Category: Grateful Heart Monday

As we start another week, it’s time for a new Grateful Heart Monday entry, which for today is for completing a two-day, water-only fast just after Christmas and for never having had to go without food in this life.

We all know how easy it is to consume vast quantities of food and drinks, especially all those delicious things that are filled with lots of sugar and carbohydrates during the Christmas time frame. I had my fair share of consuming them myself including a ton of holiday lattes, cakes, pies, and plenty of other high caloric items. Not that I really have a need at this time to be overly concerned about my weight, given I’m more underweight than anything, I still need to be concerned about the quality of things I’m consuming on a daily basis, especially because of all my ongoing health issues.

But like most people, I forget about all that during the Thanksgiving to Christmas time frame and tend to overindulge more than not and tend to pay the price in my body because of it. So, as I made my way back from visiting my sister on the day after Christmas, I wasn’t feeling all that well in my own skin. Rather, I felt all the results of my consistent indulging throughout my body, in my mood, and ultimately in my overall being and decided to do a two-day fast where I’d drink nothing but water.

What’s funny about that is how it doesn’t sound all that difficult to do, to simply go two full days without food and to drink nothing but water, but it really wasn’t. Sure, when one’s sick, like with a cold or flu, it’s easy to not want to eat, even for several days, because the cravings aren’t there and the sight of food often makes a person feel even more nauseous inside. But, I didn’t feel sick or nauseous after Christmas was over, I just felt like I had been quite gluttonous a little too much for a little too long and was completely uncomfortable in my own skin. That’s probably why I had no problem completing the first 12 hours of my fast. But once my stomach was fully on empty, and once those deep hunger cravings truly began, is when I really became aware of how challenging even a two-day fast can be when only water is being consumed.

For a guy like me who burns a lot of calories usually pretty quickly, it didn’t take long for me to start thinking about quitting the fast before the first of two days had even passed. And with each passing hour where my stomach pains continued to hurt a whole heck of a lot, I realized there were far more people in this world who don’t have a choice to avoid feeling pain like that. That’s when I opted to use that pain and emptiness to ask God for the strength to keep my personal commitment because I wanted to be more aware of all those people who do go through hunger every single day and don’t have any other option.

It is estimated that some 815 million people are starving and it’s something that too many of us tend to forget about, especially during the holiday season when food seems to be in such abundance for a good majority of us. Thus, as I went through the latter half of the first day and into the second day, and got bad headaches, felt totally exhausted, and highly irritable as well, I thought of every single one of those food-deprived people in the world who have to endure feeling like that every, single, day.

So, while my two-day fast was initially meant to just cleanse me a little from a gluttonous holiday season, what it really did, was bring about a greater awareness of one suffering on this planet that is far too often overlooked. Thus, when I finally ate my first bit of food after having nothing but water for two straight days, I offered God my gratitude for always having had an abundance of food in my life. But far more importantly, gratitude for also experiencing, even if it was just for a short bit of time, something that over 815 million people suffer from regularly, as I now have a greater understanding and deeper compassion for all of them…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday! Today’s gratitude stems from the week I just experienced in the Charleston, South Carolina vicinity, with my sister and her family during the Christmas holidays.

The last time I spent the Christmas holiday with them dates back to 2014 when she was still living outside Nashville, Tennessee. Without going into too much detail, that was a very memorable holiday but not in such a good way, given the amount of arguing and tension that was present more than not. Because of it, four years went by before I attempted another Christmas with them and I’m thankful to report that I have a lot to be grateful for this time around from beginning to end.

My first bit of gratitude began on my flight out when the woman who checked me in at the Delta desk saw how much pain and stress I was in and offered me some unconditionally loving words of support and blessings for my trip. Shortly thereafter, once I arrived at the gate, the agent there also acknowledged the physical pain I was in and moved me for free to a row with more leg room and told me she wouldn’t put anyone next to me on my flight. Later, after a very comfortable journey to South Carolina, I had to pick up my rental car, but given how late it was, I wondered if I’d get a decent vehicle to drive. Yet, Enterprise Rent-A-Car upgraded me for free to an entry level SUV that was still available, of which I was extremely grateful, mostly because it had heated seats, something that always seems to take some of the edge off of my muscle tightness any time I’m driving. When I finally arrived at the hotel, a Residence Inn, well after midnight, the clerk at the desk was really friendly and told me they had kept my room aside, a one-bedroom suite on the top floor away from everyone, just as I had requested. Room 429 then became my home away from home for the next week, providing me some much-needed rest and relaxation when I wasn’t with my sister’s family.

Nevertheless, over the course of the next six days I was able to experience a very different Christmas holiday from the one I had four years ago with my sister and her family. There wasn’t any major arguing or high stress-based tension this time around. Rather, there was far more laughter, love, and connection, three things I was desperately in need of with them. But instead of going into lengthy details of every single thing I experienced and was grateful for with them, here’s a quick list.

Delicious cupcakes and ice cream from my sister’s new store, Smallcakes. Building Legos, coloring, and playing with blocks with my youngest nephew. Taking walks with their family’s toy poodle around their neighborhood. Family board games at night. Teaching the card game Euchere to my twin nephews and watching as they almost beat my partner and I! Dining on sushi with one of my twin nephews and loaded burgers with another. Heart-felt conversations with my twin nephews about life and the changes they are going through. Watching Aquaman in 3D in an RPX-based theater at a Regal with them late one night. A special dinner out to a restaurant named Oscar’s with just my sister. A holiday party and making new connections at Smallcakes. A homemade lasagna dinner for Christmas Eve specially prepared by my sister. Getting to enjoy my favorite holiday dessert, Grasshopper Pie. Watching Serendipity for the umpteenth time on Christmas Eve with my partner. A short hike with my youngest nephew and one of the twins before Christmas dinner. A delicious Christmas dinner with every bit of trimmings and fixings. A crackling fire in the backyard of my sister’s house while goofing around with all my nephews. And a final breakfast at my hotel on the morning of my departure.

In the end, I have plenty to be grateful for this Christmas from this trip. I’m so thankful I was able to return home this time, actually looking forward to my next trip to see them, rather than thinking about taking an extended hiatus from doing it at all. For that, I’m most definitely grateful, to God, for them and my partner, for making Christmas 2018 a truly special one…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson­

Welcome to Grateful Heart Monday everyone, a day to reflect on an important piece of gratitude from life, which for today is for an early Christmas gift I received from a friend that was truly unexpected and extremely generous.

This story behind this piece of gratitude stems back about two weeks ago, when I completely screwed up my 12-year-old MacBook Pro laptop during a routine upgrade to some software on it. I have been milking this laptop for a very long time, as you can see by its age. Most computers don’t ever last this long and usually begin to have serious problems within 5 years or less. But for whatever the reason, this one has lasted me this long and its primary purpose has been my blog work while on any trip out of town. While it indeed is exceptionally slow anytime I’ve used it anymore, it’s managed to handle the bare minimum purpose I’ve needed it for. Thus, when I messed that installation up and somehow caused its operating system to get into a continual reboot mode, I figured my old laptop had finally had its last dance.

Without a functioning laptop and a trip looming on the horizon to my sister’s home, I got into a slight panic mode, because I really couldn’t justify buying new Mac laptop with my current financial situation, as they are overly expensive. And unfortunately, given all my work on my blog has been Mac-based, it really wasn’t possible to consider buying a cheap PC-based laptop without some serious complications arising. In light of that, I hoped my sister might have a spare one around for me to borrow during my upcoming visit there that I could use while at the hotel I was staying in. Unfortunately, she didn’t, so I opted to call a few friends locally to see if any of them might have a spare one I could borrow for my trip.

After checking around, I finally found a friend who actually had one in his possession he wasn’t regularly using anymore and was completely willing to let me borrow it for my trip. A few days later, when I met up with him to get it, I noticed in his hand was a neatly packaged Christmas gift instead. When he handed it to me and said Merry Christmas, I immediately could feel it was the laptop.

Without assuming anything though, I thanked him and said I’d return it to him after my trip, but he quickly responded in saying it was mine to keep and was an early Christmas present from him. I was utterly speechless and shocked, and a few tears came to my eyes, not only because of the notion that he’s relatively new to my life here in Toledo, but also because it was something completely unexpected. It was a true unconditionally loving gift.

I’m very grateful for this friend, whom I’ve decided to keep his name anonymous, given I wasn’t sure if he’d be ok with me sharing it in here. Nevertheless, I’m filled with an incredible amount of gratitude for his generous gift and thank my Higher Power as well, because ultimately, I know it was my Higher Power that moved my friend’s heart to offer this wonderful gift to me.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson