I am thankful for two big aha moments brought on by watching The Story of Stuff and reading the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

Today, I am thankful tearfully for a few things.

1. I am thankful for the beautiful turquoise blue ocean I got to see every day. The color soothed me, the water and waves thrilled me. What can I say… I just love the ocean.

This week I have 3 big things to be thankful for.

1. I am thankful for the space we have around our RV. It has certainly made our stay so much more wonderful, as the kids have room to do their thing.

I am so thankful for the people in my life with whom within sometimes moments of meeting each other I have had an instant connection with and forever after had a friend for life. Some of these friends I have not seen for years, or even talked to for years, but then we come together and it is as if time has stood still for we are so connected still. This connection exists with my husband obviously, and  I have mentioned this with Amelia and Kyle, with whom Chuti and I have a beautiful friendship. There is a friend Chuck as well, who was actually my first boss after graduation and only boss when I played the part of an engineer. We met through email as he sent me an email about a job offer, having found me through the Engineering directory of recent graduates. I responded and we corresponded through email only and created an amazing connection. When we met, we hit it off amazingly well. He became my boss for a couple of years and since then we have developed an amazing friendship which is one of my most cherished. Now the friendship with Chuck has expanded to include Chuti and Julie (Chuck’s other half), which makes it even more special. Of course, there is Erica as well, who came into our lives to teach the kids Spanish and became a part of our family.

We have been in Florida for two weeks now. The kids have almost completed one week at the IMG Bollettieri academy. It’s been an eye-opening experience. We have a lot of work to do, but it’s great to have access to some of the best coaches around. Next week, we are going to try another academy, and then we may travel to a different part of Florida to experience yet another place. At IMG, the kids start tennis at 1:30 and go until 5:30, where they have a fitness component from 4:30 until 5:30. So far, they have not shown any sign of fatigue. They work with the full-time kids, as this week’s line-up of part timers were mostly older kids. They get to have group work, semi-private, matches and then fitness. The kids prefer more private time with a coach, so that is what they will do next week at another academy. On with the dream.

I am thankful that we arrived at our destination in Florida safely on Saturday (Jan 2) night after a 3 day journey. Initially, it seemed like we would never get out of the cold and then suddenly we were in Florida. I guess it is like any journey one embarks on, both literal and figurative. Initially, it will be hard, before it gets easy. The trick is to STAY in the GAME.

On this Christmas eve, I am so very thankful for many things. One of our many blessings in our health and overall wellness as a family. This is a absolute great gift. When that is going well, it is much easier to follow your dreams.

As today is the eve of my birthday, I’ve had a bit of pampering and I am so thankful for the pampering and the people who are doing the pampering.

I am thankful for beautiful music.

Right now, one of the styles of music which really gets to me is fiddling music. I am enjoying the work of Lehy, Natalie MacMaster as well as pieces my kids have learned. I’ll have to post clips sometime. H and I have special time together dancing up a storm to fiddling pieces. He would tell me “Hand, hand!!” which is a prompt for me to hold his hand (as I carry him) and then we dance. He prompts me throughout  the dances to do certain moves, it’s a few moments of sheer pleasure and calmness, as well as loads of fun. Here is a video with Lehy. I will have to get one of my kids to video H and I dancing.

As Christmas approaches and I hear people talking about their Christmas shopping and how they have to get this or that done, I sit back relaxed, knowing I have no such stress. If you are wondering if I have completed my shopping, let me just add this: I didn’t have such stress last year or the year before or for as long as I can remember. I’m sure you are starting to get the impression that it is something else that is keeping me somewhat carefree. The truth is that my husband and I do not want to enter the stores during the crazy shopping madness times, nor, do we want to get caught up in the whole material part of Christmas. If we have to buy anything, we do it online and it tends to be books (big surprise).