Thanksgiving Post- Don't Read This

Read this if you must.

If you don't feel the need to read then get off right now. 

Get off this blog. Get off the internet. Get off the phone. Get off the tablet. Get off the computer. Get off the tv reflecting either one of these. Get off the grid.

It's thanksgiving. 

A day to celebrate not just what you are thankful for (i.e. Electricity, running water, wireless technology, long distance transportation, etc) but primarily who.

Now I know not everyone around the world celebrates this holiday and if you happen to be one of those people and you're reading this maybe you take a day-today-to focus on this:

Go tell someone, go tell a whole bunch of somebodies, go tell everyone who has or still is making an impact on you and tell them what they've done. 

Talk to them, call them, text them, write them a letter. Do whatever it takes to let the people who make an impact in your life know how much they matter to you.

They are put into your life for a reason. Tell them thank you. Tell them why. But most importantly, give them time. Get away from everything else and go to those people. 

Go to them and give thanks.

The Sequel: Relishing The Good Old Days

I saw a movie with my brother and wife the other day. Won't say exactly which one because I don't want to do any promoting but let's just say it was a sequel to a movie released a long while ago. A very long while ago. In fact, it took this movie 2 full decades to come out with another addition.

And I've got to tell you, I was waiting patiently. My brother was waiting patiently with me. Because the first movie meant something to us. No matter how stupid or over the top or ridiculous, it had meaning to it.

This movie helped make our adolescence. With such quotable lines and various situations of hilarity, we referred (and still do) to the movie often. It was and still is the basis of too many of our inside jokes. To this day, nothing lives up to seeing this film for the first time (or the next 20).

Looking back, it might be one of my "good old days" moments.

I'm sure this is how millions of people felt as well because, as the directors and actors said before its release, the whole reason the sequel became a reality was due to the overwhelming amount of fans and viewers wanting it to happen.

I'm not going to lie, I fist pumped, gave my brother a high five and nearly jumped for joy when I first heard the 2nd film would happen two years ago. So many longed to experience that magic they witnessed or that special moment that took them in just one more time even though that moment probably will only happen once. They want to laugh that same way or see that character again the way he or she was before. 

A hunger for a simple slice of the good old days. Just desiring a little taste.

I think big questions come from this that can be important to look at in terms of our own story.

Do we have to have the sequel? Do we have to revisit stories? Do we really need to recreate the good old days?

I mean don't get me wrong, I enjoy the end-credits-scene-fad or the "man, what a cliffhanger" moments in books and movies more than you realize. And I love talking about old memories and sharing stories every once in a while.

But in our own personal lives, can't we just leave some things alone? Can't we let one event that happened to be done? Do we really need to hold on so much that we need to recreate moments of the past? 

Because if we keep doing that, I'm not sure if we can never move on in the present. I'm not convinced that our future won't continue with us glancing over our shoulder instead of straight ahead or even up.

I'm not saying looking back with a smile on your face is a bad thing. But it is when it's the main thing. It is when it keeps you in the past.

We are meant to grow. 

We are meant to move on. 

We are meant to enjoy each moment we are given.

May you live in each moment with your head facing straight as you move forward.

Live each moment joyously remembering the glory days but not letting them become you.

Be present in the present.

Let each and every day-these days-be your good old days.

A Cupboard Under the Stairs

We have a small cupboard under the stairs in our house. It's here I’m writing this to you. In a space no larger than the back seat of a compact car with height no higher than a growing boy. And it’s quite funny actually. Funny because as I sit here writing and typing away, I’m brought back to a rather famous tale of a boy who once lived in the cupboard under the stairs.

(In case you live under a boulder or have been asleep for the past 15 years, I'm referring to Harry Potter).

It’s under here I realize something. As bad as the author described the conditions this particular orphan boy was living in, besides all the horrid things his jealous aunt and foolish uncle made him do, despite all the bullying he had to take from his adopted brother-cousin, he was content.

Not happy. Not thinking too horribly of his situation. Content. Part of the ride of the life he was in even if it felt like he was sitting in the trunk or on top of the back wheel. Content.

The cupboard was his domain. His personal space. His room. All he claimed in life belonged to this 2 by 4 and half foot space. It was better than being without a home. It was better than being alone. It was better than having no one and nowhere.

And when those who tried to make his life a mess became too much, and when he went in there by himself or by force, he could go there, try to silence them and take in the fullness of that which pushes many of us. It was in this room he began to think about things and see things that changed his life. It was here where he received a letter about a school for wizards that he began to dream. This tiny room pushed him to have big dreams.

Dreams.

With the simplicity and nothingness that lie in his space, there was nothing to do but dream. Dream, Wish and Hope.

Which brings me back to sitting here in this small closet under the stairs. It has done the same for me. It has brought me to a point of relaxation, of dreaming and of wonder. One of the main fires in my gut is to write, to share, to fully take in each life experience and to do each often. Yet this rapidly-paced world so big, full of distractions and noise and reality get in the way. But in a space so small it is next to impossible to do so. It makes me content to be in here. It makes me feel the silence. It makes me wonder. 

And it leaves room for only one simple possibility that pushes me. To Dream.

May you find that place that makes the rest of the world feel small. 

May it silence the noise. 

May it fill you with wonder.

May it take you to dream. To dream, to wish, and to hope.