Tag Archives: gratitude

A week of being Thankful. Day 4…

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… the list of little things. Obviously not complete, but it’s a good start! 😉

The view of the trees outside our front window. Reading the “hot stove” reports in the off-season to see what trades the Detroit Tigers are making.  Reading a good play. Kung Pao Chicken and Shrimp. The smell of the woods in late Autumn. Puzzling through a play with a team of gifted people. The feeling of shaping a moment with actors, designers crew and a playwright and then watching it move an audience to laughter or tears or shock just as we’d hoped. Audience members who hug me in the lobby after seeing a play, just because the piece affected them so much. Sitting and reading a real book, not one on a screened device. Still hearing my Dad’s voice in my head every day. A well-made spinach and feta omelette. Making my mom laugh, or my brother and sister laugh, or my wife and kids laugh.  The dogs curling up on my feet. A fire in our fireplace. Theatre without pretentiousness.  Hugs from my wife and kids. A good bourbon. Playing board games with family and friends. The sound of walking through fallen leaves. The muffled sound of a big snowstorm. Text messages with my kids throughout the day. Turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and the family around a table!

A week of being Thankful. Day 2

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Continuing spending the week with things to be thankful for… because too many days go by where I forget to look around, and embrace the amazingness of the people around me, the situations and experiences I get to share, and the beauty in front of me. 

This morning, I woke up, and there was 1/2 pot of coffee waiting for me.  My wife is awesome. 

Today I got to chat for 90 minutes about a play I’m directing in a few months, plotting and planning and dissecting and “what-iffing” a piece that I’m incredibly excited to attack.  Talking with smart people about cool topics is one of the best parts of my job!

I also got to spend some quality one-on-one time with the apprentices at Williamston Theatre, and their energy and enthusiasm and talent and heart are inspiring!

This evening, I had a great time chatting online with members of the Central City Underground as the new episode of The Flash aired on TV!  One of my things to be thankful for is that podcast, and the terrific community surrounding it, and all the folks at Golden Spiral Media. I get to Get My Geek On and enjoy some DC Comics Superhero TV, and then talk about it on a podcast with my pal Joe, and then share that with a bunch of other fans of comics and the show!  Pure fun, a shared experience with people from all walks of life with a common love of something that we enjoy.  

My evening is coming to a sleepy close.  Right now, I am lying in my bed – my wife is asleep, breathing gently. On the floor by our bed are the two dogs, Sneakers and FlipFlop. Sneakers is snoring, and it’s adorable. FlipFlop is chewing something, I’m hoping it’s his chew-bone and not more socks.  As I type, I can hear the click and hum of the furnace in the basement firing up to keep us warm. This wonderful nighttime symphony, this is something I am thankful for. 

A week of being thankful. Day 1

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It’s Thanksgiving here in the US this week.  The last few years I’ve tried to be very conscious and aware of all the things I have to be thankful for, because the list is big. So, I’m going to spend this week thinking and writing about some of those.  Tonight, I think I’ll start with the big things.

3 years ago today I was home feeling lousy.  We didn’t know it at the time, but I was about two months from going into the hospital with bacterial meningitis.  Fortunately, I got better – with the help of a lot of people.  I’m very thankful to them.  I’m sitting here, right now, at my computer, with 3 subcutaneous needles in my belly, getting an infusion of Hizentra, the medicine that I get weekly that provides me with an immune system.  I am incredibly thankful to be sitting here with these needles, and this medicine, in our house.

On the other side of the house, my wife is sleeping, and my son is in his room, probably pretending to sleep but really watching tv on his iPad.  In the room next to him, our exchange student Tommaso has just turned out his light to go to sleep.  Tonight I got to sit in the family room with Max and Tommaso and laugh with them as they played video games together.  I’m very, very thankful for these 3 people.

Also, tonight, on the other side of the planet, my daughter is sleeping.  In fact, as I type this, she’s only a couple of hours from waking up and starting her day, because Espoo, Finland is 7 hours ahead of us here in Michigan.  One of the things I’m incredibly thankful for is the wonderful host family she is staying with, and her friends there.  I’m grateful for our iPhones, and the internet, and the technology that allows us to stay connected even though she’s so far away – things like the app “Line”.

Today I laughed – a lot – while texting with my brother, sister and mother.  This is nothing new – we text all the time, and they remind me how lucky I am to have a funny, thoughtful family.

This weekend, at Williamston Theatre, we had a very successful weekend of preview performances of The Nerd – the houses were packed and the laughs were plentiful!  Earlier today, I got to attend the first Production Meeting of our next show, A Painted Window, and the designer/director discussions about the piece were fantastic.  Tomorrow, I get to have my first designer discussion about the next show I’m directing, 1984, and I cannot WAIT!  I’m so thankful for my job, the opportunity to do what I do, and the chance to work with some of my closest friends in the world while doing it.

Those are the big things.  They’re also the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things I’m grateful for….. and that’s something else I’m grateful for!thank_you_by_psd_on_flickr.jpg

Wednesday gratitude

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A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the hospitals that saved my life! It was, on April 1st, the 2-year anniversary of me getting out of the hospital after my long bacterial meningitis/ARDS/coma adventure. Jeanne and I took gift baskets and thank you cards to the ICU of St. Joe’s in Chelsea and all 3 floors I was on at the St. Joe’s of Ann Arbor. It’s nice going back to say thank you!  

And today, I’m back! Just for part of the day. Having some vein surgery done on my arm – one of the many little after effects of that whole hospital stay – should be back on my feet in a day. Glad to get it done, my arm has been swollen and sore, it’ll be a relief to have that taken care of!

The whole thing, though, has me marveling again at how fortunate I’ve been during this last few years. Modern medicine amazes me. Today, they’ll go in and fix a tiny collapsing vein in my arm with super cool science and technology!  

So – here we go! More things to be grateful for. Doctors and nurses who are good at their jobs, people who care, my wife and kids and friends and family.  Scientists and engineers who invent tiny little microscopic cameras that travel through blood veins! Oh, and Netflix – which has every season of Deep Space Nine for me to watch while I have to be in bed for a day! 🙂

Thanks for reading – Happy Wednesday! I hope you get the chance to reflect on some things to be grateful for today. 

  

MARCH!

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March! So much good stuff this month!

Rehearsals (and soon, first preview) of The Decade Dance are happening – so far the rehearsals have been great.  Just watched the first “designer stumble-through” the other day, and was very pleased with how things are looking.  We have another run-through today that I’m seeing, excited about watching the show again.  It’s always fun to do a new play – having the writer in the room working with the actors, director and designers is a blast.  The whole team on this one is terrific, I’m looking forward to seeing the final product!

Also – I get to work on Rounding Third again!  Our co-production between Williamston Theatre and Tipping Point Theatre is coming back for the 6-week run at Tipping Point, so we’ll be doing a bit of rehearsing and re-mounting the show there later this month.  Spent some time this week re-reading the script, and watching the archival tape of the show so we could get a head-start on getting the show back on it’s feet.  Watching it, I was reminded how much audiences enjoyed it – as much as I hate watching theatre that’s been recorded for archival purposes, it IS fun to hear an audience roar with laughter!  🙂

Some of the most fun I get to have this month is in the finalization of our NEXT season at Williamston Theatre.  I love this time of year, because you’re nailing down the details of another season of theatre: What stories do you get to tell, why are you choosing them? What teams can you put together?  Which artist feels like a great fit for which project?  Who do we get to have in our building, sharing their gifts with our company and our audience?  It’s a terrific puzzle to put together every year, and I love it.

All of that great stuff for work, plus a ton of wonderful Quality Family Time, and seeing my kids do amazing work in the show choir (Company C), our 22nd wedding anniversary is coming up soon, and discovering Bob’s Burgers on Hulu and Netflix! (Seriously… this show is ridiculous, Jeanne and I could sit and watch an all day marathon and laugh non-stop.  How are we JUST discovering this now?!  The kids introduced us to it, and I’m glad they did!)

So – how’s YOUR March going?

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(I wish I knew who to credit for this cool image. I found it online.)

Giving Thanks…So Many Thanks

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Today, I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. I got to chat on the phone and text or email with more family, and a ton of friends.

Right now, as the night winds down, we are relaxing at home. We had a great dinner at my in-laws, then the four of us came back here and watched a movie. Now Jeanne is at the table, working on a beautiful wooden jigsaw puzzle she got as a gift. Max is playing a game online with some of his buddies from school, laughing and yelling as they talk to each other over their headsets. Maggie had a workout and is just about to fall asleep…and I am thinking about how thankful I am to have had today.

Lord, I’m thankful to have been here for this day. I’m thankful for my wife and children, my parents and brother and sister, nephews, nieces, aunts and uncles. I’m thankful for all my in-laws, all of my amazing co-workers, my incredible friends, the wonderful “Team Tony”, and the skilled, dedicated, compassionate doctors and nurses and health-care professionals of St. Joe’s Hospital who very literally saved my life.

I’m thankful for a career I love, and the theatre I get to help run, and the people who support it. I’m thankful for the giant pile of leaves that we should’ve gotten to by now, but didn’t, and thankful for the wonderful way they smell and crunch and blow in the wind and I know that in the Spring they’ll be a mess to clean up…and I’m even thankful for that.

This list could go on until my fingers wear out from typing. Baseball, podcasting for Golden Spiral Media with my pal Joe, Prince’s new albums, directing one of my best friends in a beautiful play this week, my new coat, the pot of coffee my fabulous wife leaves for me every morning, the little jokes that only she and I will get, seeing my kids knock everyone’s socks off in their school play and being the proudest father to walk the planet.

Life. I am so thankful for life. And for the second chance at it. And for the clarity that there is joy to be found everywhere, and reasons to celebrate everything if you allow yourself to recognize and embrace them.

Thanks, Universe…for helping me remember that every day is worthy of giving thanks.

November 1st. Another Day To Celebrate The Amazingness of People!

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I can’t believe it’s November already! This month has flown by, and I’ve only posted a couple of times. Where did October go?

This evening my lovely wife Jeanne and I had a wonderful night relaxing and playing cards with friends, and I realized that it was the first of the month, which means it’s officially been 7 months since I was released from the hospital. It’s still amazing to me how it can feel like all of that hospital business happened a hundred years ago, and at the same time feel like it was just yesterday. Such a weird thing!

Such a great month, October was. I feel like I’m getting my strength back, but following doctor’s orders and trying to not push too hard or do too much. Today, in fact, was one of the hardest physically that I’ve had. The amazing Pastor Joe showed up in our yard this morning, leaf blower and rake in tow. “I noticed driving by yesterday that you guys had a lotta leaves, and you’ve had a tough year, I thought I’d help out. I needed something to do today anyway.”

Well, our acre lot has over 20 giant old trees, and “a lotta leaves” is an understatement. Jeanne and I had just been discussing how to approach them this year, because I know I don’t have the strength yet to do two weekends of raking and tarping and dragging and burning yet. Once again, though, we’re reminded of how amazingly kind and generous the people in our lives are. I couldn’t let Pastor Joe work out there by himself, though, so I grabbed my gear and joined him. That 2-hours-plus of leaf work was the best workout I’ve had in months! Still, I was no match for Pastor Joe. When I finally just couldn’t hold the leaf up blower any more, I hugged and thanked Joe, and went inside to collapse into a nap.

He got SO much more done, and we’re so thankful. Jeanne sent him home later with lunch and a fresh baked apple-crisp. Now, as I’m in bed typing, about to fall asleep, I’m thinking of the kids sleeping in their beds, a beautiful Fall day, the simple wonderfulness of a day of yard work given by a selfless soul, and a gentle evening catching up with friends.

The Universe gave us some challenges this year. I’m so grateful, though, for getting through them… and that getting through them helped strengthen our ability to recognize the magic in days like today!