Christmas this year didn’t start well. It began the night before when melancholy, set in.  This would be my first Christmas without relatives or spouse in 52 years.

I woke up on Christmas morning with no desire to move. My first thought was to lay in bed all day and let it pass.  But, I had made some promises that must be kept. Thank goodness for my morning ritual of prayer, spiritual readings and meditation. One of the readings included a quotation by Howard Thurman.  In it he challenges as with two tasks during the Christmas season – to reconcile with people and to offer a gift of grace to someone else.  That reminded me that I am not the only person who is suffering this year. It was important I keep my promise to attend the Weber Nooners meeting; share my experience, strength and hope; that I share the Christmas meal with a friend who also has no local family this year; and, that I show a Christmas movie to my fellow Mirador residents as I had promised.  All this may not directly help anyone else, but it would help me.

Back to that Christmas so long ago.  While reviewing some memories of Mary Ann, I found a photo taken that day. It was an aerial view of Long Binh, South Vietnam, taken on Christmas Day 1970. It was a photo of 50,000 or so G.I.’s watching the Bob Hope USO tour playing that day, somewhere in that crowd was me.

That day, which had started out so miserable turned out to be one of the most memorable.

I may be powerless over people, places, and things, but I am not powerless in how I react.