#365Gratitude Day 211: Living in a time of heightened social change

I was born in 1971.  A while ago Missy and I were watching the movie The Long Walk Home about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  It's a great movie, about brave people practicing resistance against awful oppression. You should watch it. 

As we watched the movie it struck me that the events in it took place just 16 years before I was born. 

That boggles my goddamn mind. I could have had a babysitter who thought racial segregation was just peachy. 

Things were pretty damn bad, not that long ago.  

It's on my mind today because of   Monday's landmark ruling by the Circuit Court. They overturned Virginia's ban on same sex marriages.

 Plaintiffs in the federal suit over Virginia's ban on gay marriage, Emily Schall-Townley, left, Carol Schall, center, and Mary Townley,

I am thrilled by this.  It sets precedent to challenge similar state bans all over the country.

Just think how different the world will be in the next 16 years. 

I'm grateful to be alive in a time of rapid, pervasive, important social change.  

#365Gratitude Day 210: A really good song, from a good friend

There's this singer, Matt The Electrician. He's got this great song called Got Your Back, that's all about nonduality and caring about other people, as if they were you. 

Because they are. ​

I only even know about this song and the artist, because a friend of mine who lives in Austalia told me about it.  She heard it, instantly thought of me, and rushed to tell me about it. 

It's like she's got my back or something.  

I'm grateful for that.

PLEASE READ ME: I need your help.

Are you A+ blood type? One of my closest friends desperately needs a new kidney. 

https://fetlife.com/users/50362/posts/2361717

Please take a look. 

Thanks. 

#365Gratitude Day 209: Found money

I got this scary looking envelope in the mail today.  It looked like one of those "surprise, you got a parking ticket" type envelopes. 

It wasn't!  I drive a hybrid car. In Virginia there was, briefly, a hybrid car tax that got repealed, resulting in my getting 64 smackers of cold, hard cash back.  

I'm grateful for it, obviously. Now I'm trying to decide what to do with it. 

I'm thinking of taking Missy out for a really nice dinner.  Or maybe taking her, & my sister in law out to the movies and for burgers. 

I'm open to suggestions though. What would you do with a small amount of found money? 

#365Gratitude Day 208: A mid-hike log & a sense of adventure

The plan was to go running. Didn't quite work out that way. 

I'm glad.