Andy came over from the boat H.B. Welch to join us for Christmas morning coffee and to pick up Bob so they could go work on some boats the next bay over this morning. Bob was feeling under the weather but he mustered himself for the task. Andy is trying to find out if we can be invited over to his friend's Mom's house for Christmas dinner, but Craig wasn't up to ask, so we don't know yet. Andy will be joining us later for some merriment, maybe some chicken on the grill at the back of the boat.
This is our personal Christmas, my first without my family, yet it is the same Christmas everywhere, when people join in the common hope that they and other people can find happiness in their circumstances.
While I await the dingies' return, I poured a mimosa, ate some crackers and brie and let some Christmas spirit bubble up. I watched my favorite movie, "One Magic Christmas" with Harry Dean Stanton (free on netflix) as the angel reminding that it is important to celebrate the spirit of the season. I love how that movie reminds me of how much I am thankful for.
So, now, as I wonder what else happens today, I know that there are ways I can make this day be full of spirit. There are the things I can do. Just as there are protocols for boating safely, for living reasonably well, for having a conscientious life, there are the things to do on Christmas, no matter if you are deep in snow in Kennebunkport, Maine or in Seattle, or any place my friends and family are spending today.
So I resolve once again, to make this the merriest of days, and I can do that here. I can -and will- greet total strangers with big smiles. In fact, I can say good morning, afternoon or evening any day, which is the custom here, but I can mean it. It can matter more to me. I wish this to be the way I spend the rest of my life.
Moreover, I can make sure to be hopeful and positive. This is a harder thing for me, because I became accustomed to skepticism over time and it isn't easy to be a believer in life when so much seems not to point to the increase of possibly positive outcomes for this planet. But that could just me decrying with the naysayers and I can reject that modus operandi, and I do. The mind is vast, a Buddhist once told me. I believe it. I think infinite things are possible:
For instance, here's an actual fact: Bob and I are still managing to live our dream out loud. We found the boat we got here on, and we see ourselves making a new life on our terms and we are making it real. How's that for a merrymaking? And even if we chose to stay instead of to go, we could change our thinking and it would change our world. Change is good. That is the truth. You just need to believe.
So, Merry Christmas all you blog readers. Thanks for taking the trouble and I hope to continue to find interesting things for you to learn about. There is so much that would fit that bill, I just have to edit it down. That is what is so wonderful about life. You can find a way to be open to amazement. We can inspire each other. Love is not just possible, it is infinitely possible.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from the Calypsonians, Laurie and Bob, with much love.
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