While walking/hiking/barely running, the mountainside this morning, I vowed to only allow positive thinking.
Keeping out the creepy crawlers of negativity was easy for the first twenty minutes. Then...I was momentarily overcome.
"Evanesco!" The Harry Potter vanishing spell worked until close to the end of my walk. Then I had to call upon a different kind of magic: gratitude.
Name ten things I'm thankful for.
I poised my fingers ready to count all ten.
1. Green vegetation amidst a sea of corn-colored weeds that brings beauty to a dry rocky mountainside
2. Firefighters who brave the flames on mountains as dry as this one
3. Legs that allow such an adventure
4. Morning walks such as this
5. Friends who have stuck around forever
6. Gardens and their late summer bounty
7. The beautiful variations in the color of water
8. Tony
9. Kindness at the very moment it's needed most.
10. Grandma Bowler's smile.
Wait!! How did Grandma Bowler's smile cross the vast plains of time and my mind, and become part of my top ten gratitude list on a sunny day?
She was Great Grandma Bowler to me. My mother's grandmother and when I was a little girl, Mom would take us to visit her. She didn't talk, but oh how she smiled. She was a diminutive figure whom I never saw anywhere but sitting in a floral chair. Her hair was long and angel soft. It was whitish-gray and combed up the side of her head and fastened into place with a dazzling, jeweled comb.
But again, why did Great Grandma's image pop into my mind? Was she thinking of me? Did she want to say hello? Want to let me know she was so much more than the quiet 90 year old woman?
What power does an individual retain after having left their body on earth? I believe that relationships transcend the confines of this three dimensional world. Like pearls on a necklace, we are connected to those who have endured and overcome life on earth.
I think how much I love my daughters. My grandchildren. How much will I love my great-grandchildren?
I never stop thinking about them, never stop praying for them. I am ready to help when asked and when I'm not. Why would I give up caring--ever--even after death.
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