celebrating

Thank you.

Last week I posted this, and the next morning we learned that there had been an earthquake so major that it actual shifted the axis of the earth. I stayed in my house, and I worked and worked, and every few hours I watched another video of water rushing through city streets.

It’s hard to know what to do.
A friend remarked to me about how there seems to be an increase in natural disasters.  I’m not sure if that’s true–I think perhaps we might just have more ways to experience them through the media.  Videos and twitter and the news and facebook–it’s almost like we’re there.
Except we’re not.  And we watch all of these people losing everything.  And we give our coffee money for the month, or anything else we can pull together.

But in between the editing and the watching of the earthquake, I checked back here to read your comments.  And you guys are fantastic.  You really know how to celebrate.  You kept me smiling and cheering for you, and you kept me working.  Thanks for helping me finish this book.

You’re getting married, you’re having babies, you’re leaving jobs or starting jobs that get you closer to what you want to do.  You’re celebrating friends and love and the moment.  You’re celebrating revolution.

I’m celebrating you.
I’m seeing how much good there is just in choosing to celebrate.  Because here we are, and I’d say that’s enough to make it a special occasion.  Because along with coffee money, I think that celebrating the moment helps, too. 

Today I emailed the book to my editor.  I took a shower and folded the laundry.  Then I walked into the backyard for the first time in too long.   I pulled some rotten kale out of the newly thawed ground.  I looked at the tiny rhubarb shoots making there way into the world. And then, I saw buds on the lilacs.

And who won the gift certificate?  Heather, who celebrated the first whole weekend together with her fiancee in a while.  I hope the weekend was a good one.  Send me an email and I’ll let you know how to get in touch with Caroline.

Thank you, friends. Happy day to you all.