gratitudes and knowing what matters
Nov. 10th, 2005 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonIn one day, my partner had to:
Tell someone they were HIV-positive
Tell someone they were going to die
Tell someone's family their beloved family member would likely never regain normal cognitive function
Likely save someone's life by doing an extremely messy emergency trach tube replacement
Report that a long-shot surgery for a 17-year-old woman to stop life-threatening seizures by severing the corpus callosum and scooping out damaged parts of her frontal lobes asociated with speech and language not only was successful at stopping the seizures, but apparently had left her cognitively intact
Attend a funeral for and comfort the family of a baby who had spent its entire life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before finally passing over after 8 long, harrowing months
Knowing what really matters is important. Knowing who really matters is important. Knowing where one should best put one's precious and limited time and energy is important.
Perspective is important.
The old saying goes, "Rule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff, Rule #2: It's all small stuff." Actually, it's not all small stuff. But most of it is. It really is. Sometimes it's so damn easy to get sidetracked by the small stuff. And then something happens, you see something or hear something, or help someone process through something, that makes it all so clear, brings it all into focus, highlights in clear relief what matters, what doesn't.
Here are my gratitudes for today, for things that really, truly matter to me:
A nearly 21-year relationship founded on mutual respect that continues to deepen daily, as well as overflowing with juicy lust, proving that love doesn't have to grow old *or* cold
Being totally off petrochemicals for heat (I continue to be thrilled about this)
A house so full of love it perpetually spills out like a river flooding over its banks
Right livelihood
waking up sleepy-eyed, curled up on the couch with a beloved housemate
Long walks in the woods and along the stream, as it changes, ever in beauty, day by day, season by season
The look in her eyes
My boy's enormous love of reading, myths, storytelling, and song
Helping others find their own way
True friends, old and new, those known, and those found in unexpected places
Morning omelettes
Being in the right place, at the right time
Laughing so hard it hurts, and family of the heart to share that laughter with
Tell someone they were HIV-positive
Tell someone they were going to die
Tell someone's family their beloved family member would likely never regain normal cognitive function
Likely save someone's life by doing an extremely messy emergency trach tube replacement
Report that a long-shot surgery for a 17-year-old woman to stop life-threatening seizures by severing the corpus callosum and scooping out damaged parts of her frontal lobes asociated with speech and language not only was successful at stopping the seizures, but apparently had left her cognitively intact
Attend a funeral for and comfort the family of a baby who had spent its entire life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before finally passing over after 8 long, harrowing months
Knowing what really matters is important. Knowing who really matters is important. Knowing where one should best put one's precious and limited time and energy is important.
Perspective is important.
The old saying goes, "Rule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff, Rule #2: It's all small stuff." Actually, it's not all small stuff. But most of it is. It really is. Sometimes it's so damn easy to get sidetracked by the small stuff. And then something happens, you see something or hear something, or help someone process through something, that makes it all so clear, brings it all into focus, highlights in clear relief what matters, what doesn't.
Here are my gratitudes for today, for things that really, truly matter to me:
A nearly 21-year relationship founded on mutual respect that continues to deepen daily, as well as overflowing with juicy lust, proving that love doesn't have to grow old *or* cold
Being totally off petrochemicals for heat (I continue to be thrilled about this)
A house so full of love it perpetually spills out like a river flooding over its banks
Right livelihood
waking up sleepy-eyed, curled up on the couch with a beloved housemate
Long walks in the woods and along the stream, as it changes, ever in beauty, day by day, season by season
The look in her eyes
My boy's enormous love of reading, myths, storytelling, and song
Helping others find their own way
True friends, old and new, those known, and those found in unexpected places
Morning omelettes
Being in the right place, at the right time
Laughing so hard it hurts, and family of the heart to share that laughter with
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 04:04 am (UTC)I was feeling sorry for myself last night, feeling sad and confused when I suddenly stopped and remembered to look around at where I was. I was housesitting at the mini-mansion. There I was, sitting under a gorgeous tree in a beautiful back yard in perfect weather with a full belly, wearing comfy clothes outside a house that, while it wasn't mine, I get to visit pretty often. Less than 1 nth of a teensy percent of people were in a more priveleged place last night. I relaxed into the moment and was grateful.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 06:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 02:14 pm (UTC)Life is good. It really, really is.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-11 02:15 pm (UTC)