Start #1: Gifts 998 to 1001

998. So grateful to our tax person, Christine Nucatola of Salvator & Associates Income Tax & Accounting, for filing our taxes on time for us and for letting us know last night to expect a return that is so needed right now to help us get back on track with the Dave Ramsey plan.  Hope is restored!

999. The most beautiful, unique, haunting combination of one of my loves, the Flamenco guitar, and Indian sitar music that I heard this morning on my drive, transporting me to worlds oceans away.  Here is the link to the interview and two of the songs featured on Anoushka Shankar's Traveller.

1000. My one thousandth gift is my thanks for this very gift of chronicling, writing, living, recognizing, reflecting on, and being grateful for my first Start: One Thousand Gifts.

To start and to finish this has been such a gift in my life; the gifts in a day.  On the days that I make time to record them here, I am so grateful for all that I live, give, and receive.  And on the days that I don't get to the page? On the good days, this start has helped me take notice of the gifts with mental pause and a smile, a heart beat in joy.  On the not so good days, it is the very act of getting back to the page, acknowledging the gifts that are here every day, all day, all around, that makes me realize how easy it is to miss the fullness, depth, and beauty waiting right under my nose for the taking, and how easy it is to jump right back in - no suit required, leaving nothing between my skin and the touches of the world.  Making the time to honor these gifts here forces me to crawl out of those dark spots of my mind into the bright rays of gratefulness, creating an openness in my chest that makes me throw my shoulders back, take a deep breath, and relish.

The best gift is knowing that this gift never ends - no expiration date.  My process/documentation of these gifts may evolve, and hopefully my blog will too as I continue on in my journey of starts, never to be truly finished.

1001. The gift of my dear friend who first shared Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts with me, being in my life and walking this gifted path together.  I am so grateful for our shared thoughts and feelings that inspired us to begin at number one together.  So excited to have learned what happens when we put our minds to something, and wondering what is on the horizon!