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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Celebrate!

There are so many ways to celebrate. It's made sitting down to write this really hard because I have so many great examples from my life, and life with Heather.  We've celebrated big things, like births and marriages and graduations.  We've celebrated little things like me surviving public speaking that I was not prepared for or Heather cleaning off her dining table.  We celebrate for no particular reason sometimes, too.

Celebrations are affirmations of the good of life.  They can be huge, grand events, or quiet moments.  Some of them are meticulously planned and sometimes they just happen.  All that counts is that we acknowledge the happiness, strength, and successes of our lives, because they are the moments that prove we can change, we can triumph, and we can reach our goals and milestones no matter what is in our way.
Heather and I once threw a Farmer's Market party this called for my good china and silver.


Here are few of my favorite celebrations from over the years, in no particular order:

  • A car picnic with my son, who was four at the time.  He had sat through his immunizations without crying or fussing. We ate grocery store sushi (his choice) in the front  seat of the car while rain poured down and we waited for his older brother to get out of school.
  • My husband and I have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with takeout and a bottle of champagne after the kids go to bed.  We light candles, put on some nice music, and have dinner when going out isn't possible.
  • In my house, we celebrate every solstice and equinox. The previous season's decorations come down, and new ones go up. We eat food that is newly in season, and set a beautiful a table to sit down and enjoy the seasonal cycle.
  • Treats can be an excellent celebration of perfectly ordinary, yet vital events like managing to wash, dry, and fold all thirteen loads of laundry (don't judge, I don't have a washer and dryer in my apartment, so things can get out of hand quickly), an exam passed, or even to celebrate that we managed not to say something we were thinking in public.
  • Alice's restaurant, near Portolla State Park was an impromptu celebration. While travelling to film one of the segments we will be putting on YouTube in the next month or so, we had an incident (one of my kids threw up in the car my husband was driving, then the car wouldn't start properly. We found ourselves at Alice's Gas Station, next to Alice's Restaurant, and inspiration struck!  As payment for all the Thanksgiving messages Heather's Uncle Chuckles (who is my step dad) likes to send with the Alice's' Restaurant song playing, all 18 and a half minutes of it, we took a picture of us in front of the sign and sent it to him.  We thought it was hilarious! My husband, not so much, but that's another story.  We took a minor set back in our plans and had fun with it.
  • Midnight Margaritas (or Martinis or Mimosas)- There is a reason this scene from Practical Magic is so well liked. It's fun, it's happy, and anyone can do it!
  • Dancing in the dark is a fun celebration. My kids like to go stargazing, and we always take minute or two to dance under the stars.
  • Let a big "Woo hoo!"  Nobody said celebrations can't take a minute or less.
  • A cup of tea, I will admit, this is Heather's. I drink tea, but I don't have a love affair with like she does. It can be a nice celebration for a cold, quiet morning, and it's even better with a good book if you ask me.
  • Take a trip to celebrate. My husband and I spent a fabulous weekend driving up the Northern California coast in a borrowed Lotus for our 11th anniversary. We arranged a sitter for the kids, all weekend, and then we just wandered.  It was one of the best celebrations we've ever had! 
  • Capture the moment- take a picture, write a journal entry, or just let things soak into your memory.
Celebrations can be anything that makes you happy and allows you to feel gratitude and joy. They can be spontaneous or contrived, big or small, social or solitary. We just need to do them to reap their benefit.  Every learning experience, every change, each connection, and any moment in which we embrace our situation can be something to appreciate.  We'd love to hear about your best celebrations- both big ones and small ones, so leave a comment, please!

A celebration of not cooperating


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