1oth March. 10th March is a big day for me. 10th March would have been (gets out calculator…) Tabitha’s 18th birthday.
Who the hell is Tabitha? Tabitha was my cat, my familiar and had an attitude hard-won and a furry love of a heart. But, only if she wanted to. I miss her, and I hope she’s chasing moths and bouncing on clouds in heaven. I reckon she is.
But, 10 March is also, thanks Jenty, the International Day of Awesomeness.
Yes, click on the link and find out more but, to celebrate, I’m going to list my top ten current awesome things:
1. Knowledge. My old school motto was “Knowledge is Power”. Truth is, though, I never really understood that until I was an adult. Typical, really, because I probably wasn’t paying attention back then.
2. Action. Acting on knowledge gained is something that lacks in our world. Yes, you can learn, you can teach, but, seriously, can you do? Are you doing? Today was a prime example to me of that. Which brings me to..
3. Friends. Friends who care beyond themselves. I am lucky and so flipping blessed by friends. Friends who can see far beyond their own lives and are unafraid of staying with you in hell, and celebrating with you when manna rains down from heaven. I could nominate quite a few people out there but, today, my friend who is awesome is Sue. I have a million and one reasons for that and she knows them. I love you chickenbum.
4. Lights. We take it for granted, don’t we? So, whilst you’re sitting there, reading this on your laptop, connecting via your wireless connection and updating your to-do list on Google Docs, just remember, for two minutes, that none of this would’ve happened if we didn’t have lights. And then…
5. Think about the fact that the majority of children in our country do their homework without lights to switch on. Yes, tis true. Remember that. Which brings me to…
6. Blessings. Life is a hard road. You’re not given any map or compass, just hope and faith and vague idea of where you’d like to be. And the way you get there? Blessings. Little ones, big ones, whatever size you like. Somehow, life has given me what I need to make it happen. Yes, that means…
7. Hard work. True, it hasn’t killed anyone and I’d like to not take the chance but, when you see something you have created, or help create, come to life. That feeling you get when you know you have completed something that can help someone else. Not much else can top it. Except, maybe…
8. Ice-cream. On the sofa. With Cam. You see, folks, I’m a lucky one. I’m not a ‘infertile myrtle’ (thanks Tannie T for that term!) and Cameron came to me quite by surprise. Yet, every night when I look at her sleeping, I think of a friend of mine who would give anything, and I mean, ANYTHING, to just once, be called “mama”. To just have and love a child of her own, no matter how hard or lack-of-sleep, financial conundrum it would be. She’d give up anything. At one point, when I was incubating Cam, I nearly threw my hands up in the air and said “I can’t do this! I can’t be a mother! I don’t deserve this and you do!” But, she stopped me, and reminded me that Cam chose me to be her mama. She was right. Like she always is.
9. You. You’re awesome. Even when you think you’re not. Even now that you’re on the plane, stealing sick bags to write on and carrying on a tradition. You’re awesome. Start believing that, soon.
10. My last but, definitely not, least, awesome thing for today is…faith. I’m not talking about your conventional, clap your hands and smile at the preacher man faith. I’m talking about the faith I see around me. people who believe so much in what they do, and in themselves, and that the world can be a better place, even though it looks like the mountain is about to topple down upon us. Faith. It’s all about believing, even when you don’t quite know yet.
Happy International Day of Awesomeness!