What are you Thankful for?

With this launch of my blog, (formerly known as "Down on my Knees. Eyes Wide Open.")it's now called:  Lies I tell my Mother (Because my Mother is always Right). It's the 2.0 version and it's kind of exciting. I feel I've come into my own skin as a writer, and a computer savvy blogger. Although I'm still trying to figure out all the logistics of how I want my blog to lay-out. I think for now, what I have out, will do.

Does the title seem strange to you? Good. I'll explain that later, but for today I just want to talk about THANKSGIVING. Why? Because today is that GLORIOUS holiday! Yippee.

I thought about what I wanted to say in this post, because I was just thinking I would drone on and on about what I'm thankful for, but that would take forever.

 I narrowed it down to Five things I'm Thankful for, and I hope that by listing them. You'll be inspired to list some things yourself, and maybe you can share them with those you're choosing to spend today with, or just whisper them secretly to yourself, or think about them constantly throughout the day, and when you think of one, just shout it out wherever you are.

 Either way you choose to declare your gratitude. I wish you and yours a beautiful Thanksgiving. May you be surrounded by love as we rush into the crazy holiday season, and find some solace in life in your abundance of blessings.


Five Things I'm Grateful for This Year (or in this Moment to be more Precise):

1. My Familia: This year I have discovered a new love for my family. My parents and my brother and sister all whom are growing into beautiful people each and every day. They are my haven away from the world. They are where I feel safest. I love them with all of me, but not just those who are blood related to me, but also my family which I've found by being on my own. I am so grateful for my friends, both those who are still around, and those which have come and gone. They have taught me lessons about love. I will never forget. They will always have grand pieces of my heart, and I am grateful I gave them away, and they were gracious enough to accept them.

2. Social Media: I really love Facebook, and not because it's the best place to stalk people, or waste the majority of my time. I learn a lot of my news from Facebook, and I've met some of the greatest people via the internet sensation. It is a new wave of the future and I'm on board, 5,000 percent.

3. Me: I know, this sounds weird, but my roomie Kiko made a joke of it while we sat at the breakfast table this morning, but then I really thought about it, and it struck me: I am totally grateful for myself. I think we all should be. Who else knows our pain, our triumphs, our heart aches, our success; more than we do? I have made it here, granted with the fantastic help of so many people, but I had to experience the journey, and that's what life is all about.

4. My Job: I have come to realize that I really love my job. I love what I'm doing, and I love who I work with, and I love being able to perform tasks that in the beginning, I totally resented, but now I am so thankful that I have a place to not just go for a pay check, but I arrive not knowing what awaits, but knowing that most days I'm leaving with an ache in my muscles and a smile on my face.

5. Education: I'm not just talking about a "higher education", it's not about something that you can get from a textbook. It's about an education you get just from living life. The things I have learned both in college and just from life have made all the difference in how I deal with things and how I find what is goodness in the world. I will be a life learner, and that will change everything.  


Happy Thanksgiving Every One. Take some time to enjoy everything in your life, and maybe afterwards you can play a Christmas song or two to get you ready for what I like to call: The Rush. 



Kelly Clarkson "Thankful" 

Shame

"Shame"
By: Nathan Rust

Remnants of last night.
Are etched in stains on the photo frame
of my computer screen.
It screams at me.
Shame.
Shame on you.
The delight you reap.
Shameful.
It is not
in the sin I find remorse.
It is in the lie.

Painted lines outline
the contour
of every muscle
that twitched
at your touch.
Every stroke
with that brush
paints my lips with
the words
you utter,
as you reach
that peak
at the point of the mountain--
which we climb.

I delight
in my happiness
of a stranger's pain.
Unknown to me
makes it bearable.
Okay.
I say.
Never leave.
Kiss me.

Please.

He begs. To let me
let him,
stay in my bed.
Like a vagabond
he begs on his feet
knowing I'll
oblige to his needs.
Indulge with me.
He say.
Indulge with me.

Shame.

When I let him stay
he slips from under my
naked fingers
to runaway
and lie with--
the other.
My brother
who is unaware
I've betrayed every prayer
he offered in my name.

Dirty glass seems clean
due to rain--
and the tears which
wash them.
Peace, seems a far
distant deserted land
to which I can't reach
for I am
parched
and thirsty
for him.

Again.

Then--
I drink
finding nothing but

Empty.