A Place in the Sun

What a beautiful expression, and how deeply meaningful. Gratitude.  Gratefulness.  Thankfulness.  Counting one's blessings.  Appreciation. Acknowledging that people have had time / willingness or whatever it takes, to deliver some benefit to you, perhaps unprompted. Looking back on the last twelve months, I have had no option but to recognise the high amount of blessings I have received, having stepped on the right path. Just one year ago, I was headed toward London, a conference and disaster.  That disaster would prove to be, not my undoing but a blessing, because I put it to good use and turned matters around to my benefit. It hasn't been without struggle and I have re-visited and confirmed all my promises to myself. You cannot deny, however, that when you preserve yourself, then you are able to keep your word and therefore be a gift to others. This weekend, I was away and I was surrounded by people, whom I had often spoken to but not quite remembere...

That was the question during a therapy meeting. What do you consider to be "normal". "NOT ME," screeched my amused brain. Tongue in cheek, of course. Not me. Today there is wide acceptance that everyone has that little thing that sets them apart from the rest. A quirk, a chip on the shoulder, a scar, or a genetic make-up. Yet there seems to be a mainstream of what people consider to be normal. My mind wandered off to a poem ( see below) that I heard, entreating with 'normal day' to make itself known to the writer. It often makes me think of how little we appreciate what we call "mundane" (the word itself having a deprecatory note to it). “Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in t...

I heard, yesterday, that one of the very first lecturers to make an impression on me in law school, has passed on to another life. Hon. Justice Emeritus Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici, 88 at the time of his passing, was affectionately called "Jojo" by one and all in class, and he was a force to be reckoned with.  I still remember him clearly, riling against bureaucracy, indignant at a certain manner of doing things in University and his deep sense of justice - Natural Law and Natural Right. He was not one to be contraried in class - as I imagine was also the case in court. His temper may have appeared short but he was a righteous man - one who stood up for what was right. On his subject in our first year at university - the much hated book, Finnis - I was oft in two minds. The author was a pedant, and the book made heavy reading. Convoluted at best. I hated studying it with a passion and found all forms of philosophy repetitive.  However, Jojo would bring up humane issues ...