Happy New Year-L'Shana Tova

This was an e-mail from a friend and I thought I'd re-publish it here:
"L'Shana Tova U’Metukah Tikatevu
May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!
שנה טובה כתיבה וחתימה טובה
May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall .

And may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastroenterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber, and the IRS.
May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere during rush hour in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space.

May this Yom Tov, find you seated around the dinner table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the Jewish New Year ahead.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may your checkbook and your budget balance, and may they include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your partner, your child, and your parent(s). You can say it to your secretary, your nurse, your butcher, your photographer, your masseuse, your seamstress, your hairdresser or your gym instructor, but not with a "twinkle" in your eye.

May we live as intended, in a world at peace with the awareness of the beauty in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous part of ourselves.

Bless you with every happiness, great health, peace and much love during the next year and all those that follow"

Friday Five Stairs

Jan posted this thoughtful Friday Five:

"Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up,
And isn't down.
it isn't in the nursery,
it isn't in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!"

— A. A. Milne
“Halfway Down,” When We Were Very Young

Thinking of your childhood as a stairway, when did you feel (and how did you feel then)

1. at the bottom?

When I was very young I grew up in a home with no stairs except the ones to the basement. So I grew to know stairs in the home of the women who took care of me when my parents worked. I used to 'butt' up and down. She had three much older daughters and even though I felt like a member of the family for my young life, I guess you could say, I was at the bottom rung.

2. at the top?

No, in my young life, I never felt powerful. I lived with an alcoholic father and an angry mother which left me pretty much...out.

3. halfway?

No.

4. At this point in your life, where would you place yourself on your own stairway?

I'm still climbing those stairs. I have a career that I like, and that I have worked for, a happy relationship. I'm sober for 23 years, I have friends and I'm close to my small family. Actually I'm pretty close to the top compared to the people I see every day! I'm a lucky girl.

5. Identify a place for you that "isn't really anywhere" but "somewhere else instead."
When I meditate, Mindfulness Meditation, I go there.

A Good Idea to Support the American Nuns

Last January, the Vatican launched an apostolic visitation of institutes of women religious in the United States.

Now is the time for those of us who have been served by or served with women religious to stand in support and express our gratitude for these women who have given us so much.

Letters in support of women religious will be posted here throughout the month of November and sent to Mother Mary Clare Millea, Cardinal Franc Rode, Cardinal Francis George and Pope Benedict XVI as well as leadership teams of communities of women religious in the US.

Submit your letter today.

September 16, 2009

from Kate Child Graham of NCR

All are invited to write letters in support of women religious which will be posted atwww.thankyousister.com and sent to Mother Mary Clare Millea, Cardinal Franc Rode, Cardinal Francis George and Pope Benedict XVI as well as leadership teams of communities of women religious in the US. In these letters, you are invited to share personal stories about how women religious have impacted your “quality of life,” express messages of gratitude and/or convey general messages of support.

As November is the month of giving thanks, the letters will be posted on this site throughout the month of November, but please start writing now.

Here are the steps to contribute your message of support and gratitude:

1.Go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/thankyousister/ to make your commitment to write a letter.
2.Write your letter in 700 words or less.
3.Send to thankyousister@gmail.com before November 1, 2009. Please include your name, city and state in the message or indicate if you would like your message to remain anonymous.
4.Forward this message to ten friends or post the following message as your Facebook status:
“Last January, the Vatican launched an apostolic visitation of institutes of women religious in the United States. Join me in supporting these women who have given us so much. Write a letter of support and gratitude and send it to thankyousister@gmail.com. Visit www.thankyousister.com for more details.”
5.Read your message and messages from others at www.thankyousister.com from November 1 through November 30, 2009.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Kate Childs Graham at thankyousister@gmail.com.