Attend

NOTE:  This is long and somewhat rambly, don't say I didn't warn you!

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Last week, there was a meme going around on Twitter.  It was for you to create your campaign slogan, and it was your last name, plus "2020," and the last thing you said to your pet.  Some of them were really funny, and some a bit disgusting, but mine would be:

Clancy 2020: Please Try to Be Sweet to Each Other

It amused me, and when I told The Tim, he said, "That's actually a great slogan.  But you'd be slaughtered by the Republicans for something like that."  He had a point.

But I was thinking about it, and of course, what I meant by "sweet."  That's a loaded word.  Of course, it can simply mean a piece of candy, which - if you know me - works just fine.  But when you are talking about behavior, it can mean two different things:  "Sweet" as in disgusting - you know, all bubbly, too pink, and, to quote my mother, "Something that makes you just want to slap a person."  But then there is "sweet" in the sense of being kind, considerate, and just nice to yourself and others.  I always tell the pets to try to be sweet to each other when I leave the house because that is actually what I would say to whatever family I would have, be it human, furry, feathery, etc.  You don't need to be perfect, and you don't need to overdo it, just try your best to be good and be good to each other.  In this case, I mean that I hope they will at a minimum leave one another alone, and at best, cuddle and interact from time to time during the day.  Pay attention to each other and be considerate.

And then, this morning as I was walking to work, I turned onto a street that I usually don't walk along on my way, and I was truly dumbstruck by something.  I happened to look up, and straight ahead.  The way the houses and the trees framed it, I saw in front of me an absolutely stunning sunrise.  It was the kind of sight that makes you wish you could take a photograph, even if you know the photograph would not come close to showing what you see.  It seriously took my breath away.

Then I started thinking about the last time I had purposely seen an amazing sunrise, which was a few years back when we took a road trip vacation through New England.  We were in Bar Harbor, and had visited Acadia National Park the day before.  While there, we read that when the sun rose on Cadillac Mountain in the park, it was the first daylight to hit the United States, and that it was a sight to behold.  The next day we were leaving to head back south and eventually home, but we decided to be sure to see that sunrise.  Needless to say, about 50  other people also had that idea, but there was plenty of sunrise for everyone.  It was unlike any other experience ever, to stand silently, hearing the ocean crashing on the rocks below, and then suddenly see light starting to show.  And then it seeemed that inch by inch, the sun kept creeping up until all of a sudden, it was a new day!

(From the Bangor Daily News, but this doesn't come close to capturing the real thing!)

I remember the day we saw this, it was just a couple of months after our dog Dug had died, and I thought how he didn't have a chance to see any more sunrises, nor did any other loved ones who were no longer here.  How seeing a sunrise means that in spite of all the odds, you have woken up to see another day. 

Seeing the sunrise today made me realize that all over again, and also made me think about how amazing it is.  I just happened to turn on to that street, and look up randomly and see a new day in the most literal sense.

I used to have a supervisor who, when someone would seem to be settling for less than they should, would say, "Raise your sights."  Today I did just that, in a different way, and just by chance, and it has made a difference.  All I did once I raised my sights was to actually look, to pay attention, to consider what I was really seeing.  I was attending my life.

So now I have my One Little Word for the year:  Attend.  I want to attend my life, and be in it.  I want to pay attention to what I have, and what I can do.  I want to attend to myself, my family, and my life in a more conscious way, trying to remember that no matter what else is going on, if I wake up and the sun is going to rise, I need to attend to it, because I've been given another chance at making the ultimate gift mean even more.

I want to attend, and by doing so, listen to my own campaign slogan, and try to be sweet to others.