Friday night grateful moment

riday night, home with my guys after a few days away and oh how lovely it is. There is NOTHING like one's own space, bed, pillow... but it's the people who make coming home so entirely exquisite.

light

I'm' grateful for my One Little Word, for the reminders of Light that I see everywhere, even on dark and gloomy days (there were a couple of really overcast days in Seattle this week, and then a day filled with sunshine!).

I saw these words posted on a friend's FB wall this week:
"It’s dark because you are trying too hard.
Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them."
-Aldous Huxley

Exactly what I've been thinking about--how to handle the heavy stuff, lightly. It's going to be a good year to explore that concept, I can tell already.

I'm grateful that the two-year search for gray boots is over. (Famous last words, but I do believe them to be true. At this moment, anyway.) And no, that's not one set above. Those were the latest choices (I am not willing to confess how many pairs of boots have been sent back. Somewhere more than two and less than 8, how about that?) I went with the ones on the right, the taller, darker ones. But I have been wanting and looking and coming up empty on gray boots, lo these two years. I believe my mother's words to me at some point in the search were: "Sher, maybe gray boots just aren't in fashion." Scandalous words. Challenging words! Ha.

I was fortunate enough to have dinner with my brother and SIL and nieces in Seattle this week. Indian food, no less. We had a lovely visit and catch up, with lots of hugs and laughter. It was wonderful to see them. Won. Der. Ful. I am a lucky girl to have such a beautiful family.

My time away was split between learning and sharing with community foundations and United Ways from across Washington (at the Gates Foundation) and trustee time at Children's Home Society. It happened to fall on the same week, so I just rode the wave of thinking in the nonprofit space, and played catch up on work emails on my phone! Such an amazing organization, those Gates people. Listening to what they are trying to accomplish, and aiming for--in both a global and a local way--is humbling. I am so grateful for that opportunity. Then my time with CHS was full of much of the same, but in a more tangible and concrete way--nuts and bolts of the operations of a statewide nonprofit. After the 30,000-foot-view of Gates, it was a nice "back to reality" today, complete with a carpool moment with a long-time trustee that reminded me what a true lifetime of giving back looks like. Grateful. Me.

What's a little time in Seattle without some glassybabies all over the place? The dinner last night in the atrium at the Gates Foundation had these sweet votives scattered on every table. I am always grateful for the glow of the glassybaby.

In the lobby at the hotel I stayed at, the picture above, and the two below. Color! I am always grateful for splashes of color in my day, in my week. And if it's green, well... so much the better.

Mosaic on the floor. Pineapples = symbol of hospitality. Love!

Glass bouquet. Color! Love!

peace

Wishing you a path to peace (and gratitude) this weekend.