Happy Holidays
From Me and Mine
To You and Yours
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Happy Holidays
Tag Archives: family
All Things Great and Small
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In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, Nov 22nd. But we don’t have to wait for a special occasion to express gratitude.
And though we live over a thousand miles apart, my sister and I share a practice. Each day before we rise we express thanks for all things—great and small—in our lives.
“There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world.” —Unknown
I’m grateful for family, especially the newest little bud on our family tree.
What are you grateful for?
Bursting with Joy
Our first grandchild arrived last week, and our hearts are bursting with joy! This photograph is of our son holding his newborn daughter, Luna Bleue.
Watching my child fall in love with his child… priceless.
As a holistic health practitioner and doula, I’ve had the privilege of attending many births. It doesn’t matter how many times, or in what capacity I get to be part of the birth process, it never ceases to amaze me.
When was the last time you fell in love?
Optical Illusion
We took our son out to dinner for his birthday, and after a delicious meal, we asked the waiter if he would take our photograph with my cell phone. When we dropped Evan off at his apartment, he said, “Will you please send me a copy of that photo?” As we pulled away, I sent it to him.
Before we arrived at our house—only a mile away—my cell phone rang. “Mom, did you see the optical illusion?” I had no idea what he was talking about. “Open the photo and look at the straw on the table. It looks like the right side of it is levitating.”
Sure enough!
You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t believe everything you think.” Well, don’t believe everything you see, either.
What was your most recent encounter with an illusion?
Rock On!
Cairns—we saw them aplenty when we climbed Ben Nevis. We noticed quite a few in Nova Scotia. We spotted them as trail markers in John Muir woods, on Palomar Mountain near the observatory, and now in the shallows of the Boise river—in this case, parents built them symbolically, one cairn each for a family of seven.
Used by people around the globe, cairns — human-made stack of stones — serve many different purposes:
- Utilitarian: to mark a path, territory, or specific site
- Spiritual: inviting passersby to stop and reflect
- Ceremonial: when placed within a circle of enclosing stones
- Memorial: when friends and family members voice a fond remembrance of a loved one while adding adding a stone
- Symbolic: the uses are endless including love, prayer, and artistic expression
Have you ever built a cairn?
Life Isn’t a Dress Rehearsal
Recently I attended a family wedding. The rehearsal — a great time to smooth out potential wrinkles — was beautiful and enjoyed by family and friends who’d traveled a great distance.
You’re familiar with the famous quote:
“Life isn’t a dress rehearsal.”
— Rose Tremain
In other words, there are no do-overs; we don’t get a second chance at a first impression.
There won’t be another opportunity to live the same life I’m living now, so I’m giving it everything I’ve got.
What was the last thing you rehearsed for?
© Laurie Buchanan
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Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive
Four Generations
Do you remember the 1996 comedy “Multiplicity” with Michael Keaton? In an effort to accomplish more, he had “copies” of himself made. Unfortunately, each copy (clone) was more blurred than the previous one; less efficient, less effective, less everything … In fact, the negative aspects of the original became emphasized with each copy.
On a recent bicycle ride I was thinking about my son and our similarities and differences. That got me to thinking about how similar—yet different—I am to my mom, and she was with hers, and so on…
In looking at the “bolt of cloth” that I’m cut from, my goal is to “accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative.” I’m hoping that my son will do the same as he examines that same bolt of cloth.
In the four generations picture above, my mom’s on the left, I’m on the right, and my maternal grandmother is in the center holding newly-born Eoghan (1983).
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan
www.HolEssence.com
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Buchanan — All Rights Reserved.
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