I'd Like to Thank the Academy

Sunday night was a big night for Thank Yous.  Movie stars and directors, writers and cinematographers, composers and producers dressed in designer fashions, walked the red carpet before the cameras of the world, took their seats, and hoped for a turn to come to the stage and give thanks.  Around the world, people got cozy in front of their televisions, their Twitter feeds afire, and tuned in to learn the winners.

I'm not a huge fan of the Academy Awards, to be honest.  Most years, I haven't seen all the nominated movies.  Some years, I don't watch the awards at all.  But this year, after four days spent sick in bed with the flu, I was just happy to be sitting upright and was thankful to have something to distract me from the absence of "Downton Abbey" since its heartbreaking season finale last week.  

I sat through all the speeches.  There were hugs and smiles and kisses.  They thanked mom and dad.  They thanked their wives who stood by them through it all.  They thanked their creative teams and film crews.  They thanked the other nominees.  They thanked their costars and directors, their agents and lawyers.  Yes, they thanked their lawyers.  They thanked the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for acknowledging them and the Academy membership for voting for them.

You know what they didn't say?  Three and a half hours of awards and thank yous, and I didn't hear anyone thank God.  The inspiration behind the stories, the genius behind the cinematography, the music in the mind of the composer, the Divine is in the Details.

Well, I'm not surprised.  Hollywood is a temple built to self-promotion, and at the altar hangs a great gilded mirror.  Popularity occupies such an important role in the religion of movies.  It takes a braver, humbler person to stand before the world and say, "Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow."  These gifts we have, the talents we employ, the career we love, are blessings from God.  That would be so good to hear.

I do not mean to say that these artists don't deserve praise for their amazing achievements.  They most certainly do.  Movies have the power to uplift and educate the world, to inspire service and promote change.  So give them credit, absolutely.  But when the credits roll, Thank God.

Thank you, God, for the brilliant and talented individuals who bring us the movies.  Thank you for the inspiration and genius that drives them to do it.

Getting Well Soon

The good news is it wasn't laryngitis at all! [Yay for having my voice!]  The bad news is it was the flu.

I could tell you all kinds of bad things about the flu.   This is the Year of Gratitude Blog, however, and I am surprisingly grateful.  So I will tell you all the good things about my experience going viral.

• Water is good; I drank a lot of it.
• My bedroom is within walking distance of the bathroom.
• I got to stay in bed, and it is piled with comforters and blankets.
• Urgent Care told me it would be 45 minutes before the doctor would see me, but I didn't really have a sense of time, so it wasn't a problem.
• My two cats, who usually avoid each other, languished on the bed with me night and day.
• My husband and friends texted me helpful reminders to drink and sleep.
• Applesauce feels good going down.
• After all the threats and false alarms, I never actually threw up.
• Shivering with fever and chills burns calories.
• Sensitivity to light and sound spared me from watching terrible daytime television.
• I could trust the world to get on without me for a couple of days.

So you see, it's all good.

Thank you for long lists of good things to celebrate.

For the healthy, being sick is a temporary setback.  Work you planned to do gets pushed back.  Fun activities are shelved for another day.  Each day spent ill is a day closer to being well.  Knowing this makes it tolerable.  

Thank you for saving another beautiful sunny day for me to enjoy someday soon.

And now this.

Illness isn't temporary for everyone.  For many, maybe me someday, the weeks, months, or even years winding down to the very last are spent in bed.  Back aches.  Boredom.  Isolation.  So I'm going to think about ways to send joy into those rooms.  I hope my readers will hold the infirm in your prayers and consider visiting someone you know who is hospitalized or homebound.

Thank you, God, for your healing love at work in sickrooms both temporary and longterm.

A Bad Mood Turned Good

Okay, I'm falling behind.  So far behind that I'm teeny tiny in the distance.  [Hey! wait up!] I haven't written a thank you note in awhile, and the blogging is more like slogging.  I'm sick, and I'm SUPER BUSY like you don't even know how many things I'm supposed to be doing right now and blogging is HARD because  I have to think think think and rite gud werdz.

Thank you for venting.

I'm not done.  [Oh.]  I thought blogging about being thankful 365 days a year would make me a better person.  Oh, I'm going to be so thankful that everything and everyone I see will be a blessing, each cloud will flash its silver lining with blinding brilliance, and I will be humbled and overawed by all the miracles dancing around me.  I don't really feel that way, as it turns out.

Thank you for surprising realizations.

I'm not all sunshine and rainbows, you know.  I'm dark.  I could be sucked into a black hole of envy and self loathing at any given moment.  Fortunately, something always pulls me to safety.  Today, it was a cat video Drew sent me.  [This is where I see if I can copy a link to the video...o.k. click on the "Thriller Cat" link, click skip the ad, watch the video, then come back and finish reading.]

Thriller Cat

Thank you for the silly things that pull you back from the brink.

You know you laughed at that.  If you didn't laugh, you didn't wait long enough to see the cat do the Thriller walk.  Go back and watch again.

And now I'm feeling thankful.  When your mood is dark, it's difficult to see all that's going on for which you should be grateful. When your mood is light, the light reflects off the shiny good things in your life, making it so much easier to take notice.  I WAS grumbling about all the work I have to do, but now I'm thankful that I recently completed a large portion of a huge project.  I was cranky because I had to do extra planning and preparation for my substitute tomorrow, but now I'm thankful that I can spend tomorrow focusing on completing report cards.  I was miserable because I feel the tightness in my throat that signals laryngitis, but now I'm thankful that Lindsey prepared me a hot cup of chamomile tea.  I was annoyed that the toaster wasn't working [well, that is annoying].  

Thank you for toast.

So, what do you do when you're cranky?  Take a nap, sleep it off.  Go for a run.  Watch stupid cat videos.  Or better yet:  Count your blessings.  Turn your foul mood fair simply by turning your attention to the things that make you glad.

Thank you, Drew, for the video.  Thank you, Lindsey, for the tea.  

I will keep trying to be a better person.  I will keep trying to be thankful.  I feel a little goofy always going on and on about happy things.  I feel like I'm repeating myself, and that's boring.  Just remember, I'm dark, too.

Thank you, God, for the light and the dark.  

In Memoriam

Dear Norm,

Thank you very much for all your help on the Special Events Team.  Your tireless work has helped raise much needed funds for the church year after year.  I particularly appreciate your support of our efforts to offer online ticket sales for our events through Eventbrite.  And although I'm a relative newcomer to the team, you make me feel like a valued and welcome member.  Your energy and sense of humor keep our meetings pleasurable as well as productive.  Thank you so much.  

Well, that's what I would've written, but time ran out.

Saturday was Norm's memorial service. I left feeling so sad.  I listened to the stories from his children and his dear friends.  I came to understand that I'd been in the presence of a great man and never known it.

I wasn't sad for Norm or for those who mourned him.  He lived his life well, worked hard, listened closely, loved deeply, believed firmly.  They were blessed to share their lives with him these many years, know his kindness, wisdom, generosity of spirit.   Wherefore should they be sad?  I was acquainted with Norm.  We met in committee.  I never really had a conversation with him.  I missed an opportunity.  I was sad for me, because Norm might've been a friend to me [he would have made room for another friend in his life].  And I would have been a better person for knowing him.

Then the thin, perfunctory thank you note above would have said more and meant more.  It would have been worthy of the man.

Dear Norm, Thank you for everything.  

I can't go back and spend more time and listen more closely to Norm.  But I can take this lesson with me:  Spend more time and listen more closely from now on.  

Dear God, Thank you for Norman Wendler, whom I didn't know, and for all the great people I will know.

Short Form 2.1 Thanks Made EZ Again

Date:  2/14/13

Thankful for:

• Wonderful pancake supper with hot maple syrup on Shrove Tuesday at NUMC
• Completing two tedious administrative tasks ahead of deadline
• Another three-day weekend coming up and time to get over my cold

Thanks to:

• Family Ministries team and Soul Food Crew for a great Shrove Tuesday event
• My amazing friend and fellow nerd, Patty Sciortino, for the lovely Valentine 
• My husband, Drew, for the perfect Valentine's Day dinner at home

Thanks Income:

• Two cards received this week.  That's so sweet!

Sum:  Yeah, this is still happening.  Happy Valentine's Day, readers!

Material Girl

Not long ago, one of my readers [rhymes with Mike] expressed surprise that I often write about thankfulness for things as opposed to people.  I see his point.  The Year of Gratitude theme calls us to write thank you notes to people each day this year.  You wouldn't write a thank you note to your fluffy blue blanket.  [I really love that fluffy blue blanket.]

Thank you, rhymes with Mike, for the wonderful work you do to help our Youth Missions and Family Ministries programs, and for inspiring this post.

But you can be thankful that you have a fluffy blue blanket.  You can be keenly aware that people in the world are cold, and you have the great good fortune to be warm.  You can thank the people who gave you the blanket as a loving Christmas gift last year and sometimes sneak off with it into their own rooms.  [Yes, the blanket is that good.]

Thank you, Lindsey and Jeannette, for the fluffy blue blanket; now can I have it back, please?

Moreover [who uses words like "moreover" anymore?], I am thankful for everything and everyone who had a role in the creation of the aforementioned [the same people who say "aforementioned"] blanket.  Weaving was a great forward step.  Turning a plant into thread!  Talk about BRILLIANT!  You've seen cotton balls; you've heard fairy tales about spinning wheels; and looms--looms are great.  God created cotton and God created people and made them AWESOME!  Human creativity and invention, the outer expression of the Divine within, with roots dating back millennia, have had a part to play in the creation of my fluffy blue blanket.

Thank you, Edmund Cartwright, for inventing the power loom in 1785.

So when I am thankful for things, I hold in my heart everything and everyone it took to bring that thing about.  And ultimately, God is the source of all our gifts.  So, whenever you observe or hold some material object, be it useful or beautiful [or fluffy blue], and you think, "I'm so glad I have this thing,"  be thankful:  Some person made it, and God made that person.

Dear God:  I'm so glad I have this thing--Faith.  Thank you.

Sick and Tired, Literally

TODAY'S CHALLENGE:  BE THANKFUL WHILE FEELING ILL

Okay.

I have a cold.  I have a sore throat and runny nose.  Plus I'm sneezing.

But I also have Advil for pain and Vitamin C and Zinc for a healthy immune system.  And I downed it all with a nice glass of orange juice.  I'm already in my warm comfy bed with a [just sneezed twice] down comforter and my blue fluffy blanket.  I'd say I have a lot to be thankful for.

Thank you for access to nutrition supplements

It could be worse.  I'm thankful it's not worse.  It could still get worse.  I don't have a fever, yet.  There is still that to possibly look forward to.  But even so, I have my family to help me; I'm not alone.  I know the fever will abate because of the wonders of Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen [wait, I'm looking up the spelling of that one].  I know the virus will run its course and I'll "get well soon," as the cards command.

Thank you for pain relievers and fever reducers

And if you have children, and if they've ever been sick with fever, you know Children's Tylenol is a gift from God.

Thank you, God, for medical miracles large and small.  Thank you for the healing benefits of sleep.  Good night.

Reviled Richard Revealed

Thank you for alliteration

Well, no one I know is talking about this, but I LOVE this:  [turn your imaginary posh British accent filter switch to ON] The remains of King Richard III of England, lost these 500 years, have been discovered and identified beyond doubt beneath a car park in Leicester, where once stood the Grey Friars' monastery.

Thank you for archaeology

Years ago, I was browsing aimlessly through our local Borders Books [it's a DSW temple to shoes now].  I didn't have a plan, I was just looking at all the pretty books.

Thank you for all the pretty books

I finally just asked myself, "What do I really want?"  And I admitted, "I really would like to find a big, fabulous novel about England's Richard III from a different perspective." [Yes, I was that specific.]  I had never read Medieval historical fiction in my life.  I don't know what came over me.  A stroke, perhaps? [A stroke of GENIUS!]  At that very moment of self-awareness, I walked straight to a shelf in the middle of the Literature section and found myself holding Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendour.  So began my adventure with Edward of York and his little brother Richard as they beat all odds to reclaim the crown from the Lancasters and fail to maintain it.

Thank you for history and fiction and the excellent writers who combine them

Now, I've read all of Penman's novels, from King Stephen's and Empress Maude's civil war through the Plantagenet monarchs [She skips Henry IV and V, those Lancastrian bastards].  She didn't write them chronologically, btw, so my understanding of England's history at the time of the Wars of the Roses is a disordered jumble of flashbacks.  [It's a good thing those kings have numbers.]

Thank you for numbers both Roman and Arabic

I suppose I hoped, along with the Richard Society members, that Richard III wasn't hunchbacked and didn't have a withered arm.  This is how Shakespeare depicted him in a Tudor world and for all time.  Richard had to have the appearance of evil for Henry VII, Elizabeth's grandfather and first Tudor monarch, to appear good by comparison.  The "truth will out," as Shakespeare tells us in The Merchant of Venice.  The king's bones reveal he'd had scoliosis since puberty.  Scoliosis, NOT the physical manifestation of inner evil.  Two long, fully formed arms, but a slightly raised shoulder due to the spinal curvature.  There you are. A real person.  Real life.  And real death.  His bones also expose the mutilation suffered in death on a Medieval battlefield at the hands of enemies who reviled him.

Thank you for perspective.

So, this may be my least interesting and least popular post to date, but I'm a nerd and I don't apologize for it.  I had a little crush, there, I'll admit.  I'm glad to know what really happened to Richard III.  I'm glad someone kept looking.  His story made very interesting reading for me over the years, and his truth is a fitting close.

Thank you for Philippa Langley, the amateur leader of the search, and her passion for the truth

What am I thankful for?  It's a long list today, actually.

Thank you, God,  for Sharon Kay Penman.  Thank you for quiet hours lost in reading.  Thank you for Shakespeare, despite his imagery.  Thank you for Democracy [a brilliant notion].  Thank you for this chilly Saturday morning in bed with toast and coffee and leisure to write.  

Now, for my readers who enjoy the pictures:

 

P.S.

Concerning the Princes in the Tower:  There is no real proof Richard had his nephews and heirs to the throne murdered.  Henry Tudor needed them dead, and his own mother was a high ranking member of Richard's court who plotted ruthlessly against Richard to hasten Henry's usurpation.  Just sayin'.

If You're Happy and You Know It

The Good is out there.  Is anyone paying attention?  The Bad is like a brat having a tantrum in the breakfast cereal aisle monopolizing everyone's attention.  Everyone goes home from the grocery store talking about the Bad.  I'm no different.  We talk on and on about the metaphorical brat in the cereal aisle.  It's unavoidable.  He's all over the internet and the evening news.

Thank you for instant communications technology.

And the good child, independent, trustworthy, and responsible, is paid little heed.  [I mean, why would we take notice; he (or she) requires nothing from us.]  The Good is quietly going about life out in the world but seldom makes headlines--not even a link on CNN.com "Around the Internet."  If the Good is not shocking, celebrity, morbid, Bad, or a cute cat you'll be hard pressed to find it in your newsfeed.

Thank you for cute cats, btw.

It is not easy, but I try to see Good.  It takes some effort. Take, for example, Tuesday.  Tuesday Jeannette had Drew's car.  I had to pick him up at work.  We had to wait for Lindsey to get out of dance practice.  We picked up dinner on the way home.  It was almost 7pm by the time we got home.  That could be Bad.  But

• Jeannette spent the day doing what she loves on an archaeological dig at the La Brea Tar Pits
• I got a TON of work done in my peaceful classroom long after the students had gone
• Drew and I got to see five fire trucks drive up, sirens blaring, and just park [very odd]
• We were all home and dinner [and paper dishes] finished by 7pm and I didn't have to cook

You see?  IT'S ALL REALLY VERY GOOD.

Thank you for the Good that is there, if we look for it.

So, here are some headlines NOT on CNN.com:

• Betty is out of surgery and up and walking around [prayers answered]
• Cindy and June had birthdays, and we've been eating cheesecake all week [yummy]
• The Soul Food Crew served Biscuits and Gravy with oven fried chicken for dinner at church last night [reminded me of my dad]
• "Person of Interest" is on tv tonight [James Caviezel kicks bad guy @$$ as Mr. Reese]
• Katie S. said she read my blog because she wanted to start her day with a positive message [I'm exhausted from all my happy dancing]
• British MPs voted 400-175 in favor of same-sex marriage [let's do that, too]

Thank you for surgeons, cream cheese, memories of Dad, Jim Caviezel's suits, Katie, marriage equality, and happy dances.

There will be days, even weeks or months, when you feel like it's all bad news.  There is a lot of it.  The media has redefined the saying, "No news is good news."  Like, literally, NO news is Good; if it's Good, it's not news.  So make your own news.  Celebrate your own headlines.

Thank you, God, for the happy headlines.  

Special Effects

I thought it would get easier, actually.  I must be doing it wrong.  Either I'm trying too hard or not hard enough.  This Thankful life hasn't made any demonstrable changes in my life so far, beyond being sleepy from blogging late at night.

Thank you for that comfy bed waiting for me at this moment.

There have been some little bright spots.  There was a ninja hug that snuck up behind me yesterday morning at church [that was Freddie Lu of "You've Got Potential" fame].  Thank yous for thank yous [this is not a real sentence but it makes sense if you've been writing thank you notes and people have been saying thank you for those notes].  There have been occasional comments on a blog post that reassures me this thing is working [hello? hello? is this thing on?].  No brilliant epiphanies, however.  Oh HELP, is this only February?

Thank you for more time and the potential for great life-changing awakenings.

Maybe I should be looking more closely.  Some truly important things are really very small.  So small we can't see them.  The day I gave Bryan his thank you note, I learned later, he was in the midst of helping a cousin in trouble.  On the day Joan opened her note, she had been worrying about her daughter.  Some kind words in a 3 x 5 inch space can't make a friend's troubles disappear.  But knowing their efforts are appreciated may help them take heart and carry on.

Thank you for important timing.

Then there was this.  Someone who has always been polite and professional, kind yet reserved became suddenly effusive.  She thanked me and hugged me and engaged me in a long, enthusiastic conversation.  It was warm and fuzzy.  [Okay, this is happening.]

Thank you for unexpected outpourings of joy.

Well, I just realized that in my effort to say thank you and to be mindful of all the things and people I should be thankful for, I was not paying attention to the effect it was having all around me.  The great life-altering epiphanies may come in small doses.

Thank you, God, for subtle changes in small doses.

I Like Hike

I was getting grouchy.  [It happens.]  I just spent hours scouring my books of Southern California hiking trails.  I plan monthly hikes for a mixed group of hikers from our church.  In order to avoid last-minute, month by month scheduling, I try to plan six months of hikes twice a year.  This morning was our last scheduled hike, and people are asking expectantly, "Where are we hiking next month?"

Thank you for enthusiasm.

But I don't know.

Each trail must be carefully selected to meet the demands of our hikers.  Not too steep.  Not too long.  Not too far away.  Something pretty.  Time to meander and chat with our friends.  Because we want to be outdoors in a natural setting, but really we want to enjoy time together.

Thank you for strolls along scenic paths with nice folks.

So I'm looking at page after page and map after map of trail after trail [you get it, this was tedious and fruitless].  And I kept griping, "Ugh, we've been there; we've done that."  I actually started to feel like a failure for having to start taking the group on trails we've done before.  And then it struck me:  This group has been hiking one Saturday a month for about four years, maybe more.  We've gone hiking so much, we've run out of new trails to explore.  I shouldn't be complaining.  I should be celebrating!  Here is something to be thankful for.

Thank you for running out of trails and time and energy to do them again.

None of this would be possible, of course, without all the dedicated people who have worked so hard to make sure that the natural wild lands would remain so.  We are surrounded, here in the San Fernando Valley, by a patchwork of city, county, state, and federal park lands rescued at various times from home or business development by volunteers working with government agencies to buy up land to preserve it in its natural state.  Much of the land was privately owned and donated for the cause.  [I LOVE these people!]

Thank you for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the California State Parks, and the National Park Service.

They have been tireless, caring stewards of God's creation.  These Santa Monica Mountains, with their Pacific Ocean and canyon vistas, ever rising from plate tectonics below and eroding from wind and rain above, are being preserved by some truly wonderful people.  Without them, that trail stretching from the south end of Reseda Blvd to the beach would have been another freeway.  The high, oak-dotted plateau overlooking the western border of the valley would have been checkered with streets within gated communities of posh homes, and the views overlooking Upper Las Virgenes Canyon would have been hidden behind fences, enjoyed only by the homeowners.  Instead, it's mine and yours and everyone's, and that's so cool.  The next time I'm out there I just might shout, "This is not a house and this is not a freeway, and it belongs to us all!"  [I may need someone to bail me outta jail, so stay near your phones.]

Thank you for all the people we don't know and will never meet but who make our lives better because they love this earth and work to preserve it.  Thank you, God, for the mountains and canyons and oceans.  

BTW, this is not a freeway to the beach

This is not a gated housing development

These are some nice folks

Thank you Betty and Gordon, Sally and Doug, Judy and Dave, Patty and Sal, Greg, Randy, Barbara, Jeri, Harriet, Karen, and Bob (and canines Brandy, Zack, and Charlie) for coming on the hike with me today.  Thank you, God, for, well, them.