Gratitude Monday--A Blessing of Work Edition

I've had some freelance work come my way. I am grateful to have it, and further grateful I was thought of for it.
Here's what happened.
The two reporters at the local paper gave their notices effective for the same day, next Monday.
That left the editor in a bind as there are some special sections due along with the regular work.
My friend at The Mountaineer, Bernie Visotto, asked me if I'd be interested in filling in until the new staff started in a few weeks.  If so, then I should contact the editor.
I am very grateful to her for this.
I discussed it with the editor and agreed to take on a few assignments over the next few weeks. I'll get the specifics of the work tomorrow.
This is all good. It's where I used to work. While most of the people there are different from those I worked with, the work itself is virtually the same.
That helps a great deal.

But wait, there's more.
I've been working at home since 2001 though I did some freelance for the paper back around 2008.
I like it in that I don't have to go out much and I can stay away from people. As an introvert I think that's important.
However, several weeks ago around the beginning of January a thought flowed into my mind during meditation.
It's time to go out in the world.
This thought came to me several times over the next several days.
Rather than shy away I found it intriguing. I had no idea what I was supposed to do so I did the thing you're supposed to do.
I put it out to God/Universe/ All That Is.
Whenever the thought flowed to me I said I am totally game to do it, but how it comes about is up to you.
The offer is clearly the how of it.

Shortly before I got this offer I felt excited, jittery almost, as if something were  about to happen.
It did, and for it I am grateful.

Exquisite Moments

Along Highway 11 at the Kootenay Plains.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wake up and realize that you are here?
I know reads rather oddly. Where else would you be but where you are?
What I mean is the moments of exquisite life when you are fully awake; when awareness of yourself and your world is at its sharpest.
I’ve had a few of them over the years. Two that I recall were while I was all alone in my car. It was as if I’d awakened after a very long half-sleep and realized who and what I was.
I recall being tickled silly: “I’m all grown up and driving!”
It was good that I was alone on both occasions. I am sure I grinned like a cheerful idiot, and I’m equally sure I would not have given a sensible response if asked why.
I had another one recently. Just the other day I realized that I’m doing the things I said I’d do.

Years ago in junior high school I thought I’d like to be a freelance writer. I had no clue what that would entail, but it sounded good. It made use of two of my favourite words: free and writer.
Also during those years I saw a photograph in a magazine of a street, a fence with a loose board, and a tabby cat half-hidden by said board and I thought I’d like to be a photographer.
“Anything I can’t say in words I can say in pictures,” I thought that day.
When I was eight I told my dad I was going to be a reporter and I was one for nearly 20 years.

Today I am a freelancer. I’ve taken pictures to go with my stories and in the past I've done a few freelance photos for a former newsmagazine, Alberta Report.
I once did a freelance article for another magazine that was based in Edmonton back in the mid-80s. I’ve forgotten the name, but I recall it was run by women.

The other day I was out on my deck enjoying the summer when I woke up to myself and my life and realized I was doing what I said I’d do. I am doing what I want and I am here and I am alive.
That bit of exquisite wakefulness wasn’t as sharp as the ones that came to me while driving, but it was still an exquisite moment.

Has it happened to you? Have you had an exquisite sense of your life and what you've done?