January 2015 promises to be a very busy month at work. At a busy time, it is very important to stay focused and be grateful for all the little things that enrich our lives. I will dedicate the first blog of 2016 with a few of my gratitudes from December.
I kicked off the first weekend in December by a visit to the salon to color my hair (yes, one of the secrets to my youthful looks), and spending the rest of the day with my cousin, more like my daughter. I wrote about her in my January birthday blog last year - Three birthdays and a joyful blog. I love having her around, and wish I saw more of her. And of course, the weekend would not be complete without hiking with a couple of my favorite people. I am grateful that I have the always amazing Jassi and my hiking buddy, Fabiana in my life.
The next one is a gratitude I posted on Facebook - "Gratitude for today - all my American friends who shared this post and condemned Trump, going as far as asking people who agreed with Trump to unfriend themselves. They make me proud." This gratitude came out of an unpleasant and negative emotion, and I had to give a shout out to those who had the courage to stand up for Muslims in the United States. I will add that almost all of these posts were from friends on Facebook who are neither Muslims nor immigrants. I am grateful that despite the negativity in the mainstream media and on social media, I have friends who are open-minded, can think for themselves, and have the courage of their convictions.
Needless to say, all the drama and negativity generated by the anti-Muslim rhetoric was washed away on the weekend with a beautiful hike when Geralyn and I bravely ventured out to Edgewood County Park, unafraid of the mountain lion signs posted at the beginning of the trail. The #newnormal of doing new things continued. I braved a heavy thunderstorm to drive to a nursing home in Daly City to support Geralyn's choir. My intention was to blend into the crowd, smile at everyone, and cheer the choir. Much to my disbelief, and likely the agony of the listeners, I stood next to Geralyn, and sang every carol. Escorting Aleya around to give out gift bags to the residents, and seeing the joy in their faces, was worth every second of anxiety over the singing. I am grateful to have people like Geralyn in my life, who inspire me to be a better person. I am also grateful that I now have a Santa hat.
On December 15th, my Facebook memories had a picture that made me smile for hours. It was of a cardboard laptop built by the students in the first Junior Achievement class I had the privilege of teaching. I still have all the individual thank you notes, and chuckle over one note that said, "Fayeza, thanks for wasting your time with us". It was supposed to say, "spending your time with us". I am grateful that I had the privilege of volunteering at an elementary school with kids who I learned from more than I taught them. Because of them, I conquered my fear of standing in a room with 30 curious kids with questions that were often tough. I miss that experience, and am very happy that I got the opportunity when I worked at Oracle. Special thanks to Jay Patel who is an advocate for the program, and led it for many years when he was at Oracle.
And then, just before the weekend, I got to see my joon. Almost a year later, which is kind of sad, but it felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It was also an evening out with Jeni and Mark, and tequila was involved. We celebrated Nate's birthday which was falsely advertised in the invitation. We were invited to the San Francisco Armory, but received a clarification stating that it was actually a bar across the street called the Armory. For many of us, it was a lost opportunity to visit the San Francisco Armory under the pretense of celebrating Nate's birthday, but Nate's party was pretty darn good, and we all forgave him. He is really easy to forgive, that is if you actually ever get mad at him. I am grateful for my joon, Nasim. I am grateful for my friends Jeni and Mark, who make me feel alive simply via a chat message. I am grateful that I know Nate, an incredible human being who makes every person feel special and unique, and in his company, you can only see the joys in life. I am grateful that in my 10 months at Jobvite, I connected with incredible people who I feel I have been friends with all my life.
Wow, I am only halfway there, and the next gratitude is so huge that it deserves it's own blog post. Not to mention the many gratitudes that I have yet to write about for December alone. I will end this blog by saying that I am grateful that I have so much to be grateful for.
I kicked off the first weekend in December by a visit to the salon to color my hair (yes, one of the secrets to my youthful looks), and spending the rest of the day with my cousin, more like my daughter. I wrote about her in my January birthday blog last year - Three birthdays and a joyful blog. I love having her around, and wish I saw more of her. And of course, the weekend would not be complete without hiking with a couple of my favorite people. I am grateful that I have the always amazing Jassi and my hiking buddy, Fabiana in my life.
The next one is a gratitude I posted on Facebook - "Gratitude for today - all my American friends who shared this post and condemned Trump, going as far as asking people who agreed with Trump to unfriend themselves. They make me proud." This gratitude came out of an unpleasant and negative emotion, and I had to give a shout out to those who had the courage to stand up for Muslims in the United States. I will add that almost all of these posts were from friends on Facebook who are neither Muslims nor immigrants. I am grateful that despite the negativity in the mainstream media and on social media, I have friends who are open-minded, can think for themselves, and have the courage of their convictions.
Needless to say, all the drama and negativity generated by the anti-Muslim rhetoric was washed away on the weekend with a beautiful hike when Geralyn and I bravely ventured out to Edgewood County Park, unafraid of the mountain lion signs posted at the beginning of the trail. The #newnormal of doing new things continued. I braved a heavy thunderstorm to drive to a nursing home in Daly City to support Geralyn's choir. My intention was to blend into the crowd, smile at everyone, and cheer the choir. Much to my disbelief, and likely the agony of the listeners, I stood next to Geralyn, and sang every carol. Escorting Aleya around to give out gift bags to the residents, and seeing the joy in their faces, was worth every second of anxiety over the singing. I am grateful to have people like Geralyn in my life, who inspire me to be a better person. I am also grateful that I now have a Santa hat.
On December 15th, my Facebook memories had a picture that made me smile for hours. It was of a cardboard laptop built by the students in the first Junior Achievement class I had the privilege of teaching. I still have all the individual thank you notes, and chuckle over one note that said, "Fayeza, thanks for wasting your time with us". It was supposed to say, "spending your time with us". I am grateful that I had the privilege of volunteering at an elementary school with kids who I learned from more than I taught them. Because of them, I conquered my fear of standing in a room with 30 curious kids with questions that were often tough. I miss that experience, and am very happy that I got the opportunity when I worked at Oracle. Special thanks to Jay Patel who is an advocate for the program, and led it for many years when he was at Oracle.
And then, just before the weekend, I got to see my joon. Almost a year later, which is kind of sad, but it felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It was also an evening out with Jeni and Mark, and tequila was involved. We celebrated Nate's birthday which was falsely advertised in the invitation. We were invited to the San Francisco Armory, but received a clarification stating that it was actually a bar across the street called the Armory. For many of us, it was a lost opportunity to visit the San Francisco Armory under the pretense of celebrating Nate's birthday, but Nate's party was pretty darn good, and we all forgave him. He is really easy to forgive, that is if you actually ever get mad at him. I am grateful for my joon, Nasim. I am grateful for my friends Jeni and Mark, who make me feel alive simply via a chat message. I am grateful that I know Nate, an incredible human being who makes every person feel special and unique, and in his company, you can only see the joys in life. I am grateful that in my 10 months at Jobvite, I connected with incredible people who I feel I have been friends with all my life.
Wow, I am only halfway there, and the next gratitude is so huge that it deserves it's own blog post. Not to mention the many gratitudes that I have yet to write about for December alone. I will end this blog by saying that I am grateful that I have so much to be grateful for.
Choir? Next time call me! I guess the caroling is a year away, but you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteI will! I am sure the choir will appreciate another choir mate joining. I think they sing there several times a year.
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