A Day of Thanks...

Dear Ones,

I spent a lot of time traveling to return home today, after attending the funeral of Harvey Stower in Amery, Wisconsin. I am so grateful for the opportunity to leave my active life here in California, supported by my husband, Jeff Kunkel, my community, and many dear ones as I traveled a long way to honor a man who has been very important in my life.

Today when I awoke in a hotel near the airport in Minneapolis, I went to the window, where I had seen snow falling every time I had awakened during the night. When I sat by the window this morning, cherishing my last few minutes of quiet before a busy day of travel, I loved watching the snow continuing to fall, straight down. Ahh... no wind today.

When I went to my rental car, I had to dust about 4 inches of large white flakes off the windows before I started the car. Years ago, before I left the Midwest for California, dusting/scraping the snow off my windows drew angry words under my breath: "why would I live here???" Today, I cherished the moment. Today, I honored the feelings, warm and deep and sad, that accompanied the smells and the feel of the cold and the snow. Today, I took a few minutes to watch the 3 little girls who were making snow balls out of the wet stuff to throw at their uncle. When he'd had enough, their dad called out to them: "Come on, ladies, let's go!" I loved hearing their high voices and watching how each of the girls related to the new fallen snow.

Then I got into the car and drove to the airport. Upon arriving, I learned that I would not make my connecting flight in Chicago because the snow had slowed things down in Minneapolis. When I arrived in Denver, re-routed, I discovered that I had just - by about a minute - missed my connecting flight, the flight that would have brought me right into Oakland.

I was rattled. I walked anxiously to the Service Center for the airlines. Today's line was long, of course, with flights all over the country affected by the beautiful storm. As I walked to the end of the line, I started to give thanks: Thank you, God, for this, whatever it means. Thank you, thank you.

Then I took out my cell phone and called a friend in New Mexico, and as I stood in line I had a long and deep conversation with a friend I had been missing.

Thanks, indeed.

Warmly,

meb