destination: unknown

with all the holidays around i have been thinking about the definition of family. so i am going to attach a little image of what my family looks like to me…

its crazy because i talk about all of these folks as my family; i try to discern, at times, the different ways they are connected to me…but that just seems to get more confusing. in the end i love them all…

love makes a family.

so turkey day was great… i made an orange-maple roasted turkey stuffed with redskin potatoes…yummo.

i gave thanks for my family, my friends, my loved ones gone and my loved ones yet to come.

Thanksgiving fast approaches and while it may pass us by because of the inundation of winter holiday ads it is important for us to take notice of this holiday—that is Thanksgiving. While we are schooled on the notion of a celebration between Indians and Pilgrims and a festive time for turkey I think it is the message of thanks on which we must truly hold.

We have morphed in to a society of individuals who use thanks as a common place item and so therefore truly miss what giving thanks means. We say thanks because “that’s just what you do.” Well, think for a moment of what it means to the person whom you are thanking—or what it should mean. It is acknowledging that person for taking some time out of their own routine to engage in a thing which will be to your benefit.

So here is my thought for the next 3 full weeks of the month of November leading up to Thanksgiving. On the 9th, 16th, and 23rd think of someone whom you would like to thank for doing something for you. My suggestions for communication are all written (electronic or hand) because sometimes it is easier to express thanks when we truly take time to think about that for which we are thankful.

9th: Send an email to someone saying thank you for something they have recently done to help you.

16th: Leave a hand written note for someone who is currently helping you with something.

23rd: Send a letter, via snail mail, to someone who has had a significant impact on your life letting them know how they have impacted your life and, of course, saying thanks for what they have done.

I don’t say these things because I want to see how many communications I receive, I don’t say these things because I expect you to send this along to friends so they may do the same, but I do say these things because I think it important that we take the time to really think about the people in our lives and how thankful we are for them and the things which they may do to our benefit.

Thank you for reading because you take the time out of your day to read my random ramblings. Thank you, because it makes me feel you care.

Rain in San Francisco is not a common thing…it happens during the fall and winter months and even then the rarity of its occurrence still surprises. After an existence of Midwest springs and East coast falls the fickle nature of San Francisco’s weather, at times, perplexes my weather palate. So many writers have expressed, in well written verse, the transformative or cathartic experience one maintains during and after a rain…I suppose I have tried to claim that same experience for myself, yet it has not come to manifest it self in my writing.

Am I to write of the syncopated sound as the rain patters away at the window while I watch the people walk by unaware of my simplistic observation of their common existence? Better shall I share the stories of the people of Fillmore who seem to dance with the rain drops fully unscathed by the reality of life as known by the general population?

Maybe the reality of rain is not to be as transformative or cathartic as some writers imagine; maybe the reality of the rain is to inspire. To inspire thought, to inspire action, to inspire one to think and engage in a fashion unique to the freshness the rain is purported to beckon or bring; simply to inspire. Inspiration can, and should, come in many different forms; when it comes one should grasp it and make of it what one will.

Two hundred thirty seven words in and I have still not found my inspiration in the rain…well, not the inspiration as I believe it should manifest. Yes, I am questioning; I am thinking on the movement of the day, the people, and the nature of rain…but there is no deeper message I have to share. Clearly my want to write is greater than my ability.

Here it is…the big thing: enjoy the rain and what it may bring, notions of a thing, ideas of inspiration, and moments of question. It is in these moments…in the moments of the rain…that we can sometimes find the biggest ideas of ourselves and the existence of others. It is in our essence to question and if we lose that want or desire to question then are we not losing the essence of us? Maybe the rain will inspire.

its foolish for one to believe their words could be so profound as to shape a movement, to inspire a generation or to relay a deeper understanding of the human essence… maybe its ok for one to believe their words can inspire deeper thinking, closer analysis, or questioning of a thing.

in the last few weeks i have engaged with friends who all seem to be going through a similar phase in their life. i started to think the economy was causing people to re-think who they are and what they wanted from life, but the more i experienced the exchange with friends i gathered the phenomena wasn’t reflective of the larger society but that of a generation.

we are a generation of seekers yet to realize for what we are searching.

content is not concept we grasp and settled is not a paradigm we understand. we strive for more, for greater, for better? but is there truly an end in sight for where we aim to land? i find i am still striving, still driving, still aiming for the next “best” thing… the thing that will make me feel settled, make my soul content; i search for the thing that will make me search no more.

truly my destination, and that of many in my generation, continues to be: unknown.