sunrise

This New Day

/ Jodi / 23 Comments

January Sunrise – Invitation of Hope – Wexford, PA 1/9/2020 – Jodi McKinney

This New Day.

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day.
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Collected Poems and Translations

This new day is too dear!

Too dear to not be grateful.
Too dear to wallow in negative energy.
Too dear to not see the beauty.
Too dear to not be joyful and kind and loving.
Too dear to be hard on ourselves.

This new day is too dear to waste!

May you own this day…
and all your days…
as the invitation of hope it is.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Right Before Dawn

/ Jodi / 40 Comments

Right before dawn from my back window. Mars, PA March, 2019

Right Before Dawn.

The trees stretch their branches
and wiggle their trunks
and spread their roots
right before dawn
as if to say,
“Wake up!
It’s a wonderful new day!”

I sip my coffee
and stretch my arms
and wiggle my toes
and gaze outside
wondering how I earned
this undeserved privilege
to be right here right now.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

This Past Week

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

This past week…

I gasped at the beauty of the early morning sunrise.

I cried about a brother who would never celebrate another birthday.

I shared overwhelming joy with a friend who became a grandma for the first time.

I shared deep grief with a friend whose mom is dying.

I celebrated life with the birthday of my longest, dearest friend.

I worried with a friend whose mother-in-law was in the hospital.

I laughed with a friend I chat with every morning on our way to work.

I discussed deep, important topics about relationships and next stages of life with people I love.

I played on the floor with two little girls who know me as Grandma and cheered first potty successes.

I was devastated to learn that friends got news they are going to lose their second child.

My heart was warmed by gratitude and comforted with love for my forever Valentine of 40 years.

This past week.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Rise and Shine

/ Jodi / 44 Comments

Rise and Shine.

Do you feel it?
Are you excited about all the possibilities the day may hold?

All the opportunites to make it special?
All the reasons to wake up?

Rise and shine
and cherish the moments!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Every time I hear or read or say the words, “Rise and Shine,” I think of Grandma. 

As a teenager, I loved to sleep in late – much like most teenagers – right?  I vividly remember hiding under the covers to keep from seeing the sun streaming in the bedroom and hearing Grandma  cheerfully holler from the bottom of the stairs on a weekend or summer morning, “Rise and Shine!”  She was always so excited and ready to start a new day.  I smile remembering that hope and excitement in her voice.  She didn’t work.  She didn’t even have a license to drive.  Her days were mostly spent at home working hard – inside and out – making it a haven for anyone who visited or lived there.  And yet she woke up so cheerfully each morning excited for what the day might hold. 

I have to admit – I love the early mornings these days – especially on  weekends and days I get to stay home.  I love thinking about having the whole day ahead of me. 

I baked Grandma’s Apricot Nut Bread yesterday.  It is a recipe I have shared here before.  And it truly really begins to feel like Christmas when I smell this bread come out of the oven.  The memories just come flooding back of Christmases past at Grandma’s house and the joy that radiated from her in everything she did.  

So rise and shine and cherish the possibilities this day will hold!

Each New Day

/ Jodi / 32 Comments

Early Morning- Mars, PA – July, 2018

Each New Day.
(Early Morning Observations)

Each new day
is another opportunity to
continue building,
add another layer,
strengthen the foundation,
claim your space.

Each new day
is a gift to
live and grow
and simply be
the uniquely wonderful you
you were meant to be.

Shine in the light
of each new day.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi