The defining moment in my life that shifted the way I was thinking...and brought me to ubuntu.
Great question. Tough to answer.
In the sense of living and breathing and working and playing.
great
ɡrāt/
adjective
1. of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average.
synonyms: considerable, substantial, significant, appreciable, special, serious;
I didn't write my annual Thanksgiving blog this year, as I realized last night, due to a number of reasons. I've been busy with life of course, but also I think I am getting more grateful everyday. I am oh so grateful for the beautiful earth we live on, the extraordinary people in my life, the projects that keep coming, the laughs, the tears, the love from every angle, the sometimes tough (but always important) lessons that each experience has brought me too, and for the words that continue to show up when I need them most.
Like when we have to say goodbye to an incredible man that my brother-in-law's father was. Is. Wherever he is now. John made everyone around him incredibly comfortable. He had a smile you could see coming from a mile away and (since I saw him around his grandsons a lot) he always had a twinkle in his eye to tease them with. He was always curious about my life and was a great listener.
Today I am hurting that I can't be in Saskatchewan with my family, to stand beside my brother in law, my sister and their entire family. Sometimes the words just don't come to express or make sense of a loss like this. And so I have to turn to the only words that gave me solace recently when we experienced the loss of another great, great individual.
When Great Trees Fall
~Maya Angelou
"When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed."
And to my cousin Don, whom the world lost as well, you will be missed. I never got a chance to know you well and it's an unfortunate part of living in this great big world. But I know your family and all of you are in my thoughts. Let us seize life every single moment that we have. Let our hearts be big enough to connect and love each other dearly in the time we have and to remember fondly, forever and always.
ɡrāt/
adjective
1. of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average.
synonyms: considerable, substantial, significant, appreciable, special, serious;
I didn't write my annual Thanksgiving blog this year, as I realized last night, due to a number of reasons. I've been busy with life of course, but also I think I am getting more grateful everyday. I am oh so grateful for the beautiful earth we live on, the extraordinary people in my life, the projects that keep coming, the laughs, the tears, the love from every angle, the sometimes tough (but always important) lessons that each experience has brought me too, and for the words that continue to show up when I need them most.
Like when we have to say goodbye to an incredible man that my brother-in-law's father was. Is. Wherever he is now. John made everyone around him incredibly comfortable. He had a smile you could see coming from a mile away and (since I saw him around his grandsons a lot) he always had a twinkle in his eye to tease them with. He was always curious about my life and was a great listener.
Today I am hurting that I can't be in Saskatchewan with my family, to stand beside my brother in law, my sister and their entire family. Sometimes the words just don't come to express or make sense of a loss like this. And so I have to turn to the only words that gave me solace recently when we experienced the loss of another great, great individual.
When Great Trees Fall
~Maya Angelou
"When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.
When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed."
And to my cousin Don, whom the world lost as well, you will be missed. I never got a chance to know you well and it's an unfortunate part of living in this great big world. But I know your family and all of you are in my thoughts. Let us seize life every single moment that we have. Let our hearts be big enough to connect and love each other dearly in the time we have and to remember fondly, forever and always.
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