G’Day Gratitude

Hello my friends.  It has been a few weeks since I last connected with you and I have missed you.  I miss sitting still and listening to my heart as I share.  There is something quite precious about writing from the heart knowing that there are those who could be listening…………..perhaps even my own self.

I have recently returned from a rather lovely trip to Australia. Those of you who know me know this is more a returning home than a vacation. My husband is Australian and both of our daughters were born in Australia. We were going this time for a family (army family!) wedding in Brisbane and to see family in Wollongong. Our time was completely given over to family, friends, and to the occasional day getting to be a tourist (museum browsing, Sydney Harbor Bridge Climbing, kangaroo cuddling etc). Every minute of every hour of every day was filled with love, wonder, laughing,

The sun sets on a perfect day.

talking, hugging, looking, marveling. We travelled by foot, car, train, boat, bus and plane. We stocked up on family news, photos, favorite Aussie magazines, Tim Tams, Scotch Finger Biscuits, Madura green tea and Bundaburg Rum. It was an 18 day (32 for our daughters who stayed an extra two weeks) friendship feast and family extravaganza. Our gratitude for hospitality, airport pick ups, dinners, directions, welcome and free use of wifi, (when available…..at John’s 95 year old Dad’s house, not so much available as unheard of;) laundry facilities (including clothes line), and copious amounts of tea is overflowing. We were even loved on by folks we didn’t get to see (their city or state wasn’t on this trip’s itinerary) via Facebook, text and email. Let me tell you we were WELCOMED.

And…………….I was so exhausted when we got home I could barely breathe.  A dear friend picked us up in San Fransisco and deposited us at home (after repairing our failing car air conditioner on the way home….how do people know how to do that??) for a much needed four days of quiet, silence, naps and protein drinks.  The jet lag upon return was brutal, both because we were exhausted and for some reason flying east is harder, or maybe it is just harder to come home and back to work?  The truth is we were pretty much exhausted when we left for Australia because of work commitments and just generally a busy summer, our own habits of living always on the edge of too much and not realizing that a trip does not equal rest.  It definitely equals fabulous, fun, wonderful and ‘yippee!!’.  Rest?  Not so much.

Kangaroo Crossing

So here I am back home rebuilding my stores of energy and semi aggravated at myself for being so very tired……again.  Yet. Yet this is my pattern.  Yet this is what drives my into my heart.  Yet I wouldn’t change a thing.  Yet………….I am here. Now.  Now able to express gratitude for the all-ness of it.  The trip, the friends and family, the hurry, the stern lecture by the policeman in Wollongong who wasn’t interested in why we were parked on the wrong side of the road (thank goodness he didn’t see us drive on the wrong side of the road & run a red light to recitify the situation), the fab selfie with an obliging kangaroo, for the friend who jumped on a plane to fly to see us when she saw we were in country, for the Mali Wedding Beads I found in a cool shop on the coast to wear to the wedding, for falling in love with the extended family of dear friends (hello Adelaide!;), for losing my boarding pass between immigration and the plane when we were leaving Australia, for finding vegan restaurants, ice, sleep, leg room, rain, internet and the lack thereof, postcard writing, energy and exhaustion.

You see, you can’t have it all without being grateful for it all.  All of it.  Right here. Right now. I am giving thanks for

G’day gratitude!

how tiredness always leads me to my heart of hearts (too weary to go anywhere else) and for the possibility that I will eventually (somehow?!) wean myself off of the need to use tiredness and exhaustion as the only valid reason to quit.  Practically everyone I know is tired in some way or the other.  They overcommit, under sleep, drink too much caffeine or not enough water or forget to breathe (am I the only one?).  I will explore the glories of quitting in an upcoming blog.  Stay tuned. (or quit reading and take a nap, whatever you need to do).

Fyi, gratitude is the greatest and easiest ways to restore balance, energy and wellness.  It is better than eating, drinking, sex or drugs…………I’m just sayin’………………..

Where do you need a dose of gratitude to buoy your spirits, add to your energy or turn your crinkly cranky mouth into a smile?