can i say...

my life is a roller coaster, but in part, i'm used to that. but inside i've always felt i've been given an Enchanted Life. i am in Huge Gratitude mode. i'm always watchful for something to be grateful for...something to grab up like a found coin from the sidewalk and put in my pocket for later...for when maybe you need to tap the gratitude bank for something to stretch the slim times...the "oh yeah, i remember when blah blah blah this n that..." that gets you through to the body-smile moments. i'm in full body smile times now. i usually have some little scraping of light tucked away in my pocket to pull out and gaze upon, but for now, the sun is beaming over me. Bruce Cockburn says it best in Isn't That What Friends Are For...And i've been scraping little shavings off my ration of light and forming it into a ball....and each time i pack a bit more onto it...and i make a bowl of my hands and scoop it from it's secret cache in the floorboards...and i blow across it to send you a little light in those times you need it....." (or similar) ahhhh yessss. Bruce Cockburn is quite wonderful...Breakfast in New Orleans/Dinner in Timbuktu is my favorite. Thank you Miss Gail for turning me on to him! so ...fish. i still cannot get over the fish. did i mention how i steal things at work? i do. i take things that make me smile...Amy's pen holder has been stolen nightly now. i move it somewhere else in the office. people seem to like it. they feel honored that they have something worthy of larceny, i guess. but everyone KNOWS it's ME that steals it, so it's all good. well, one of the Team Leaders (they'll come up with any title!) has this teeny fishbowl on her desk with fake fish in it that sits on a fake rock. when you switch on the "ON" button, the fish appear to be bobbing and swimming. these fish make me smile. often. one day, when i went to steal the fish, there was a girl in the office training. the TL was nowhere. perfect! well, i guess the trainee was just devastated with the guilt that she perhaps HELPED perpetrate the larceny due to her non-prevention of it, and soon the TL and the trainee stood beside my desk with the trainee pointing at me saying "SHE TOOK YOUR FISH!" so i did what any self-respecting larcenous person would do....i denied it. despite the fact that the fish were in full view on my desk. i denied it. then said "WHO put these FISH on MY desk??" and gave HER the eye as if maybe SHE was setting me up. i know i shouldn't have done that - she may be unstable...she doesn't KNOW me. but i did. luckily the TL knows me. she said something to the effect of "Oy that's just Linda...she does stuff like this. *sigh* we tolerate." so once the trainee realized her mistake, all was well. And now, finally, to my point: last week i came into work, and there was the fishbowl on my desk. PRE-STOLEN for me. with a note that these were the offspring of the other fish. hunh? wha? the Trainee BOUGHT ME FISH OF MY OWN!! i never...! i was choked up - someone went to the store, thought of me, and bought me fish! totally cool! i named them Persephone and Euphoria. (Nemo & Fishy were taken). i am totally high on these fish. they make me smile. even though they weren't ill-gotten gain. so i must go now...hair appointment followed by much weeping & wailing. i never did get to tell you about my xcski adventure this morning! oh well...another one at 3pm, so i'll catch ya up with the full monty later. y'all just freaking rock my world, you know? L.