bits of sunshine

a week of gratitude :: monday

this week i am joining michelle and the lovely community that she facilitates for a week of gratitude. 

i know she {and i} would love it if you would join, too. 

for all of you who know me, you know that i list gratitude almost every day.  so, today, i've been thinking about a way {or ways} that i can maybe make that look a little different.  for me.  and for you.  i don't want my gratitude lists to become just a thing i do. 

but they are a very important thing i do.  and i know i will continue.  i post a list on instagram almost every day.  bits_of_sunshine.  i hashtag with #gratitudeallofthedays and also #htfgratitude - which will take you to another soul-feeding community hosted by beth and lindsay.  i have met some wonderful, encouraging friends who also search for the beauty and count the joys and work through the hard and give each other a hand up and a sympathetic ear and a cheering section {as needed}.  also, sometimes, a much needed laugh.

so, for this evening, i am grateful for the community that i have found here, in this sometimes surreal world of social media.

and, for this evening, i am grateful for each of you who will read this post once published.

join me/us?

leave me a comment if you post in any way this week?  i'd love to see what you share.  gratitude begets gratitude begets joy begets peace.  let's share the beauty with one another.

go gently, love fiercely, and be wonderful.

~e

 

 

p.s.  you can find my gratitude week posts from last year here

 

the bridge

yesterday morning, i stepped outside into this light:

i posted it on my instagram account and wrote {truly no filter needed.  this, in fact, is the stuff filter dreams are made of.}  i could not get over the golden glow, the blue, the grey, the light on the bridge and through the trees. 

this morning, my friend dawn posted the following picture on her instagram account:

and i thought these two pictures needed to become a diptych. 

{side note: diptych.  i like the idea of this word.  but i don't know if i like how it sounds, how it feels.  it's maybe too harsh.  i want it to be gentler.  anyway...}

i pulled up my layout app, and worked with these two pictures for a bit.  and came up with this:

this new picture needed words.  something about a bridge.  because there is a bridge in the picture.  because this picture is now a bridge between somewhere in south dakota and and somewhere in nova scotia.  because dawn and i often find bridges in the beauty of nature and in mailed packages and daughters' birth months and a love of teaching and learning.  because i feel like my online presence helps me to bridge the thoughts in my mind to words written or spoken, the feelings in my soul to actions, the things i read to the experiences, the pictures i take to feelings and words, where i came from to where i am going, my life to the lives of my family and to friends old and new. 

so, i typed bridge quotes into my search engine.  and i found a quote that resonated with me, a quote that got into my mind and grew and jumped out through my fingers.  a quote by audre lorde.  i had never heard of this person before, so next, i searched the name audre lorde.  i crossed another bridge.  and i found her.  and a whole lot more words that she has lived and written. 

and this i know,
that the sharing of joy and gratitude,
whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual,
whether side by side, across a table, on a sidewalk, in a crowded room,
whether in real life or through social media,
whether in pictures, lists, written words, or emojis,
the sharing forms a bridge between the sharers
and this bridge can be the basis for understanding
much of what is not shared between them. 
such sharing, such joy, such gratitude
lessens the threat of difference,
even obliterates the threat
and makes the difference simply beautiful.

go gently, go fiercely, and be wonderful, my friends.
 

pictures from the end of summer

because i meant to share them earlier

because maddie in the river in the sunlight

because isaac and chaco and a bird

because muddy, muddy water

because sunflowers

because sage

because life is sacred and muddy and light-filled and shadowed

because some things, when crushed, emit a blessing and a cleansing

because some of these things i hold in my hands and some i hold in my heart

summertime and sage / river water and children / sunflowers burst forth

drink in this beauty / revel in the bruised fragrance / deep, visceral joy