grazie mille tutti!

This page will consist of spontaneous thank you’s.  There are too many to remember; too many to forget and far too many to list!  However, The sole purpose of this page is my acknowledging any act of benevolence that happens and has happened to come my way, no matter the messenger, regardless of their intention– gifts come into my life and the life of my children every day!

So Thank All of You!

(please feel free to share your comments about your Grazie Millie’s from those who have touched your life with gifts.)

Quite often it is most challenging to thank those who have given you so many gifts–simply because there is no Beginning or End to their generosity.

If you see that you are one of the below and I have not included much, that could be one of the reasons.

When we think of all the blessings in our lives, it becomes very difficult to see what, if anything is really missing.

I find this true in my life every day…

3/30/10

Thank Y.O.U. (Alfalfa, Curly, KO and  soon to be adopted from the W.I.T. program, or graduate, whichever comes first.) Thank you for noticing the important things and for valuing the obvious to you and the not so obvious to others.   Thank you for being a great father to your boys, an impeccable ex to Her, and committed father and friend to everyone.  (i noticed.) Thank you for the time you have spent with my boys. you remind me what family should be, naturally…so thank you for all that you are and all that you are becoming or remembering…

2/16/10

Thank Y.O.U for bringing food to my boys…cuz of snow and ‘food- card- delay’–that was very generous and kind of you–spontaneous too! thank you for trusting me with your feelings, cuz you know they are in good hands…

Thank Y.O.U. for driving into the city to make that connection for the tea party! good soul that you are, but mostly thank you for the follow through–with every-thing!

Grazie mille, for the cafe mavi time, your note pad with the scribbles on it, the “book-club-generosity”, your time, your time, your time and your follow through too.

(can you tell? follow through and time is one of the gifts i value most!)

and thank you  for  your r e s p o n s i b i l i t y– to com-mun-ity.  Something we all need to practice more!

For a long time now I have been thinking about that Ferris Wheel in Rome, Italy.  you and i looked out your hotel room window and it seemed  so close! But because of our creative minds, we imagined it was just a hop-skip- and little jump away, until we  got to the highway and crossed it and walked through what seemed like miles of Dante Forrest, when  we finally arrived. The memory is a bit blurred cuz it was a few decades ago, but i do remember, vaguely, being way up high with the man who used to take me by my hand…when i was O-so small…The memory of that day, of finding- our- way and having a ride is a valued memory indeed.  The memories of your visits to see me in another country are treasured pockets of time that i hold close to my heart.  (And all the things that went unsaid over cappuccinos and long walks were spoken in our silence and in our hearts……grazie, tanti.)

Friday, January 22,  2010

Thank you for your sincerity and for recognizing the Val-ue of  my time and compensating me on your own.  Thank you for your follow through! (follow through is a huge gift in itself) When we acknowledge the importance of another’s time, some how each person benefits.  I am going to enjoy watching you grow and realize your dreams.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Thank you (One of Peter Pan’s Best Bud’s) for today at Rockin Joe’s.  Thank you for your time and your infectious positive energy about my life’s possibilities.  When you held my book in your hand, I felt as though you have been with me, on this great journey, as if it was your journey too!  You were genuinely as excited about my story as I am.   To have that kind of enthusiasm for another human being (and one that you barely know)  is not something you can learn how to have–it is what sets you apart from the average person and makes you–Special.   So now, close your eyes and make a wish!  I have just sprinkled authentic Fairy Dust about your beautiful  face and you shall  forever have that Glow–that special glow, that only the faces of authentic Kindness get- to- keep…

xx

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

• Thank you, Peter Pan’s, South African’s Best Bud–for your words to me. Very kind and very Gift-worthy! xx

• This morning I wished that I could thank this young Italian man from so many years ago, when I was living in Milan. I was being my geographically challenged self and standing by a bus stop  for over 45 minutes with a sign above me that read in Italian, “Hey, Geographically Challenged Young Woman, do not stand at this bus stop, cuz the bus ain’t gonna come!” But me, not being able to read Italian I could not read the sign. The kind young man tried to alert me some 30 minutes prior, but I didn’t know what he was saying, so I smiled at him and thanked him for whatever he was trying to say and remained at the bus stop.  After awhile I began to make the connection with what he had tried to convey to me, so when he returned for the second or third time and motioned with his flailing Italian arms and talking to me as if I understood him, he urged me to follow him (and follow him I was going to do, cuz-following- me- just- wasn’t- a- workin!) so this young man, walked me to the correct bus stop, waited for me at the bus stop. He got on the bus with me and took me to my very far away destination all the while not uttering a word.  He stepped down from the steps of the bus, pointed me in the direction I needed to go and said, “ciao…” and before I knew it, he was gone!

(i have had many angels in my life, direct my course in far away places and i have never forgotten one of them!) so wherever you all are, grazie mille!

Gifts that come to mind for today, Tuesday, October 13, 2009

• thank you for the amazon gift card–i plan on using if for my  not-so-little-one’s birthday. but mostly thank you for the reason you gave it to me.  i did not remember what i did for you so long ago that you remembered and that you were thanking me for! (so thank you twice!)

• thank you for the Ben Sherman (who is ben sherman?)  argyle blue and white vest that you bought for your mom and gave to me!

• thank you for the yummy string beans that came from your garden and added lovely color to our dinner tonight!

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Gifts that come to my mind for today, Friday, October 9, 2009

thank y.o.u…

For all those walks with me up our street when i was just a kid of 14, and your generous time and capacity to not only listen, but to hear, when others didn’t and still don’t. (and you have done so much more for me, but your time was the greatest gift of all—that and your emphasis on, “I-get-it!”)

And you too! You drove a great distance to sit with me and go over my highly active, sometimes-out-of -control imagination. (Lassoing it over the years has been quite a challenge and not one I always wanted to reign in!) And millie grazie for the washer and dryer after hauling laundry around for 2 ½ years! I will never forget the time  I was driving during a blizzard and my car slid  all over the roads.  When I got out to do the wash and my detergent was frozen! And the car loan! (the best part of the car loan was that I didn’t have do get your permission as to which kind of car I wanted! Yay(!) authentic, unencumbered giving!)

Thank you(!), for helping me during 2006 to feed my children and pay some bills (a lot of bills!) while I was looking for a job. The greater gift from you, especially, is that you did not ask anything in return, you simply and without hesitation wrote me a check—big check too. (not a lot of men could wear that hat.) What separates you as an authentic Giver and so exceptional is that I barely knew you! I literally told you my story (a true story) and you wrote me a check—and then a few months later? You wrote me another one! And a few months after that?

I landed a job!

thank you and your family for helping to feed mine during a horrid incident in February 2008. ( am always impressed with spontaneous generosity!)

I will always remember everything you did for me: The Alaska ticket and the Wedding Stuff and then the Divorce(!) retainer (this sounds like a movie! And it is all true!) and then the in between(s)! The copyrights, the presents, and the love—too. There is no harboring here with what ills have transpired, it is the missed loyalty in the giving that has made me sad, but never, not ever, do I forget—the gifts and the giving…from you too.

you…and i have never had a fight (and barely a disagreement) in 24 years. (i ask you, how many people do you know who can say that(?!) and mean it! but more significantly, you listened to me tirelessly even when you were tired!  and your voice, oh, my golly…vocally and when you did his interpretations in what you imagined his voice–his inflections would be…what gifts you bestowed upon me!

That skirt!  I cannot wait to wear that skirt you gave to me and the blouse too and the vests—especially the Polo camel hair! (all I need is my horse(!), cuz we all know, that since I lost My New Red Shoes, I wear my Way-Kool-Cowboy Boots!) What is so treasured about your giving is that you and I have shared experiences and in understanding those shared experiences, I know where your giving comes from and it is always from your heart…

Thank you for your visits to me when I lived in a distant country–so far away. The shoes you bought me that you do not remember buying  me, but I think that lap top is at the top of my thanking-you list, it was clunky and heavy and very antiquated by today’s standards, but I carried it across the sea everywhere I went, it went with me! And while you have given me much, much more, the one thing I had always wanted that you would never give away was the very part of who you are–the part of you, that you wouldn’t even give to your-self…and when we give Who We Are to ourselves? Ahhh, then we give Who We Are to Others…bestest gift ever.

You, you & you! Too many gifts to mention.  (at a later time i will address each of you…) Your Presence, your faces; your Presents, your faces—you make the Trip worth it. Your voices, the things you say, the way you say them, the way your minds and hearts work—all good, all gifts, all blessings.

Thank you for answering all of my science questions. You have given too on the material plane, but you know that I value your brain functions much, much more than anything else.

most significantly the road trip you made to visit me this past summer. but in past? what greatest gift you gave?  always knowing how to make me feel better when things were so bad. always pointing a light on my good qualities and politely taking focus off of my weaknesses–not only a gift but such a talent!

and you…”you just don’t look like you are from around here…” little did i know then that dorothy was your best friend too! you have been unwavering in your friendship with me as well as valuing my friendship with you. (and thank you for the visit this past christmas 2009 and the contribution to that “handbag”…)

you met me once in almost 20 years and every chritsmas you always remember my family and you are related to Them!  Our conversations and your  support and understanding reminds me what family is.

thank you for your laugh! (and that ear piece!)

and you! your words: “you haven’t even begun to know what has happened or what you have endured…” and all of your help during my Departure. the best gift you give to me is your–sincerity!

Thank you for your talent the art you painted for me, from your generosity– and your small voice!

Thank y.o.u. for Them. They were worth the heartache and the disappointments and the abuse too. But, I want to thank you for the history and for showing me what it means to hope and how to let go of that very hope. Having expectations with love and then letting those expectations go and realizing that in the departure of one, you also lose the heartache and disappointments of the other– two great lessons and gifts that came from you unexpectedly and to me by surprise—that they came from you.

Thank You for loving me, even if it is only in my mind! (my mind is a pretty wonderful place to be!)  But thank you most for all of my inspiration—that I don’t have to ask you for permission is yet but another gift! Thank you for your unyielding silence, for the quieter you are, the louder I hear you…The louder I hear you, the more I have to say!

Thank you for the friendship and our history, 34 years worth! And thank you for the years of business tips and encouragement. (and i will never forget that little white knit piece you made for my baby! still have it.)

Thank you for giving me my life…it was enough.