Strange and Wonderful Gifts


There is really nothing quite like walking in the gloom of the earliest rays of light and passing a car inhabited by a skeleton to capture your attention and get the heart rate up a bit. I have never laughed so hard on my walk, or been so interested in meeting a neighbor. Whoever did this is my kind of family.
I am enjoying the Halloween decorations in the neighborhood more than ever before. After these long, challenging months I think I need the distraction. After repeating so many miles over and over, day after day, I need the change of scenery. Anyway, they make me smile.
I appreciate the gifts that bring such a wonderful, simple joy to my life. Some of those gifts are people. Some people just make me smile. I know it is because of their own joy and love of life, but I also think it’s because they somehow make me feel as if I bring something to their life as well. And I suppose all of us like to feel we matter, really matter, to another person. That always brings joy.
It brings me joy to watch my neighbors as they walk their dogs each morning. It brings me joy to see young couples with their babies enjoying the start of a new day. I find myself pausing to really see the sunrise and clouds and flowers and the subtle changes that come with each new day. In these days where so much of my regular routine and life are disrupted, it seems that I have become aware of so many things that bring me joy. What a strange and wonderful gift!
I now wave each time I pass my skeleton friend in the car. We seem as if old friends. And, as crazy as it seems, I think he smiles back at me.
Peace.


 

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