I saw a wounded mother duck in the middle of the freeway. Her 5 ducklings were panicking several feet away, so she hobbled over– broken, beautiful, and determined– and led them to safety. Cars drove well out of their way. A man with a veterinarian bag stood waiting for her to reach him, or for a pause in the traffic. It is sad, but somehow– so amazingly wonderful– the kindness of humans, the strength of mothers, the magic of the universe. I am reminded of the last time I had seen a duck family in trouble, and an old friend.
At work, I check emails and realized I broke a personal record for most angry emails about my blog sent to me in one day. I promise myself that I’ll read them later and continue to work.
Afternoon.
I interview a man who pushes me mid-interview. I take an early lunch.
I respond to two of the angry emails and the responses are positive and open-minded. The success fills me with calm, and refreshes my mission for peace.
I ask my secret sponsor for the stamps necessary to mail out hundreds of peace letters. He agrees.
I check my voicemails. I received a call from the father of the old friend I had thought of that morning. I call back and am told that she passed away that morning. I cannot make the funeral, it is overseas.
My online-friend of over 14 years sends me an email. As always, it puts me on a high for hours. No bad news can touch me. I am exactly as he sees me– invincible.
Evening
I am informed by email that I was one of 100 honorees for the Blog Her 2013 Voices of the Year (VOTY for my post Rainbow Luck. We are asked to keep it quiet it till its announced.
I go outside to tell Jay, since he is part of it, and notice that he is once again not there. This makes two days in a row.
Dave picks me up at work and takes me home. There is another angry email waiting for me. This one is different. VOTY announcements have gone live, and this is a death threat regarding my inclusion. It hits a chord given my friend’s death earlier in the day and I report it.
My cats go into a panic when fireworks shoot over our backyard. Perdita eats the fur off her tail and is sick from it.
I do some yoga, write some poems, and thank the stars for the blessings that came my way.
My gratitude journal says:
- I am grateful, humbled, and honored to have been included with 99 amazing bloggers in the VOTY.
- I am grateful that Twindaddy was flexible on his guest post so that I could use it on a day where I had no words.
- I am grateful for words, and how they make their own magic if you simply let them dance.
- I am grateful for the bright side of human nature that makes way for ducklings.
- I am grateful for Bloggers4Peace for inspiring the post that brought the VOTY recognition.
- I am grateful for Jay, for bringing me such an abundance of Rainbow Luck.
- I am grateful that I know people who will be able to help me find Jay.
- I am grateful that there are stars to wish upon.
- I am grateful for celebration, stretching, and early lunches.
- I am grateful to have survived what so many people have not.
- I am grateful that in this day and age, to discover tragedy by way of a familiar voice weaving a story with a sad ending. I am so, so grateful to have not found out via facebook, email, text, or voice message.
- I am grateful to have a husband who does not overreact to death threats.
- I am grateful that cat hair grows back.
- I am grateful that “dinosaur and stormtrooper” brought up so many search results in Google.
Was it yesterday? The day before?
I’m not really sure anymore.
- I am grateful that time passes at seemingly different speeds. It reminds me that life is all about perspective.
- I am grateful to perceive my life as one worthy of gratitude.
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About the Peace Mail Outs
I’ve done this a couple times before — once with Christmas cards and once with Valentine’s Day cards– would you like a letter from me? Just send me your address by email, or in the form below. Since I plan on handwriting notes, these probably will not be sent till the last week of July.
I’ll probably do a full post about it at some point, but might as well get started today.
Name(required) Email(required) Website Full Address(required)___________________________________
Have you ever had a day where you felt like a yo-yo? Do you love the word doozy as much as I do? Do you send angry emails to people and, if so, what is the purpose?