I woke up this morning counting my blessings – particularly the wonderful people who are or have been a part of my life and who have touched me, like flowers in life’s garden. I have been richly blessed with so much love from so many – from family – parents, siblings, husband, sons, sons’ wives, granddaughters, extended family, in-laws, outlaws, friends, families of friends, coworkers, teachers, students, fellow writers, fellow readers, fellow travelers, fellow seekers, and kindred spirits.
I started out thinking that what I would do is to write down all their names, but the more I thought, the more names and faces came into my head. The list was endless. It reminded me of the girl in my upcoming children’s book, The Mystery of the Missing Smile, who goes on a quest to find her smile. One of her tasks is to bring back to the wizard the kindest person she meets. But the more she searches for one kind person, the more kind ones she meets.
This all brought tears to my eyes because what I felt like doing was contacting and spending time with each and every one of those people still on this earth, and letting them know how I appreciate them. This of course, was impossible. It was impossible even to begin to list them all. I realized that if I proceeded with this listing project anyway, I would surely slight many.
So I decided instead to try to share with you some of the joy I feel, for you, through this photo. And you know who you are!