Grateful Sunday – January 10, 2021

I’m grateful my girls had the opportunity to meet my girlfriend in New Orleans. We had a wonderful trip, low key due to the pandemic, most of the time spent hanging out at her place. I’m grateful for Zoom, which enabled the girls to attend school while we were gone. I’m grateful they had a day with her son before he went over to his father’s house and I enjoyed watching him open up and the three of them have fun together. I’m also grateful for the experience of King Cake and being the one to find the baby!

I’m grateful for the movie Soul and that I was able to watch it with my girls and girlfriend. Once again Pixar teaches a fabulous life lesson, this time focusing on why we exist and what’s the point of being alive. That’s what I’ve been searching for so long; my purpose in life. In fact, I’ve spent so much time searching for my purpose, I had forgotten to live in the moment. I’m grateful children’s movies are attempting to answer these questions in a way that hopefully gets the younger generation to think about it while at the same time reminds us adults what’s important in life.

Speaking of living in the moment, I enjoyed rereading the first book of the Legend trilogy I had read with my girls five years ago. It was the second “fun” book of the year I’ve read and I’m glad I’m taking the time to slow down and enjoy an old passion. I’m  grateful I also listened to the insistent requests from my girls and girlfriend to join them with the resin art project they were working on. It took me a little while to let go of my own anxiety of not accomplishing certain tasks I wanted to finish and I’m glad that instead, I became present, following the movie advice from Soul. I also tend to believe I don’t have a creative, artsy side (a false story I tell myself), and was quite surprised with my own art work. I’m grateful I stepped outside the box.

I’m grateful a friend of my girlfriend gave us “ghost tour” of New Orleans and hearing all the interesting stories and history about the city. My youngest daughter had so much fun and expressed her interest in one day bringing her friends to New Orleans to experience a similar tour. I’m grateful my girlfriend threw extra coats in the car which were an absolute necessity after the sun went down. And I’m grateful for a delicious breakfast at Another Broken Egg and the incredible customer service from the staff. The Lobster and Brie Omelet was to die for and both the waitress and cook came up with a Vegan dish for my oldest daughter. I enjoyed watching her devour all her food after she was concerned about finding something suitable, especially considering the name of the restaurant.

I’m grateful for morning yoga and watching three sunrises in Hawaii in a row just prior to my New Orleans trip. My company has moved us back to the same resort we had stayed at before summer when it closed down due to the pandemic and I was so grateful to spend one morning doing yoga on the pier where I had done it so many months ago. This transported me back to when I first started doing yoga last year giving me a warm feeling of nostalgia. I was also grateful one hotel I stayed at finally opened their gym and I had the opportunity to once again lift weights and listen to good podcasts; it’s been months since I’ve been able to do that.