Love in chalk - mml 2009

Taking advantage of the sunny day, my daughter grabbed a bucket of chalk and went to work on the driveway. I expected a flower or two.  Maybe a self-portrait.

Imagine my surprise to find I love my (spelled MI if you’re 6 and learning phonetics) mom and I love my dad carefully scribed there instead. I beamed, of course, and told Taryn how much I loved the message and her artwork.

“I put from Taryn and Kellen,” she said with pride. “And I drew a line from you to dad cuz you guys love each other. And we love each other, so we’re all connected.”

“Yes, we are,” I agreed. I just love it when such sage-like wisdom rolls right off the tongues of children.

We are all connected. Every one of us.

Sokol Blosser Winery Tour

Anyone who knows me knows I love wine.  Love wine. Love the smell. Love the taste. Love the fun glasses you drink it out of. Love it. Last weekend I discovered something that makes wine even better:   Drinking wine while on a tour of a winery with friends.  Super-duper love it.

Our little party of 8 enjoyed tastes of Sokol Blosser wines while touring the winery and getting a fabulous education. Our wonderful guide, Jenna, told us about how the Dundee Hills evolved, what makes the soil great for growing grapes, and why Pinot Noir grapes have inspired movies.

We sipped, listened, oohed, ahhhed, sipped some more.  We walked on the soil, gazed at the view, smelled the yeast, and waved off a zillion fruit flies. We laughed, we drank, we learned.  We were together.

It was a great and wonderful thing.

Make Peace, photo by Sanja Gjenero

Today I had the privilege of witnessing a genuine bond of appreciation and community between two people. It warmed my heart the way a really good love story does—the kind that gives me the uncontrollable urge to hug someone.

My friend Kristin and I walked up to our favorite food cart and before we could even order the nice man behind the window addressed Kristin with a wide smile and a heartfelt ‘how are you’. He quickly thanked her for joining their fan page on Facebook and did it in such a manner and tone that you’d think she had given him something of great value.

For him and his family-run business, publicly acknowledging her support of their food cart IS of great value. In this moment of genuine appreciation, Kristin offered a sincere ‘you’re welcome’ – both in word and gesture.

The shared sense of community linked them so strongly I could almost see gold chains in the air between them. It was lovely. Simply lovely.

Standing there enjoying the radiating warmth and abundant smiles filled me with hope and love. And hope for love.

Love thy brother. Love thy community. Love.

Savor more; fix less. Laugh more; cry less. Anticipate positively more; anticapte negatively less. Nothing is more important than that you feel good. Just practice that and watch what happens.

– Esther Hicks

There was a time when I would have thought this to be a very selfish way to live. Now I know that this is actually a very generous way to live.

How much more do we give when we’re happy, rather than sad?  When we are happy and feeling good we listen more, help more, love more, laugh more and smile more–all of which benefits others as well as ourselves.  We do the world a great service by being joyful in it.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

– Dr. Howard Thurman

Reminds me of that song: “what the world…needs now…is love…sweet love”.  Classic.

Coming alive.  Love.  Same, same.

Jill & Kevin's Wedding Entrance (compiled from jkweddingdance.com)

One of the best ways to be happy is look at every thing in a fresh and open-minded way, without the bias of what has been.  Circumstances change and people change; which means outcomes can change.  If we can be willing to begin a meeting, a discussion, a day unfiltered–knowing that every aspect has had an opportunity for growth–our openness leaves space for possibility and surprise.  And a lot more space for joy.

I don’t know Jill or Kevin, but I know they are willing to look at things with a fresh, open mind.  The way they began their wedding attests to that.  Weddings are ceremonies steeped in tradition, from the entrance of the wedding party to the introduction of the newly-joined couple.  Jill and Kevin began their life partnership differently.  They began it with a bright and joyous dance.

Their exuberance for life and love is not only apparent, it’s appreciated and adored by millions.  Nearly 18 million people have watched this video on YouTube.  I’ve seen it at least seven times and their joy, along with their friends and family, makes me cry every time.  The good kind of crying.  You know, the kind where your chest aches from the pressure of your rapidly expanding heart.

Give yourself a gift, watch this video.  Watch it a few times.  Then, when you get out of bed tomorrow morning, before the filters of last week or last month or last year creep in to predetermine your day, remember how Jill and Kevin and their wedding party entered the room, and how beginning the ceremonial start of their life together with an open mind and joyous heart spread a bit of happiness and love to 18 million…and counting.  Then begin your day in joyous dance.

Love

In the conference room of my office today I took a quick break from a group envelope stuffing project to sip a bit of my freshly-made mocha.  When the yummy caffeine concoction hit my tongue and warmth slid down my throat I moaned my love and appreciation so audibly that my coworkers stopped their stuffing to look up at me.  I just couldn’t help myself.  I was in pure rapture and sound escaped before my brain could flash the “WARNING: People will think you’re weird” light.

In an attempt at recovery I said, “Oh, I’m sorry.  I just LOVE this mocha.”

That’s when it hit me: joy IS love. Anytime I enjoy something it necessary follows that I love it; otherwise it would be merely acceptable.  I love / enjoy the sunshine, my kids smiles, a nice hot shower, (obviously) good mochas…  It also occurs to me that the things I truly enjoy / love I also feel a deep reverence for.  To me, there is something divine in sunshine, smiling children, hot showers and yes, a really good mocha.

Do you suppose that joy, love and divinity are all the same thing?

What if every time we feel that moaning-good-mocha feeling we are actually sending up little prayers of gratitude and joy?  Mantras of of love and reverence that ripple out and cause distant flowers to bloom?

I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.

-Henry Ward Beecher

Photo from 9 News, Denver, CO

I’ve heard of Christmas in July many times, but this is the first I’ve heard of Christmas year-round.

Channel 9 News in Denver, Colorado ran a wonderful story about a family that brings joy to their mother all year long by arranging and rearranging Christmas lights on the balcony of her retirement home. This tradition began after Angie Loomis lost her husband of 58 years.

“That is really what we are about, we are just trying to take a dark evening and make it light. The nights can be lonely for her,” her son-in-law, Dan Augenstein, said.

This thoughtful and personal gesture brings joy not only to Mrs. Loomis, but also to many in the community who have come to appreciate and anticipate the changing display of love.

Joy lives!

I work for March of Dimes in Portland, Oregon. The non-profit health organization that works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Yesterday was our biggest fundraiser of the year, March for Babies.

After walking the route with 5,000 others whose lives have somehow been touched by our mission, many people will stay, have a hot dog and an ice cream bar, and enjoy the upbeat music by 5 Guys Named Moe.

It was during this time that I saw special t-shirts celebrating premature babies born as small as one pound who overcame the challenges of being born too soon and were out there in strollers or walking beside their proud parents. I also saw shirts created with great love in memory of a baby who didn’t make it, worn by people who still celebrate those little lost souls.

As the music lightened the steps and hearts of the crowd, there was dancing. I became mesmerized by one particular pair — a father and his young daughter. Held in his arms, this beautiful little girl was twirled and waltzed and gazed at with a love and tenderness one doesn’t see just everyday. I fell in love. I fell in love with this little smiling girl, comfortable and happy in her daddy’s arms. And I fell in love with her doting father, so obviously blissful to be dancing with his daughter in a parking lot on a Saturday morning as though there were no place he’d rather be. I fell in love with the whole of it, and I wasn’t the only one.

After the last note he dipped his small partner and clapping came from the people around him. Turns out Rob Moneyhan (daddy) and his lovely wife were there because they have a second child, Chase, who is still in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and has been for months since he was born way too soon.

The Moneyhans know how precious every single moment is. Which makes enjoying a dance in a parking lot all the more splendid.