It's My Birthday!

Google loves my b'day too! 

Today is my birthday!

I would call my mom on my birthday and wish her a happy birthday. She'd say it's not my birthday, and I would say, yes, it's OUR birthday!  It's the day she brought me into the world, and a day that should be celebrated.  Unfortunately, she is now in a long-term living care facility and  I can't call her because she can't hear me on the phone anymore.  But in a few days, when I am in Alberta,  I will go visit her.

SNAP SHOTS OF MY DAY!

Looking for beauty and joy in my everyday life. I see how fortunate I am to have a big loving family, and dear friends.  Life a is like a flower unfolding, opening up to complete perfection, wonder and mystery. 

Love my Roses! A dozen white and Red Roses, perfect!

Can't wait to get my teeth into this!

Andrew and I have a job to do!

River is starting to freeze! 

The Meaning of LIFE according to Me

Today is my birthday and I am feeling wonderful, grateful, and content.

I’ve come to realize that each year is indeed a blessing and should be celebrated. It is not the number of years you walked this lovely planet that counts, but how you’ve walk on her. I elect to walk on her softly, with integrity, and love.

I have so much to be thankful for, and each year, my blessings multiply.

I am graciously thankful that I have a wonderful family and great friends. I am thankful that my mom is still with us. In my opinion her strength gives us strength, and helps us understand that she is still here to continue to teach us about acceptance and love.  I am also thankful that social media helps me reconnect with friends, and stay connect with family. 

Birthday flowers

I find myself, feeling more empathy for people, as I get older.  And I am more willing to forgive and accept circumstances whatever they may be. Like they say, “don’t sweat the small stuff”. I don’t know who coined that phase, but it’s a good one, huh. Combine with daily meditation, and I am good to go. Interestingly, when you approach life that way, almost everything becomes the small stuff.

A key for me is to not take myself seriously. I admit it is something easier said, than to do, but I strive each day to let go of my attachment to my ego. When your ego is bigger than your humanity, the meaning of LIFE is lost. And life is about relationships and how these relationships affect your life and those around you.

This past year for me has been more focused on family. Almost a year ago, one of my brothers died suddenly and a sister came too close to dying.  When someone you love and have known all your life passes, it can’t but put LIFE into perspective.  After the shattering reality, and then finally the acceptance of losing someone, this can change you in a very profound way.  Sometimes this changes is brief, and other times it can change how you live. For me it is the latter.

I have come to regard my family as life’s treasures. My relationship with my family and friends is to me an exercise in love and acceptance.  Paradoxically, years ago, this was the advice given me by my brother Patrick. Although it took a few years before I embraced the notion that LOVE does make a difference. Our conversation stayed with me like a seed that bloomed when I was ready to accept it. However, it is not as simple as saying “I love you”, but it is the intent behind the act that counts.  

  

My birthday wish is that my family and friends too will recognize how very special they are and how our relationship to each other is really our journey. Moreover, we are in control of how this journey will unfold, either lovingly, or, in conflict.  If you really get “it”, trust me, there will be a shift towards magnanimity and with that comes acceptance, love, and forgiveness. Forgiveness, not just for others but to forgive yourself, is fundamental.  If we strive for that we will always be respectful and interact with one another with integrity by choosing our actions and words cautiously.

Most of the time our music is the conversation playing in the background, like a tape on a loop, in our mind.  This “noise” sets the tempo in our heart, and creates the mood of our dance, which is LIFE.  Why don’t we do this instead, purged the negative background conversation and let the music come from our heart. This music is pure and comes from a place of LOVE and GRATITUDE.  May your life’s journey be filled with Blessings, Love, and Peace.

The Future is Bright

Andrew's 14th.  Birthday!

I survived my teenage son’s birthday sleepover!  I don’t know how my mom did it back in the day with no electronic games to keep my brothers occupied.  I have nine brothers, all except one, are older than me.  To be sure, they were not all living at home at the same time and certainly by the time I came along most of them had left home.   However there were at least seven teenage boys at home at a given point in time and not just for a weekend.

So this is the thing, how did my mom not go totally insane?  And how did she feed them all because growing boys seem to want to eat every waking moment?  Not only that but they appear oblivious to picking up after themselves.  With a dishwasher steps away how difficult is it to simply put their glass or plate in it?

I know one thing, when I was younger we never had soft drinks or candies, that must have been half the battle in keeping my brothers sitting quietly reading most of the time.   And when they started to roughhouse the outdoors was their playhouse and their fun was limited only by their imagination.
 

I didn’t hear one boy ask about going outside once over this weekend. Although, when I sent them out to walk the dog they willingly obliged. Given a choice they would gladly play Xbox hours on end.  The only breaks would be to grab a snack, a meal, and to go to the washroom.  Even sleeping was secondary. But I didn’t think that was such a good idea so we had a number of breaks throughout the weekend to do keep them moving more than their thumbs.

What I enjoyed about this group of teenagers is that they were amiable to turning off the electronic game when I asked them without resisting me.  They were polite and well mannered.  Over all this birthday party and so much easier than when Andrew was younger.
 

I particularly enjoyed it when we were all sitting at the dinning-room table together.  Listening to the conversation of teenage boys, and the way they view their world, none with the same perspective, all were quick to have their opinions heard, was entertaining.   As I observed them I wondered where they would be in five years.  I have no doubt they are on their way to greatness in some way or another.
 

Like my brothers, teenagers no matter in what time period, view their world with optimism and clarity that only the young can.  The future is waiting for them to make their imprint on civilization. 

   

It's my Birthday!

Image via Wikipedia

I awoke to a dusting of virgin snow blanketing the cars, ground and trees. The river was as clear as glass, and the sky a spectacular color of pink, blue and purple hues. And would you believe, a flock of migratory geese placidly swimming without a care in the world (they must have missed the memo telling them that winter was immediate). I could tell it was cold, but from the warmth of my house it was picturesque. Last year on my birthday I was in Melbourne, Australia and it was hot without a speck of snow in sight. What a difference a year makes.

I love December 7th!

I like to phone my mom before she calls and wish her a happy “birth” day. It is a day to celebrate the life she gave me. I don’t understand people who want their birthdays to go by without acknowledgment. Without a birthday you would be dead, and who wants to be dead anyways. Embrace your birthdays, after all you only get one a year!
I don’t have much planned for the day other than taking the day off work, and relaxing. Yesterday, my husband took me for a lovely brunch and he and our son presented me with gifts.

Some of the things I enjoy doing on my birthday are meditating on my birth, reading by a roaring fire, drinking tea, soaking in a nice hot bath whilst listing to music…but most of all I treasure the company of family and friends. In fact, last week a friend treated me to a wonderful lunch and we decided to make it a ritual. And thus we scheduled a monthly lunch together. Based on experience, with our busy schedules, if we don’t make an effort to schedule these dates, months would pass before we met again for lunch. I was thinking, I might just have an open invitation for others to join us, making it a huge lunch party each month.

What I don’t like on my birthday are people singing Happy Birthday to me in a restaurant, I’d rather crawl under the table and die. Hey, I’m allowed to be dramatic, it’s my birthday!

P.S.
My hubby decided to work from home today, and made me a cup of hot chocolate! The direction on the can of coco said " Curl up on the couch with your steaming mug and savour. Repeat." I'm going to do just that.

A Picnic

On September 20, 2008, I went to a birthday picnic at Seba Beach. Seba Beach is a approximately forty five minute drive west of Edmonton, Alberta. It is was a beautiful fall drive. We observed varying fall colors, with miles of rolling hills and vast farm lands. It occurred to me as I drove, how beautiful and picturesque it was. I live in Ontario, have been for the last sixteen years, and have been known to describe the maple trees in the fall as brilliant red and more beautiful than anything we would experience in Alberta. But as I drove and looked at the amazing fall foliage, I had to admit, that this too, is absolutely as beautiful as any fall I've witnessed in Ontario.

The occasion was my brother-in-law's sixtieth birthday.

As someone who enjoys planning, I ensured that my sister knew of my business trip, and she planned the party to coincide with my trip. My son and I went together, as it is the few times he can play with his cousins. No doubt it is absolutely true that picnics are fun, one takes great pleasure in all the details, traveling, picking the right gift, the anticipation and presentation of food, and most of all the people at the picnic. Tell me, who does not enjoy a picnic? Don't you agree that everything about going on a picnic is incredibly fun?

Indeed, this picnic did not disappoint. As soon as I entered the house a whiff of freshly baked bannock engulfed my nose and went straight to the core of my belly. The husband / chef was at the BBq paying close attention to food preparations. Plenty of friends and relatives, kept the conversations light and funny. Including a brief hilarious distraction when two of the farm animals made a daring escape. Watching men trying to get animals back into their pen, especially a donkey and a goat is indeed a laughing matter. I mean, after the fact.

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said often don't wait to enjoy your picnic. Don't put off your picnic. Your life can be a picnic by living mindfully in the present.