The Universe and I

Thanksgiving is the perfect day for hanging out and taking stock.

I am not doing dinner this year. Wynne took over, and has been directing the show. I imagine we’ll be dining later on one of her brined turkeys. The one she made last Christmas was the best turkey I have ever eaten, so I say GO WYNNE! I get to show up with my goodies and go home after, hopefully with some leftovers.

So here I sit thinking about the Universe and I and how it all unfolds before us. What do we do with the things we are given? Are we truly grateful for the things we have?

And do we believe that things happen for a reason? I’m only good on that up to a point. When really shitty things happen to someone I know, a friend is diagnosed with cancer, or people are randomly blown up, or my kid gets killed in a car crash, or someone else’s kid dies decades before his or her time, I most certainly DO NOT BELIEVE that things happen for a reason. Instead, I believe that awful things happen, sometimes as a consequence of something else, often without warning and for no apparent reason. Some of these things are life on life’s terms, others more accurately can be defined as Evil.

I am a spiritual person and try to look for the Good. Some days it doesn’t work. Snark happens. Like yesterday when I had that little meltdown, a little pity party all by myself. It’s been such a year of upheavals that I feel like I am living in a foreign land. Two weeks ago I got fired from my job. I don’t know why. It doesn’t matter. It’s over. But it was just one more Thing. And now there is Unemployment to be reckoned with. 

And then about noon the Magic started happening. I made lunch for a friend who needed me. We talked nonstop for two hours. It was the most wonderful time. And this morning I woke up and lay in the dark listening for the messages that sometimes come to us at the quietest of times. There was a new name. A new woman. She has a friend, male, but I can’t tell you about him yet. She’s 20 years younger than Emma. She lives in Portland.

Suddenly, there is a new character with a story to tell. I am looking back over her life, who she is and what made her that way. It is now several hours later, and I can’t get her out of my head. How exciting after all these weeks and months of wondering if I had another story in me. Stand by for further revelations!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! If you are headed to wine country this weekend, just a heads up: I will be signing books at the Chehalem Tasting Room, 100 S. Center St. Newberg, OR 97132, noon-4 p.m. Saturday November 28. 10 percent of all book sales during December are dedicated to breast cancer research. If you are unable to make the tasting, order your e-books or paperback copies on-line. Signed copies may be purchased from this website. Everything counts toward this worthy cause.