I’m up a little early this lovely Christmas morning before the mad rush of ribbons and wrapping paper and toys and food takes over. It gives me a chance to reflect on all the gifts that have already been given to me this year.
In the annuals of history, I’m not sure that 2016 will go down as one of my greatest. But I’ve always suffered from an excess of high expectations coupled with a strikingly different, though not bad, reality. I’ve come to understand living in that space is the real challenge. That geography between what we thought it should be and what it is. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, my friends, it is what it is. Resistance is futile. All the energy you spend fighting what is drains you and accomplishes nothing. That’s one thing I’ve gotten better at this year, I think. I’m more able to accept what is and less willing to spend calories resisting it. Progress is slow, but certain.
But when I reflect on some of the wonderful moments of this year, I can’t help but notice I find myself always in the center of an amazing pack of people. Surrounded with love and laughter, embraced for just being me. One of the best compliments I got this year was when a friend stated emphatically that I had lots of friends because I was a really good friend. It never really occured to me, but I think that’s true. And as a result, I’ve been showered with so many wonderful people and it is not a coincidence that my happiest times are spent in the midst of them:
- One of my true highlights this year was the Bay to Breakers 7mile race with the Seven Deadly Sinners. Talk about a day when everything just flowed — the conversation was outstanding, the people watching fantastic, and I think I can speak for the whole group when I say that we all felt we were truly living the dream, if only for those few hours.
- Another moment that comes to mind was during my family trip to Italy. There were lots of good times, fun visits, and great meals. My absolute favorite occurred when I thought I’d lost my cell phone. This phone was being used my me, my sister and her girls get navigate everywhere. It was a key component for the trip. My niece was reading the shopping list off it in the grocery store and then it couldn’t be located. We went back to the grocery, we tried to track it to some mysterious field on Find My Phone, and we looked everywhere. At one point, we thought it might be lost in my car so the entire team of nieces, nephews, siblings, cousins all did a hard target search. It was inspiring and heart warming and I just felt really loved and cared for. Like everything would be okay. It did not result in a found phone, I might add. That happened later when my sister found it in my niece’s backpack. It turns out, Mom’s do know where everything is. But that episode ranks as one of my happiest.
- Over the year, I had so many great conversations hiking that any list of best moments would be incomplete without a shout out for my intrepid hiking buddies — Yvonne, Darcey, Debbie, Cara, Elia, and the rest of my ladies hiking group! Thank you for the gift of your candor, your humor and your ability to supply just what my soul needs to thrive. Our motto is, “Leave it on the Mountain.” I’m sure I’ll need some more of that in the new year, but my heart is full with appreciation for you gals.
Most astounding to me about these reflections is the realization that my highlight reel is full of small moments — not giant “wins” or glamorous adventures. My joy lies in the quiet moments, the human contact, the laughter through tears. It’s good to be reminded that whatever gifts are showered upon ups(materials, financial, physical) absolutely pale in comparison to the magic of stringing together small moment of peace and love.
Merry Christmas.
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Boonedoggler 