Love Awe Wonder…

Living Life Filled with Love, Awe and Wonder

Category Archives: thankful


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Miracles 

I started wondering about miracles yesterday… This time of year you can’t help but wonder… And certainly miracles are all part of the Christmas Season.

What if we truly embraced everything around us as it is, a miracle. Imagine the awe and gratitude we would feel.

As a simple tear rolled down my cheek yesterday, after a brief moment of missing my father, I looked in the mirror and realized my tear was a miracle. It made me smile. A moment of realiztion of just how miraculous life really is!

Both life and death miracles…       Breathing in and breathing out miracles… Expressing emotions, miracles…                This Christmas Season a miracle…             My life and all my blessings a miracle…

So as you are reading this blog, take a moment and count the miracles in your life today… I’ll bet you will realize everything that surrounds you is a miracle!

Living life filled with Love, Awe and Wonder❤️


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Too Much on Your Plate?

I’ve been told for several years now that have too much on my “plate”… Or that I have too many plates spinning… And without a doubt… I do!!!

After rushing back home after a funeral only to rush back out to a women’s Christmas gathering, (after feeding the family of course)…
This is what happened…

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My appetizer landed on the floor! I won’t pretend no F bombs went off… Because they did! And my blood pressure from the stress of my current situation went through the roof! But I was able to Walk Away… And an angel cleaned up my mess for me…

I couldn’t help but wonder about the metaphor of the situation at hand… A plate overloaded comes “Crashing Down”… Leaving a mess for others to cleanup. I was fortunate enough to have “Santa’s Helper” around to help me clean up my mess. But with most situations we get ourselves into, we are left to clean up our own messes alone!

Life and all we are expected to handle gets way out of control on many occasions. I believe in todays world and its fast pace technology everything is just getting more and more out of control!
We are moving at a faster speed than over before and yet we still can’t keep up!

With all our modern convinces we are suppose to have more time on our hands right? I believe we have a lot less time to enjoy what’s really important… And sometimes that’s as simple as just being present to the moment and breathing in and out!

As the crockpot filled with freshly cook sausage and homemade (ok jarred) sauce went flying out of my hands (in slow motion I might add) I couldn’t help but be present to my ahh moment of… Enough is enough!!!

I made my party, enjoyed the women present, and even had a hearty laugh sharing the picture of my appetizer that never made it…. Most importantly… I learned a few very important lessons…
It’s time to stop and be still…
It’s time to remove things off my plate…
It’s time to set my priorities…
It’s time breathe and be present to this beautiful holiday season… And continue to give thanks!

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I am thankful I have a home, money to buy food, electricity to cook an appetizer, loved ones to help clean up and people I can call my friends…
What a blessing!


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The Thanksgiving Table…

A table and its memories… Had me wondering this Thanksgiving morning. My table is set, the turkey is prepared and company invited…

As we sit around “the table” for yet another Thanksgiving dinner I can’t help but wonder about all the family and friends who have eaten at this same table for the past eighty years…most no longer with us… Thankful for the wonderful memories my mother and grandmother created for us… Thankful for my children and their children… Very thankful for my father who may eat his last Thanksgiving dinner this year at the very same table he probably had his first Thanksgiving dinner with my mother…

No matter what maybe going on in the world today, we ALL as Americans have so much to be thankful for… As you count your blessings today at your Thanksgiving table… Stop for a moment and wonder… Who ate there before you, and give thanks for all they may have brought to “The Thanksgiving table….”

Happy Thanksgiving…

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Wondering About Life and Death…

Although I lost my brother 28 years ago and a few other close family members there’s something about loosing a parent!

After talking with my sister last night, she commented “you just can’t wrap your brain around it”. I couldn’t agree more. The finality of the death of a parent is so mind boggling. Which makes me wonder about people who lost a parent at a young age. I can’t even imagine…

My 90 year old dad lives with me now, a gift, a blessing, an honor to have him in my home… Being a quiet man I wonder often what he must be feeling. I haven’t seen any emotion from him yet. Perhaps being the dad he feels he needs to be strong for me, one of his Favorite daughters.

I find memories of moments in time flash through my mind daily. Those wonderful childhood memories I miss so much. I know death is part of life, but it’s the part of life that really sucks! I watch and wonder about my dad as I tuck him in every night with a kiss goodnight. Honored and extremely thankful for this time together… But the truth is my heart breaks knowing his pain and the loneliness of missing his wife of 63 years…

There is nothing I can do to take his pain away, except Love him. I wonder more about life lately because of loosing my mom. Life that must be lived and enjoyed to the fullest….

I’m in a new normal again…
Which makes me wonder,
what is normal anyways?
The standard of normal is all relative to each individual… The passing of an elderly parent is “normal”. Grieving is normal, wondering about death has to be normal too…

I continue to wonder about the meaning of life and death. What its purpose is… And how to live life to its fullest during this time in my life…

And still, I can’t help but Wonder about Death…

In awe of life…

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Facebook Friends (FBF)

There’s a virtual world of connection…

I find the whole concept of Facebook friends (FBF) very intriguing. I recently ran into several FBF’s in the past month and I really enjoyed meeting them face to face. There’s a wide range of FBF connections…. Some are your BFF’s while others are pretty much strangers. It’s those “strangers” that if it weren’t for FB you would have never connected.

Connection with others is a god given desire for most people. So FB in a strange way allows us to connect with more people than “physically” possible. The FB connections are kept on a very informal level in some ways… Then again, sharing personal pictures and thoughts keeps FBF in a very unusual place of feeling connected to people you really don’t know!

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday and smiled every time a birthday wish came through my FB page… Thank you FBF for taking time out of your day to wish me a Happy Birthday!

For all my FBF I still need to truly connect with, I look forward to “running” into you someday out in the real world… And please, please, please if you recognize me as your FBF please say Hello… It makes my day!

Thanks Lisa and Cheryl for saying hello when I least expected it…. Your warm smiles and sweet hugs were a blessing to me!

Connect with others today, it’s amazing how a smile or a “comment”
can touch a life!

Living life filled with Love, Awe and Wonder…

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Birthday Celebrations…

Birthdays come and they go without any really thought… Until you hit an age that seems like a wake up call and you think to yourself… “your life is passing you by”. Last year that’s exactly how I felt! I hated the age I turned and the day that was to be celebrated. I really struggled turning 55 last year. And now a year has passed yet again. This year I feel very different about my birthday. I am in a celebration mood, knowing it’s time to celebrate all the blessing of my past and the blessings of the new year to come… Not sure why the complete change of heart. Maybe it’s my age after all and the wisdom acquired by aging! I do know life continues to move at a rate faster than I can keep up with sometimes… So this year I’m celebrating like never before. I’m embracing my birthday, my age, and the wonderful love and abundance filled year that I am about to enter! Happy Birthday to me!

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The Power of “I’m Sorry”

39 days ago the journey of my dads illness began. Pneumonia was the major cause of this hospitalization which effected his already severely clogged heart value.

Weeks in the hospital with a Hospice diagnosis turned into weeks in rehab with a “pre hospice” diagnosis. Watching my dads physical roller coaster ride put me personally on my own emotional and physical ride!

Although dads pneumonia has cleared his heart remains the same, weak. His spirit fluctuates, along with his strength. All this while my mother patiently waits with dementia for his return home.

Well, he is heading home Sunday to be with mom. That decision was made after a roller coaster ride of several different options. The care team, along with family felt at least for now, that was the best decision. There has been a lot of conflict, differences of opinions, stress, burnout, and emotional breakdowns by family members (the latter sit on my plate).
And with that said there have been a lot of “I’m sorry”…. Thankfully our family knows how to Love and forgive…

I am thankful for those words “I’m sorry”, but each time a conflict or ugly words happen it chips away at my soul. For me, my goal is to just love and personally grow stronger and healthier from family differences.

It’s been an emotional roller coaster ride on many levels for all of us. I personally realized I have already started the morning process for both my parents failing health.

So I am thankful when I hear or read the words “I’m sorry”… With the unknown journey still ahead and the amount of time that is needed both physically and emotionally to care for elderly parents… Conflict, and disagreements are the last thing that should ever take place in a care taking situation. Making a conscious effort to love and embrace each other should be a priority during difficult times. Family coming together and caring for parents in their final years is truly the only thing that matters…

“I’m sorry” that it has been anything but Love…

In the end it’s family that truly matters…

In Love with family
In Awe of “I’m Sorry”
In Wonder of when…

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Thank Full….

My heart is full this morning as I think about my blessings… People who have touched my life in my past, new friends in the present and always family no matter our differences.

I am overwhelmed with emotions as I begin to count my blessings… So many cross my mind… From beautiful grandchildren, children, parents, health, friends, understanding publisher, home, connections, special loved ones and the air I am breathing… So many names come to my mind and if you are reading this you are one of them. A Day to give thanks, a day to be Thank Full…

I am Full of thanks this day for all my blessings, and the gifts I have received from many people in the form of friendship.

I have been blessed with many wonderful people who have crossed my path over the years… I am thankful for all the Love in my life… in Awe of all my blessings and often wonder why I am so very blessed!

Thank you for touching my life in a very special way… From my new friend I met on a boat in Massachusetts… To that special couple who live in sunny California… To the beautiful spirited friend near Denver… To those friends I have known 40 plus years… Others who have helped me find me… To the Love, Awe and Wonder that surround me daily… To this journey called life that God has me on… To my precious gifts called children, grandchildren and family…
I am so truly Thank Full!

In love, awe and wonder of Thanksgiving…

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