liebster-award/

 

http://jemverse.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/inspirational/

http://dazzlingwhimsy.com/2014/08/04/one-lovely-blog-award/

Since the requirements for most of these awards are similar, I’m bundling them all so no one has to hear twenty-one things about me and be asleep by the tenth 🙂

Seven Things About Me

1. I have a wicked and warped sense of humor in real life. Innuendo, double entendre and sarcasm are my forte. Nearly anything anyone says I hear on multiple levels. I’ve been known to render people speechless and make them rush to the ladies room from laughing too hard. It often happens with my girls when we’re all together 🙂

2. I can wiggle my ears. Comes in handy with grandsons 🙂 I’ve already taught one to do so. Life, it’s fun.

3. I gather things from places I experience happiness.  It’s weird, I know.

4. I have dimples.  I’ve handily passed them on down two generations via strong DNA and I never make jokes about “Did you sleep on marbles when you were little?”

5. My eyes change colors.  They are not hazel either. They are blue-green, sometimes turning silver and also apparently from the words of a co-worker “flash like the Caribbean waters”.(C’mon, you laughed. I still think she was goofing on me!) All I seem to notice about them is they water when I’ve been at the computer a lot  and seem to require a lot more assistance at seeing things 🙂

6. I test INFJ on the MBTI. There have been some arguments about this among my friends. Some disavow that I am introverted. Some say I am not emotionally mushy enough to qualify as a ‘feeler’. They all concur that I am an empath – one with the ability to intuit another’s feelings. (I disagree, as I can never tell an asshole from a normal human, surely I’d intuit THAT?)

7. I am fascinated by Luna moths, butterflies and hummingbirds.  I actually have a Luna moth still in a box somewhere. I’ve fed hummingbirds from my hand (you have to sit still a very, very long time). I’ve had butterflies land on my person, but never on my hand or finger.

The requirements of accepting these awards is to nominate other blogs for the award.  Most blogs that I follow are ‘award-free’ blogs. So I’m not nominating them, but will instead make a partial list of blogs that I’d suggest others visit. They are in no order of preference and since I read (or try to) nearly two hundred other blogs, if yours isn’t on here please don’t take offense. They cover art, photography, poetry,  and just eclectic bits of the WP world I find interesting.

http://mysketchbookproject.wordpress.com/ – Art

http://leannecolephotography.com/ – Photography

http://themirrorobscura.wordpress.com/ – Poetry

http://graffitiluxandmurals.com/ – Street Art Photography

http://lifeasahebrew.wordpress.com/ – Life

http://atrampinthewoods.wordpress.com/ – Nature

http://restorableliving.wordpress.com/ – Sustainable Living

http://beautifuliceland.wordpress.com/ – Travel & Photography

http://jamesradcliffe.com/ – Music

http://michaelmcguire.com.au/  – Poetry & Stuff

http://redstuffdan.wordpress.com/ – Art & Photography

http://alfredsalmanac.com/ – Literally, random stuff

http://wildflowerwomen.wordpress.com/ – Inspirational

http://radiatingblossom.wordpress.com/ -Inspiration & Photography

http://globedrifting.wordpress.com/ – Art, Writing, Photography

So blog hop away, and have a fantastic day!

~SE