Well, I ALMOST wrote something every day during the Fast. Yesterday was... BUSY! We moved into our new place, and the day completely absorbed me. Steve and I started early (8am) by staking out a spot in front of our building for our POD to be parked. It was supposed to arrive between 10am and 1pm, and we got a call at about 10:30 informing us the POD would arrive within about 45 minutes. HUZZAH! Our driver was SO helpful and SO friendly. We were very grateful.
But WAIT! There's more!
Steve's parents came by with some goodies for lunch. Once we had a little something, we started unloading some things. Then, our friends Bonnie and Tom arrived to help. Then, Brenda and Joe. Then, Andrew! So, with 8 or 9 people unloading our POD -- with the appropriate noshing in between helping -- we got everything unloaded and up to the apartment within about 3.5 hours! It was AMAZING!!! So smooth, systematic and (dare I say) easy. Yeah, we worked hard, but it was rather enjoyable--which made it seem easy. We have HUGE gratitude for our friends and family who helped us!
Even Mother Nature helped out; the weather yesterday was PERFECT for moving. It was 60-ish, sunny and mild. Oh my! Most importantly, it was NOT snowing, like it is today. HA! Thank you for that, Ma'am.
So, that was my yesterday. After we got everything moved in, Steve and I started unpacking. We got our clothes all squared away in the LARGE closet. Yes, I'm bragging. It's an AWESOME closet. And before we knew it, it was almost 8pm! Wow. What a day!
Needless to say, we were EXHAUSTED when we got home. I had just enough energy to brush my teeth, floss, say my prayers and go to bed.
Today, we got the kitchen done. All day today and yesterday, I thought about how grateful I am for what I have in my life. It's not perfect, and right now things are very difficult underneath it all. But in total, I have a LOT for which I am grateful--starting and ending with our family and friends.
While we make this transition back into a home that is OURS, I have a lot of mixed emotions. Mostly, I am looking forward with anticipation and eagerness; it is so nice to have our things again, to be creating a home for ourselves--a haven, a spiritual home, a place to call "our own." There is a significant part of me, though, that is reflecting with DEEP gratitude on the home we have enjoyed for the last year and a half. Through the joblessness, stress, personal challenges, and so on, Steve's parents so generously and lovingly helped us feel like their home was our home. In particular, I have had such a unique and blessed experience--I have been able to build a lovely relationship with my second set of parents in a way that few daughters-in-law get to do. We have laughed together, we have supported and helped each other when needed, and encouraged each other to achieve our goals and our happiness. We have been, in every sense, a family.
I know that we will never be able to convey the depth of our gratitude for this opportunity--and for the gift of a home when we were not able to afford one. All I can say, as we embark upon a new year, is that I hope we have many opportunities to share our good fortune with others and pay it forward.
Quoting the Digable Planets, it's good to be here.
Happy Naw-Rúz!
Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw-Rúz as a festival unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee and abstained from all that is abhorrent unto Thee. Grant, O my Lord, that the fire of Thy love and the heat produced by the fast enjoined by Thee may inflame them in Thy Cause, and make them to be occupied with Thy praise and with remembrance of Thee.
Since Thou hast adorned them, O my Lord, with the ornament of the fast prescribed by Thee, do Thou adorn them also with the ornament of Thine acceptance, through Thy grace and bountiful favor. For the doings of men are all dependent upon Thy good pleasure, and are conditioned by Thy behest. Shouldst Thou regard him who hath broken the fast as one who hath observed it, such a man would be reckoned among them who from eternity had been keeping the fast. And shouldst Thou decree that he who hath observed the fast hath broken it, that person would be numbered with such as have caused the Robe of Thy Revelation to be stained with dust, and been far removed from the crystal waters of this living Fountain.
Thou art He through Whom the ensign “Praiseworthy art Thou in Thy works” hath been lifted up, and the standard “Obeyed art Thou in Thy behest” hath been unfurled. Make known this Thy station, O my God, unto Thy servants, that they may be made aware that the excellence of all things is dependent upon Thy bidding and Thy word, and the virtue of every act is conditioned by Thy leave and the good pleasure of Thy will, and may recognize that the reins of men’s doings are within the grasp of Thine acceptance and Thy commandment. Make this known unto them, that nothing whatsoever may shut them out from Thy Beauty, in these days whereon the Christ exclaimeth: “All dominion is Thine, O Thou the Begetter of the Spirit (Jesus)”; and Thy Friend (Muḥammad) crieth out: “Glory be to Thee, O Thou the Best-Beloved, for that Thou hast uncovered Thy Beauty, and written down for Thy chosen ones what will cause them to attain unto the seat of the revelation of Thy Most Great Name, through which all the peoples have lamented except such as have detached themselves from all else except Thee, and set themselves towards Him Who is the Revealer of Thyself and the Manifestation of Thine attributes.”
He Who is Thy Branch and all Thy company, O my Lord, have broken this day their fast, after having observed it within the precincts of Thy court, and in their eagerness to please Thee. Do Thou ordain for Him, and for them, and for all such as have entered Thy presence in those days all the good Thou didst destine in Thy Book. Supply them, then, with that which will profit them, in both this life and in the life beyond.
Thou, in truth, art the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. (Bahá'u'lláh)
