A New Year Story
UmberDove
The dawn of the new year found us sipping cheap black coffee in a greasy spoon diner just south of the Canadian border. My seat cushion may have had a broken spring but the eggs were hot and the muffins sweet. With a poorly hidden grin I watched the elderly couple next to us gently bicker about bringing home the lingonberry butter (she won, it went) and then tenderly cheers each other a Happy New Year.
I turned to BC. "I think we need a word of the year, just one concise word to hold as our mantra." We sat in silence, mulling over this. I stared out the windows at the cover-cropped fields, flipping rapidly though words: hope, joy, intention, inspiration, gratitude, gumption, generosity. Hhmph. Generosity. A flock of tiny songbirds wheeled tightly over the parking lot. If you wish to receive you must give, give freely and with an open heart. You must give not with the intent to get, but with the intent to elevate the love in this world. Generosity. To act out of generosity as the polar opposite of acting out of scarcity. I warmed my hands on my mug.
BC sipped his coffee and broke the silence.
"What about generosity?"
And so the word of 2013 was born.
* * *
I hope all your Holidays, Christmas, and New Years have been bright! I'm taking just a few more days of vacation before returning full time to the studio. BE WELL my friends, I've thought so much about you over this holiday! I'll see you soon!
~ Umber ~