TGIF

We can fill each day with grasping or with giving;

with griping or with gratitude.

William Arthur Ward

Well, another weekend has arrived. It has been difficult getting a handle on things these past two weeks. It was strange having the holidays fall on a Tuesday...work one day, off for the holiday, then back to work for three more days. I just had a hard time getting my bearings, but that is over now, and it is time to move on. 

This is a cooking weekend for me, so I will have a lot to keep me busy. It's hard work, yes, but as the above quote says, 'fill each day with griping or with gratitude.' I CHOOSE to be grateful that I 'have' money to buy food and cook. I CHOOSE to be grateful that I have a job and a home. There are so many who have neither. There was a time, long ago, that I didn't have and remember lying across the bed and sleeping because I had no food, and I was hungry....

...which brings to mind a little story I'd like to share with you. Back then, when I first moved to the city, I had done so without forethought. I was always an impulsive individual so, one night, when I decided I wanted to live in the city I just up and moved there...with $200 in my pocket and two outfits. And when the funds ran out I was too darn proud to admit failure, so I stuck it out. Other residents of the hotel helped me out a bit, but they were just about as poor as I was.

One day when I was just about ready to give in, I got my butt out of bed and decided to go for a walk in Washington Square Park to clear my head. Just as I entered the park, I happened to look down, and there was a $10 bill and no one around to claim it. So, I picked it up and headed to the nearest MacDonalds. I figured the most filling item I could have was one of their thick shakes, and I would put away the change until tomorrow. To make a long story short, I bought my shake, headed out of the store, and walked smack into someone who was handing out fliers.

I stopped and asked if his company needed some help, and he replied that he was the boss and hired me on the spot.  Then, one day a passerby stopped and asked if I would like to hand out fliers for him.  I advised him to go ask my boss in the restaurant, and it turned out they knew each other, so I ended up doing the job.

It was about three weeks after that job, that my boss started with the "Gosh, can I give you half your money this week and the other half next week?" After a few weeks of this, I realized that this was not just a temporary thing, that it was something that was going to continue, so I went over to his friend's place and asked if he still needed me to hand out fliers.  He said, "I've got something even better.  My office manager is leaving, and if you'd like, you can start tomorrow before he leaves so he can train you."

And thus began the whirlwind years in which I hobnobbed with the rich and famous.  His was what was called an expediting agency meaning that we did things for the wealthy that they didn't want to do themselves.  I did things such as register Ralph Lauren's collection of antique cars, get the Visas for James Taylor's world tour, and register a car for Donald Trump amongst others.  

For awhile, I was mesmerized with all this wealth, but then one day it hit me, that it wasn't enough.  It wasn't satisfying me anymore. I wanted to help people, yes, but not in this way anymore. I wanted to help those who REALLY needed help.  And the rest is history. I tell you this story to show how nothing in our lives can be seen as insignificant.  Everything is put there for a reason.  Something as seemingly insignificant as a ten dollar bill may not be worth much in today's economy, but it was a ten dollar bill that changed my life and provided the groundwork for the life that led me to where I am today. Just goes to show that one never knows what is going to happen when you are down on your luck.

Wow, sometimes we start our post with something in mind, and it just takes off in another direction.   Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend.

To-Day

With every rising of the sun

Think of your life as just begun.

The past has shrived and buried deep

All yesterdays; there let them sleep,

Nor seek to summon back one ghost

Of that innumerable host.

Concern yourself with but to-day;

Woo it and teach it to obey

Your wish and will. Since time began

To-day has been the friend of man.

But in his blindness and his sorrow

He looks to yesterday and to-morrow.

You and to-day! a soul sublime

And the great pregnant hour of time. 

With God between to bind the twain!

Go forth, I say--attain, attain.

With God between to bind the twain!

Ella Wheeler Wilcox