Gratitude

 The gratitude I have to be here is immeasurable.  I fill up with gratitude so many times that it has to spill over.  The empty cup I arrived with is now filled to the brim, with life, beauty and appreciation.

 

I made it here.  It’s been a long time coming.  I’m tired.  So much of my emotional and physical energy has been sucked dry by work.  And now is my time to decompress, to regenerate and release what had built up over time.  

 

And I am so so thankful for this opportunity- to experience this beauty, this freedom, this change, this time.

 

My first day I moseyed and wandered Ponta Delgada in Sao Miguel, Azores Islands (Portugal).  Found the Museu Carlos Machado series of museum, the first being within a church, St. Sebastian.  Often times epic, sometimes one ancient European church just looks like the next.

 

Not this one.   The sanctuary of Church of St. Sebastian featured intricately carved wood, thousands of scrolled spirals chiseled delicately with gilding.  This felt like my welcome, my sign I’m supposed to be here.  Spirals draw me in.  

 

I slowly take it in.  Each time I gaze I see more.  

 

The beauty is overwhelming. I’m charmed at every each new angle, each glance I notice something new.    If I am to cry, it’s here in sanctitude.  Gratitude, so much gratitude.