Last weekend was Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco. We all knew it had the potential to be a special one with the pending DOMA/Prop 8 decisions scheduled to be made the week before.
I woke up Wednesday morning and checked Facebook first thing like I always do to catch up on current events (kidding… not kidding). That morning I was floored to see all the posts about gay marriage and equal rights. We won! The gay community was granted equal rights to marriage in California!
Of course I knew all my beloved gay friends wanted equal rights to marriage. But what struck me was hearing and seeing (via FB posts) how far past “marriage” it went for them. They didn’t feel like equal human beings, people. Not only had they not been granted the right to marriage, they were not granted the right to live as a valued and respected HUMAN.
The Supreme Court decision not only granted the gay and lesbian community the right to marriage, it showed them that the world views them as valuable as the straight community is. They’re gay and that no longer means they’re “less than.” It made me cry in both happiness and sadness to learn that they ever felt that way, and that they no longer did.
I love my gay community and have never been more proud to be an ally and supporter.
I’m grateful to live in an era when their exisistence is loved, valued and raised up by the powers-that-be.
To be honest, no blog or Facebook post could ever capture that feeling, but these were a few that stuck with me:
I walked down to the Castro last Wednesday to, as I put it, “feel the vibe and hug a few gays.”
I feel so honored and blessed to have been in San Francisco last week and to have been part of this historic celebration.
I took a while to create this post because I knew it would be impossible to capture the feelings. So I’ll rely on a FB post again.
I love love, and am grateful for a world where love is just love.
Last night my friend whipped out her box of spray paint and we went to work on her roof.
My roommate once told me about an article she read on being happy. It suggested finding activities that put you in “the flow,” something that when you do it, you slip in to a groove where you aren’t thinking about anything else and you could do it for hours on end without getting bored or distracted.
Making be grateful stickers does that for me. Writing on this blog does that for me. And what came as no surprise to me last night, spray painting be grateful on a rooftop in LA really does that for me too.
I’m so grateful for the paint still covering my hands, grateful that I know what puts me in the flow, and grateful for opportunities to exist there.
Today I’m grateful for Therma-care heat wraps to wrap my metal-made ankles so this cold rainy June day doesn’t hurt as much.
Last weekend was Father’s Day. We all gathered in my Dad’s backyard and had a lovely family lunch while the kids acted crazy and the dogs begged for food.
Once the KFC had been eaten and the silly string fight had ended, Dad and I found ourselves under an umbrella on the grass quietly enjoying each others company.
A song came through his speakers so I asked him who it was. Little did I know by asking that question, I was about to be in tears.
“Rufus Wainwright,” he said. “This was the song that got me through when you were in the hospital.”
My dad was with me every night in the hospital the first week after I fell, staying awake beside me as I struggled to survive the pain I was in. He’d turn my light on, turn it back off, change the channel, yell at the nurses, fix that wrinkle in my sheet, put his hand on my forehead, and help me count down the minutes until I could push the pain-button again and send another dose of Dilaudid through the IV plugged into my vein.
And then he quoted the lyric as it sang past me, “Tonight will be fine… for a while.” He went on, “because you were SO tough… but then we’d have to adjust your leg pillows.”
(this isn’t Rufus Wainright singing, but this guy’s voice is just as beautiful)
…she’s moving her body so brave and so free.
If I’ve got to remember that’s a fine memory.
And I know from her eyes
and I know from her smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.
…
I’m grateful for you, Dad.
I’m grateful for psychoanalytic psychotherapy for scaring the shit out of me.
…kind of.
I’m sitting on my patio listening to a neighbor on her phone telling her mom how excited she is for her new internship in the city. “I got a laptop assigned to me!”
She has said “I’m really excited” and “I’m really happy” maybe 10 times.
So sweet and lovely.
Then she started talking about how beautiful San Francisco is. “The city is a dream.”
Thank you new girl, for unknowingly sharing your bright-eyed enthusiasm with your creepy, eavesdropping neighbor.
Last weekend the stickers and the be grateful please street team went to a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Life Rolls On, “a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for young people affected by spinal cord injury and utilizes action sports as a platform to demonstrate the infinite possibilities beyond paralysis.”
As described by founder Jessie Billauer, “LRO is an avenue to hope, independence, freedom, happiness, inspiration, and teamwork…It is about bringing people together and changing lives one day, one program, and one person at a time. Each of LRO’s amazing programs offers the opportunity for the physically disabled to open their minds, help them forget about their challenges and to be thankful for the opportunity to still be alive.”
When I landed from 30-feet up, I was literally less than inches away from a spinal cord injury. I’m so honored to be a part of anything that contributes to the lives of people who weren’t as freakishly lucky as I was. Gratitude at it’s finest.
I’m grateful for beautiful friendships and for my two ankles that propelled me up this canyon.
Hello LA.
2007
2013
Sometimes if you just change the picture in your head, you’ll find beauty and love where you never expected to.
be grateful please ™ 