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| Meditations and a cool app on my ipod: both inspiring. |
I used to use the excuse that life gets in the way but lately I have been thinking about that and I know now that that excuse is a poor one. Life is something we are full of from our biology to our spirituality. Saying that life gets in the way is likening our lives to the doors that are tightly shut and to dismiss life as such means that we are not looking for the doors that are open. Lately I have been really busy. With life. It has not been in my way. It has not kept me from doing things. On the contrary. I have been living a lot. I have been working hard. I love teaching and I love wandering the aisles of the libraries returning the books that others have read in their bid to really live. I have been socializing. I have visited my family, hosted dinners, attended parties and gone out dancing and to the movies. I have been expanding my interests by reading my first Danielle Steel book and picking up books written for teenagers. I have also discovered Marcus Aurelius. I have been reading more to my youngest and paying attention more to my older children...including taking an interest in their hobbies. (Check out Smosh or the Dudesons for some zany - albeit slightly inappropriate humour!) I have taken the train to Toronto, saw the musical Chess, drove to Ottawa for my niece's birthday and again a week later to bury my grandmother. I went to New York State twice for lunch with my other grandmother and my seventy year old aunt. I drank in the culture and art of Quebec City along with the red wine, cheeses and breads from the region. I learned how snowflakes are really made and why there are no two flakes alike. I watched Paddle to the Sea; a National Film Board film from my childhood and bought an ipod which I use primarily to listen to the Cool Yule stream of jazz radio from Toronto. I walk my dog. I watch the squirrels getting fat and the geese fly south. I spend nights in watching TV with the family. We were treated to the Lawrence Welk Christmas special on PBS last night. I suppose I have been especially contemplative given that there is only one month left in this year. And I don't have much to show for all my attempts at writing. But that is OK, because the life I am living will allow me to breathe life into my stories, and it is after all the stories in our lives that help keep open the doors of the future.
