Wednesday Wishes

I ate almost the whole thing!

• Last night I headed off to Wild Zucchini for a solitary dinner of salad.  Between page turns of my book I became aware of a couple - it appeared they were waiting for someone.  Sure enough, pretty soon their friends/adult kids arrived and they went to order.  As I was leaving the restaurant I noticed them sitting all together, heads bowed, hands clasped as they said a blessing on the food.  We see that a lot when we're back east / in the southern part of our country.  Not so much here.  (Our little family generally blesses the food in the car prior to entering the restaurant.) I loved seeing them give thanks. I wish I saw this more often.

Moon just before sunrise.

• One of the routes for my morning walks takes me down a trail that is frequented by kids going to school.  Over the last couple of weeks I've passed a couple boys, maybe 14 or 15 years old.  They're always chatting and enjoying their trek to school.  The last several times we've passed I've heard them talking about something or other that is stressful.  Or "stressing them out". I so wish there was less stress in this world.

Lots of leaves and more still to fall.

• I took this picture of the current state of our backyard.  I love the leaves, love the sound when I shuffle through them, love their color, even can find enjoyment in the cleaning them up.  It often takes us several weeks to get them all packed in the garbage can and toted off in the garbage truck. And that's with at least half of them ending up in the next door neighbor's back yard because of the wind. (Thanks, Wind.) I wish there was some magically quick and efficient way to send them to leaf heaven (or wherever it is that leaves go).  It takes a fair amount of time, even with help of others.

• It was quite dark when I headed out this morning. And the sky was clear, absent of clouds.  The stars were bright and I loved seeing them.  But...I wish we could see the stars here the way our out-of-state-a-bit-away-from-the-citylights-family sees them.  They're lucky. Here we only see a fraction of the beautiful stars in the night sky.

• And I wish I was tactful and kind. I so dislike when I hurt someone, even though it's really never intentional.  I wish relationships were easier, that I knew better how to make a (long overdue) choice for us in a kind way.

• I wish that I could look at every day as a "perfect day" through the perspective that each day that I get to experience this world is a perfect day of love, kindness and opportunity.

• I wish that I could always remember that sweet scene from the movie The Help where the maid tells the little girl, "You is smart, you is kind, you is important."  Good attitudes to incorporate in my treatment of others.

I'm grateful for reminders of the goodness of our Heavenly Father in our lives.  I so need them. I'm grateful for the forgiveness I hope to receive for all the mis-steps I make in this life.  I'm grateful for the beauty of this fall season, and for a yard of our own that requires some outdoor time raking up the leaves.And this week I'm grateful for Thursday - the day The Husband comes home!