I recent watched the movie "Patch Adams". In that movie, Patch tries to read a poem to the girl he loves but is interrupted. He is not able to finish reading it until after she dies and he reads it over her casket. I love that poem and so went searching for it. Here is what I found:


Pablo Neruda
Sonnet XVII (100 Love Sonnets, 1960)

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.


Then this morning, I was watching TV and heard something else that touched me. It went something like this:

"Don't let the disappointments and mistakes of the past prevent you from experiencing the joys and the accomplishments of today."

I know those two things are a little random and they are not really connected to each other but they are both things that caught my attention in the last couple of days and touched me. I have been struggling the last week or so with a case of 'the funk'. I have been a little worried (ok more than a little worried) about money, the future, where I am going in my job, missing my kiddos, the list of worries could go on and on. The poem helped me remember how much I love Kevin, how safe and happy I feel when I am with him. Usually, the worries of the world fall away when we are together. The other statement helped me remember that if I allow myself to focus on the past or the worries; I will miss some if not all of the joys of today. At least for today, I am choosing to put the worries aside and focus on the love I feel for Kevin and all my kiddos, the joys that today bring and each accomplishment no matter how big or small it may be.

As I sat writing this blog this morning, I got an email from my brother. I took the time to look at it and I am so thankful that I did. It was very short. It simply said that I must absolutely see something and there was a link there. I clicked on the link and was blessed with a video that is truly amazing. This man is proving to the world that “Nothing” does not exist. He taught me that regardless of how small and insignificant I may feel, I can do something amazing and can change the world in some way if I just set my mind to it. Here is the link, I hope that you too may find it amazing and that you will allow this incredible man to make a difference in your life.

http://www.maniacworld.com/art-in-the-eye-of-a-needle.html

One other thing that I heard recently that has made a difference in how I am feeling was on the radio the other day. We were listening to a talk show on public radio by a man that has studied Thomas Jefferson a great deal. The first part of his show, he talks about different subjects as if he is Thomas Jefferson. During part of his show, he takes questions from emails, letters, and phone calls and answers them as he feels Thomas Jefferson would answer them if he were alive today. It is usually a very interesting show. This last Sunday, towards the end of the show, he said something really interesting. I will try to paraphrase it. He said something to the effect that someone had once told him that if the water table in a given location is at 100 feet, it did not matter how many 90 foot wells a person drilled. He said that each and every person in the world is blessed with some gift, some talent, and some passion. That in order to change the world, we must each find that gift, talent or passion. We must then dig straight down until we reach the water table regardless of what others around us say or think. If we listen to others that we are drilling in the wrong place and allow them to influence us into moving to another spot to start drilling again, we will never reach the water table beneath us but if we stay our course, hold to our belief and keep drilling, we will find our well.

I hope that we are all able to find our gift, our talent and our passion. I hope that we are each able to keep drilling until we find the well beneath us.

I prayed and I wept

Last night, after the time I should have been in bed, I was moved to write this but decided to wait until this morning to post it.

Today was Election Day!

I prayed that God would give all those who were casting ballots the wisdom to vote for those individuals who would lead us in the direction we should go, the direction that would be the best for all of us.

I prayed as I sat at a small table with the ballot before me that I would have the wisdom to elect those individuals who would do the best job for the future of my family, my community, my state, our nation and perhaps even the world.

I marked my ballot. I dropped it in the box. I held my breath waiting for the results.

I turned on the news but could not stand the tension and the conflicting reports. I changed the channel to something that would distract me and I held my breath.

A new President Elect was finally announced and I prayed that he would have courage, wisdom and strength to lead us in the way we should go and I wept.

I listened to his acceptance speech and I wept.

I heard him talk about our history. About people not so very long ago who could not vote because of their sex or the color of their skin and I wept tears of shame and pain for those on both sides of the issues that have come before us.

I heard him talk about reaching across the aisles of our difference, white and black, gay and straight, able and disabled, democratic and republican and I wept tears of hope for the future.

I heard him speak of the changes that have taken place in the last century and his dreams of changes for the next century and I wept tears of relief that perhaps he could bring about some of those changes.

I saw an African American man standing on that stage and I wept at the awesome privilege of witnessing history in the making.

For once, a man was judged based on the content of his character, the words from his heart, the hope he exudes and not on the color of his skin and I wept.

I prayed that all those who have gone before, all those who suffered so much to reach this day, are looking down and are proud that this day has come.

I prayed that this man who stood before us speaking words that moved me to tears can and will do even half of the things he dreams of and speaks of doing.

What a wonderful country this could be if he can continue to lead others to set aside their differences and their prejudices and come together for the good of this country and this world. I prayed that this is the day it will begin and I wept.

Today was Election Day and Barrack Obama became the first African American President Elect.