Ouf!

I have just had an exciting few days... you know when a lot of lovely little things happen and people around you are happy and you get positive feedback and you are fairly floating off the ground?

Saturday afternoon I was shopping for a summer outfit to wear to a few «functions» I have coming up.  I met Micheline, my friend C.'s sister.  C. is dying of cancer and I have been visiting with her regularly over the last few months.  Micheline said that my visits uplift C. and cheer her up. I was humbled.  I had not thought that my little visits could ellicit such a response.

Saturday night I went to listen to a french comedian with my husband and younger son. The theatre was full, over 600 seats.  At the end of a hilarious show, during which I laughed until I cried, he mentioned that if it had not been for a fortuitous meeting with two guys two years ago, he would not have come to Edmonton.

 He said that he was in town to catch another stand up comedian's act and there were these two guys who recognized him from a few movies he was in, told him he should do a show in Edmonton because there are a lot of French-speaking people here.  Alas!  He was talking about my two sons!  Happily, D. was with us and waved at him.  It was one of those tingly exciting moments in life for him and I was so proud/happy for my boy.

On another note, I recently broke a veneer on my front tooth.  I had the piece bonded back on but as I will be in France for 40 days this summer (kind of the opposite of Lent), I felt that the veneer should be replaced.  As it turns out, if I get one veneer replaced, I may as well do the other.  So, I'm getting new front teeth in time for my trip.

I was in the dentist's chair (my friend Colette from university days) for 1 1/2 hours this morning and came away with some awesome temporary veneers, custom-shaped for the new me!  Gone are the rabbitty veneers I have been sporting these last 18 years!

Later, on the same day, I attended a charity lunch where words of inspiration were uttered and promises made to help children in need.  This is the kind of cause that I want to be involved in.

My cup runneth over.  I am buoyed by the good things that just happen in life, in this case, a pearl necklace string of lovely things that lift you out of the year-end doldrums into another sphere.  A sphere of connectedness and joy where you forget the insignificant things that otherwise bother you and look outside of yourself to see/help others.

I am grateful for these moments as I am grateful for my tooth incident as I am  for the tender moments I spend with my dying friend and for the opportunity to do something for children in need.  Life is good even when it's not because there is beauty even in the most unattractive things.  I revere these moments of shared human kindness and wish for all the world to awaken to the power of sharing and the energy of joy.

Amen.

Bonne journée,

Stella