Happy Thanksgiving!

I like starting the day out by quietly meditating.  Using the term loosely.  I have rocks on the bedside table, and this morning I picked up a small piece of white quartz, all white except a tiny bit of black which, as I now look  closely, looks almost like a bird in flight.

My buddy picked up this rock on an island off Labrador this summer and brought it back for me, at the end of a sailing trip.  I love having those friends who’ve known you for 30 years or more.  We’re very dear to each other, and we both appreciate it.  He first laid eyes on me as I lay strung up in a hospital bed, two arms in casts in traction, a foot in ruins, my split cheek held together with stitches.  Way to make an impression.

What I saw when he walked in the door was tall, dark and handsome.  His hair was fine and black, and hung straight down to his jaw, parted in the middle.   How eyes can blaze and be pale blue at the same time is still a mystery to me, but his do.  They penetrate cleanly, the most exquisite color blue eyes I’d yet seen, set off by high cheekbones and full lips.  Add in the broad shoulders, easy manner, and a gold tooth in his mouth, I was in lust.  Way to make an impression.

Well, the lust didn’t work out, but the friendship did.  He brings me rocks from his travels, and as I hold this piece of white quartz I am grateful for his place in my life and my heart.  Today on Thanksgiving, I am grateful for friendships that support, and nurture, both ways...  That are based on understanding and love that come from years of connections, conversations, camaraderie.

I tend to stay grateful for many things, every day.  But today, Thanksgiving 2012, I am extra grateful for those friends who love me for who I am, accept me as I am, and allow me to do the same for them.

I wish you a beautiful day filled with gratitude, appreciation, happiness and comfort.