Simple Gifts

This blog is supposed to be about Art and Mammals.

And, usually, I leave the Deep Thoughts to the Blisschick.

But lately, as anyone who reads either this blog or Blisschick's already knows, we have had some Major Things going on that have made my Art, at least, come to a temporary halt. Instead of writing or even painting, I have had to do some... Thinking.

Sigh. I'm not that good at Thinking.

As for the Mammals, well, they are usually in a state of halting. They call it "conserving energy." Otherwise known as laying around, resting, or lounging.

Please observe Exhibit A:


And for further evidence, Exhibit B:

Over the past week, Death has Kindly stopped, as Emily Dickinson would say, for two of our friends. They were in pain and exhausted by their diseases, and so Death was truly Kind in Stopping.

But, it leaves the rest of us here with some emptiness. We are left with trying to Understand the Big Picture of it all.

Earlier in the week, I was at work and I emailed the Blisschick to say this:

I was given the opportunity to spend an evening with Ken (along with the Blisschick, our friend, Miss Kitty, and Ken's wife, Debbie) that was perhaps his last good meal. His last good day where he felt like socializing. Where he felt like Himself.

In addition to that, I was given an opportunity to spend an hour with Susan while she was in the hospital. It, too, was perhaps her last time of feeling good. A time when she asked about others and we laughed and talked as if everything were Normal even though her liver had turned into an alien tumor.

And so I said to the Blisschick, "Why was I given these experiences? What is the Universe trying to teach me?"

She responded by saying the following: "Consider the possibility that the Universe is bestowing an Amazing Gift upon you. Perhaps you should stop thinking about it, and just accept that Gift."

Easier said than done.

But I'm trying.

Perhaps the Universe is trying to tell me to accept. Accept Everything as a Gift.

Life.

Death.

Time.

"And, of course," Miss Zoe piped in while I was Thinking, "Art and Mammals. We are Gifts." Then, she added, "Especially Rabbits. Really, Rabbits are the Best Gift."

What Simple Gifts are you Appreciating today? (And don't forget to put "rabbits" at the top of the list, or someone may.....well.... do something...)