May Gratitudes
May Gratitudes
“Life is a celebration. Consider everything that makes you happy as a gift from God and say, ‘Thank you.”
― Francis Lucille, The Perfume of Silence
I hadn’t really thought about it before, for our family, April is a month of important celebrations.
We have birthdays in three generations, including a grandson, a niece, and both my darling daughter-in-law’s parents. My dear friend’s wedding anniversary is in April (eldest son, now a father of three, was ring bearing in her wedding!) Our family enjoyed our traditional family Easter brunch (outside and distanced, of course) in April this year as well.
If that were not enough, the entire family completed our vaccines in April, too. What more fitting to celebration than the opportunity to help end this thing that has turned out world upside down for the last year.
And my son would call me remiss if I failed to mention that we also celebrated our rescue dog’s first ‘Gotcha Day’ anniversary last month.
So in short, I am grateful for a month of celebrations, large and small, all pointing to the people and relationships most important to me.
That was a lovely list of celebrations you have there. I love the picture of your rescue dog and what a fabulous catchphrase where you celebrate his ‘Gotcha Day”. How cool. Blessings, stay safe, and healthy.
Congratulations on a joy-filled April!!
This past month, we celebrated our oldest’s birthday, my dad’s birthday — I took my mom up to see him since he has to be in a dedicated Alzheimer’s facility now; they are about twenty minutes apart, so not too far — my sister’s birthday, and myself and our two oldest kids received our first set of vaccinations.
We have also completed 54 sessions of our Dungeons and Dragons campaign with my two oldest, myself, and our neighbors, most of which has been played on Zoom thanks to COVID. We moved out of our beloved mountain town last fall and are currently living half a block from the beach, so I really can’t complain. But I greatly miss our little village of 1500 souls fifty miles and four thousand feet in elevation away from our temporary home at my parents’ place until we decide where and when to leave San Diego for more affordable climes.
I have also very much enjoyed doing Zoom church with our teensy Anglican congregation; we meet five days a week for Morning Prayer (Fridays), Evening Prayer (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays), and Holy Communion with pre-Consecrated Hosts (Sunday). I am so enjoying meeting with our Rector and a few faithful congregants so often!!
I am also enjoying Morning Prayer as part of the “Garden Congregation” at the Deanery of Canterbury Cathedral with Dean Robert via YouTube … and the Cathedral Cats and assorted other creatures have occasionally created escapades that have gone viral while faithful Dean Robert continues reading or praying through their hijinks! Eastertide has been especially joyful as we watch the deanery garden billow into full bloom!! 😀
So life for us has been odd — we feel more nomadic than settled but are glad that we have such a lovely place to stay for now. I can see the ocean from my bedroom window and can view a whole panorama of the Pacific from the upstairs deck.
Warmly and gratefully,
Susanne 🙂
Five generations of our family met for a Sunday dinner after a one-year Covid-19 lockdown. My mother was the oldest at 89. My fifth fraternal cousins were the youngest at 18 months old. We met in Knightdale, NC. Fifth cousins are generally considered considered distant cousins. After grand neices and nephews, I don’t know what terminology to use! A cousin who originally had to eat in a separate room was able to join us because we all had our shots! What a blessing!
My second child, a daughter, was born on Mother’s Day 39 years ago. Then her son was born on his godmother’s birthday, the 14th. My brother-in-law has a birthday at the end of the month so we have a number of celebrations this month. We all have had our vaccines so are just starting to get together with hugs allowed now. My son has a rescue dog also. Enjoy your celebrations, also.