30 Days of Gratitude: Day 8 -- A Sense of Humor

Drive Home Sky
August 2008 Chapel Thrill, NC
____________________________________

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 8

Day 8: A Sense of Humor

"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."
-- Jimmy Buffett

Like many facets of my life, it took someone outside of my immediate family to expose me to other types of Funny.

It was another one of those Moments When the Universe Changed: a long-time family friend, Don, was spending the afternoon with my family one afternoon. Not happy with the lack of interesting content of the afternoon's television repeats, he asked me to change the channel to see what else was on. (This was back in the days before remote controls, back when parents had children to be their automatic channel-changers)

Clicking through the local DC channels and finding nothing I continued on through to the two Baltimore channels, 11 and 13, where the often 'snowy' pictures came through almost as clearly as the DC stations.

"Stop!" Don said.

It was an old black & white film. People were scrambling through a hallway in an elegant setting.

"What is this?" I asked.

( Click on through to the other side... )

...

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 9 -- Silence

Three Yellow Fleurs
August 2008 Ralieghwood, NC
____________________________________

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 9

Day 9: Silence

"The rest is silence"
-- Shakespeare ("Hamlet", Act 5 scene 2)

It is very hard to find a place that is truly silent, but those places do exist.

In silence I can think. In silence I can write. In silence I can create with intention.

I love music, but when I'm working, more often than not, that music needs to be wordless. And there are times, especially when I'm writing something important, that even that has to be turned off.

I know there are people who fear silence and will turn on the radio or TV just to have random background noise around them, but I'm not one of them.

I'm grateful for the silences in my life and appreciate the opportunities they bring.

...