“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them” - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
So, a couple of weeks ago I made a commitment to take baby steps to being more grateful and appreciative. That promise, coupled with the fact that it’s now November – the month of Thanksgiving – sparked an idea to keep this blog going. I’m now going to use this as a platform to openly recognize & give thanks for the many people, places & things in my life that give me joy & make my heart overflow with happiness. Or, in Oprah terms, make it a public gratitude journal. I’m not sure that anyone will be remotely interested in reading anymore; however, it’ll be undeniably therapeutic for me. And, who knows?! Maybe you will enjoy reading & it’ll get you thinking (and thanking), too. This Thanksgiving conversation will, hopefully, be better than some you’ve had at your family’s table. I know it’ll beat the heck out of some of mine (Oops…did I really just say that out loud?!).
Three things that I’m thankful for today:
1. Steve Jobs eulogy from his sister – I read this eulogy this morning before I left for work. I had no idea what I was getting myself in to when I began reading. I have been touched by all the great quotes & stories that have surfaced since his death, but I honestly knew very little about Steve Jobs – other than the fact that he was the mastermind behind the computer I use at home every night. If I heard his name or saw his face on the television screen, I’d probably be inclined to immediately start thinking about how much money he had or how incredibly successful he was. His vision & way of thinking was foreign to me. But I could still be envious of his many accomplishments - and that’s what I would have been thinking about…NOT about a regular down-to-earth man. Before I was halfway through reading the piece written by his sister, I was crying. I’m so thankful that I was able to catch a glimpse of this brilliant man’s real life & not just the life that I “knew” before his death – of a computer guru who changed technology & our world. I loved it when his sister said “Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother”. It was so touching, too, to know that when he went searching for his long, lost sister, he was already rich & famous. That fame & fortune clearly did not change him. Strip him of those accomplishments, awards, the fortune & fame and he was just a real man who was in love with a woman and a Dad who was in love with his children. He was loyal and whimsical and romantic and willing to be misunderstood. I never would have known these things if I had not read this eulogy. I would have been guilty of only thinking of those material things that do not make a life. I never would have known these things that Steve Jobs probably would prefer to be remembered for… What a great reminder that, in the end, we’re all the same. It doesn’t matter what we did for a living or how much money we made. It doesn’t matter what kind of car we drove or how big of a house we lived in. What matters are the relationships in your life and living with the mindset that no one is promised tomorrow – even the rich & famous. So take advantage of today. Go be whimsical or romantic & take a chance – even if you are misunderstood!
2. Road trips – this time of year always reminds me of taking road trips, mainly because every fall (in college) my friends & I always figured out some good reason(s) to hop in someone’s clunker of a car and head out of town for the weekend. Sometimes it was an away football game; sometimes it was a concert; it always included us singing loudly to mixed tapes in the stereo (yep, cassette tapes); sunflower seeds to chew & spit out of the windows (how lady-like) and pillows piled up in the backseat for whomever was on “break” from driving. I’ve seen Nashville & Vanderbilt’s campus from the front seat of a Mitsubishi Eclipse; viewed the snowy mountains of Crested Butte, Colorado, from the back seat of an Oldsmobile; cruised College Station & Austin, TX, from the driver’s seat of Bertha (Aimee’s very old Buick that didn’t have air or heat or a radio - so we brought our own boom box). These trips always took a lot longer than we anticipated, but also always exceeded our expectations with the number of funny stories we had to recollect. I can’t wait till my boys are old enough to get excited about planning family vacations & hopefully embrace the idea of a road trip, too. I will have to tell them about the first road trip Sarah & I took together. It was early in our relationship; she was living in Atlanta & I was still living in New Orleans. We spent every weekend traveling already (someone was always traveling to the other), so we thought a nice change would be to plan a road trip together. So, we both flew in to Hartford, CT, and rented a car - we were going to see the east coast! Our route was incredible! We drove through Connecticut to NYC to Philadelphia to Washington, DC, to the Outer Banks, NC, to Charleston, SC, to Savannah, GA, to our final stop, Atlanta. We had friends to see in almost every city. We ate at restaurants we’d seen or heard mentioned on The Food Network (my cholesterol is still out of whack from Paula Deen’s buffet in Savannah). We took tons of pictures & had a ball seeing so much of the country – for the first time – together. My favorite part of remembering this trip, though, involves the snacks we packed to bring along. Before we left, we were on the phone one night discussing what all we needed to bring with us. It was the middle of winter, so we knew that warm clothes, gloves & a real winter coat were necessities. I, also, got the idea of packing snacks 1) because I know how often Sarah likes to stop and peruse the candy aisle of any ol’ truck stop or convenience store and 2) because I was not going to run the risk of getting trapped in the rental car in a snowstorm and have to search high & low for left-behind ketchup packets or sticks of gum to survive (I have clearly watched too many 48 Hours Mystery episodes). We both agreed it was a good idea to throw some substantial snacks in our suitcase, so I decided on trail mix, granola bars, dried fruit & gummi bears. I was quite proud of my responsible, disciplined decisions. Sarah, on the other hand, greeted me at the airport in Hartford with a can of Slim Jim beef jerky sticks & a bag of War Heads (the insanely sour candy that makes your tongue turn numb). She was 100% serious & incredibly happy with her decision of what food to bring. She wasn’t the least bit concerned about the lack of nutritional value or vitamin content that War Heads offered. She was excited to see, out of the two of us, who could keep one of them in their mouth the longest. If I wasn’t already smitten & giddy with this new love, I was now. Hook, line & sinker. (BTW, she – of course – won the War Head eating contest! And, no, none of my boring, healthy snacks got eaten along the way).
3. Girlfriends – I still haven’t come down off the high I got being with Cati & Alice & Team Diamond Stone in Atlanta. I have looked through the pictures time & time again, trying to relive the moments they were taken & have laughed out loud (even by myself in the car) thinking about some of the hilarious conversations we had as we covered 60 miles. Because of that, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I am overwhelmingly thankful for the girlfriends – old & new - in my life.
· For all the friends who texted me, sent me emails & Facebook messages and, even, notes about how much they enjoyed the blog – thank you!
· For Sara Miller – who filled a goodie bag with “happies” before my trip – thank you!
· For Katie Kreller Tardiff – who sent me the most heartfelt hand-written letter & keychain that says “Kim fights like a girl” – thank you!
· For Sarah, my partner in this life of crime - who held down the fort for 4 whole days while I was gone – thank you!
· To all my friends - for loving me, I am eternally grateful.
I heard a sweet story the other day that sums up everything about girls and their girlfriends. A man was coaching his 8-year-old daughters Little League team when the batter hit a ground ball and it went right to the shortstop. She scooped it up and promptly threw it to center field.
After the game, the coach pulled the shortstop aside and said, ”That was a great pickup you made on that grounder. But I know that you know the ball should have been thrown to first base. So tell me, how come you threw it to center field instead?”
The player just looked at her coach incredously and said, ”because she’s my best friend.”
xoxo,
Kim
No comments:
Post a Comment