.

"Chattering birds."

Woke up this morning surprised.

Learned more from my Dad than I realized.

I also have a happy feeling that comes from a clear conscious.

Remember that Zen Happiness Experiment?

The one where I decided to chuck the "to do" list and just wake up, ask myself, "What do I do today in order to feel accomplished tonight?"

It worked.



There are some things that I miss.


I miss chatting with Newt and Irish David and Billy.


 I'm glad that Pup is my son.


I don't just have choices, I have choices that I'm glad to have.


I really do have the sailboat to work on.

It's mine and bought with my own money.

I love to write and I'm actually pretty good.


(Dear mercy, please DO NOT take what's written on this blog as an excellent example of my writing skills. LOL)

I've learned to plant something and have it grow.

I've learned to take tools and materials and build something.

I'm learning to be kind to BS'ers but also to avoid them.

I've learned what happy feels like.

I've learned what it feels like to go to sleep knowing that you have something to show for your day.

With dirt on my face and tired as can be, I can still find the wind that cools.


I can still stand up tall.


I once read something written on the Internet by an Irishman from Cavan.

He wrote that the man was so useless that he wasted the very air that he breathed.


I'm not wasting the air that I breathe.

Neither are you.


It was a Southerner who told me that if I want to improve the world?

Help the world where you are standing.

Smile and say hello.

That smile may be just the thing that stranger needed to get through a difficult time.


Teach someone how to grow something.

Teach someone how to sing a song.

Tell them a joke and watch them laugh.

Hug someone when they are down.

Listen to them.




To do that?

Sometimes living your live and filling that little part of the world with happy?

Is the best thing to do.




A complete stranger taught me something that she knew, leant me her book, and with her disposition she made me a better person.

To her, it wasn't that big of a deal.

To me?

It was an answer to a problem.


And an example of one way to be.



Go outside, Gentle Readers.

Go talk to people face to face.

 And Pup?

It's still true.

Reality is getting up every day and no matter what happened yesterday?

Trying again.







When people in your life are telling you that you can't?

And you know in your heart that it is legal, moral, and something that you truly want to do?


Tell them that your great grand father could.

Your grandfather could.

Tell them the story about the lives of the people who came before you but then ?


Tell them the story of your mother.

Tell them how, after years and years of being "custodian" of other people's sailing stories?

She bought her own boat.

And then she learned to sail it.

To do this she had to stand up and finally walk out the door.

For every person who said, "Can't"  there was someone who said, "Sure you can."

"I am not too old. I am not too fat. I'm not too stupid. I am not to poor. I am however determined. Yes, I can."

(Don't forget.).

Tell them that she knows what you do.

Be kind.

Keep thinking and figuring

Help when you can.

Keep busy.

If the world is going crazy?

Make something.

Read something.

Learn one new thing about something you love to do.

Each is a step towards peace.

Write your own stories.

Don't give up even if some days it feels as if the whole world hates you.

Still be kind.

(Remember the lessons of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.)

Love will find a way.





You can do it.


For the first time, I am truly feeling as if I am having my own life.


And the ability to be happy and at peace.


So far? Today is a very good day.




And most important?


I love you too.



Still here.


Mom


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