Speaking of gratitude...

It’s that time of year again. It’s… gratitude time!

Thanksgiving is past, which means the official start of the ‘holiday season’ is almost here. (Never mind that the stores were putting out Christmas merchandise before Halloween!)

This is a time of year when you are expected to think about the idea of gratitude. Sure, you might be a grateful person all year round, but now is when you are expected to express and live that gratitude. After all, much of the world around you is focused on giving thanks – you are blasted by reminders of it on all of the television shows and magazines. You are reminded every time you walk into the store…

This is the time. Time to give thanks. Time to celebrate with your loved ones and give thanks for the blessings and joys of the year.

And for many people it IS a wonderful time of year. A time to gather with friends and family. A time to share your love and your joys with those you care about…

But not for everyone. (more…)

Bob and Donna

10 years ago last Saturday I went on a date that changed my life.

It was Sunday, July 18, 1999.

Donna and I had met online and after only a few emails we discovered that we had known each other in the past.

Actually, there is a little more to the story than that… Donna, it turned out, was (more…)

2009 Grad!

Cindy,

It really doesn’t seem all that long ago that I held you in my arms and looked down with wonder at your happy, smiling face. Through the years I’ve watched with pride as you’ve grown from a child into a woman. It’s a journey that I’m honored to have been a part of, a journey that showed me as much about myself as it did about you.

And what a journey! You and I have had some wonderful times together. There has been laughter and tears, joy and sadness, hope and pain, but through it all you have kept moving forward with a smile on your face.

Well, today marks the close of another part of that journey, as you graduate from high school and get ready to start college in the fall, and like all endings it leaves me with mixed emotions. Just as you are both happy and sad that high school is ending, I find myself feeling both happy and sad that my little girl is growing up.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I walked you into the first day of kindergarten, holding your hand, not wanting (more…)

Us in Washington D.C.

Gratitude.

No fancy subtitles, no play on words, no keyword-stuffed headline for the search engines to latch onto…

Just a feeling of gratefulness, nothing more. s9wft5nyb3

A moment ago I sat down at my computer to do some work, and as I was settling into my chair I was overcome by a sensation of gratefulness, a gratefulness that I could literally feel flowing through my body like a soft, gentle ocean wave.  I closed my eyes and allowed myself to sink into the emotion that I was feeling. As I surrendered to this blissful experience, an image of my wife asleep in the other room appeared in my mind’s eye.

YES! I thought, I am so grateful for the love and support of my wife. I cherish her, and the truth is that her love is a huge part of the abundance that I am grateful for each and every day. She encourages me, she lifts me up, and she is pretty good at giving me a kick in the rear when I need it.

This got me to thinking about some of the other (more…)