Gratitude Journal – Day 184 – January 1, 2015

Happy New Year!
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…everyone said at the top of their voices as the clock struck midnight, with noise makers, hugs and kisses. A sense of joy and optimism fills the theatre, and spills out into the streets wafting up to the heavens. myDarlin', our 2014 moves from a full embrace, to a hug, to a light kiss on the lips, to our fingertips barely touching as the last page of the year’s book of Life gently closes.

And from the stage, he said that he was there and heard the music coming from the rooftop, he looked up and there they were…. The Beatles playing ‘Don’t Let Me Down’.

I'm in love for the first time
Don't you know it's gonna last?
It's a love that lasts forever
It's a love that had no past

Don't let me down
Don't let me down
Don't let me down
Don't let me down

It hit me so hard, that I had to let the camera fall by my side and take a note lest the thought slip away. Years ago, I shared with you that a friend recommended the movie ‘Across the Universe’ to which you expressed some doubt about anyone being able to do the Beatles justice. Persistence on my part influenced you to humor me, so we picked up the DVD, the one that would immediately be your favorite movie, even above Casa Blanca.

As in 1969, they played ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ on the rooftop. Isn’t it funny how the lyrics written for someone else apply to our love, as well as our love for Christ? And when we truly love, we don’t want to let the other down.

And as I sit here writing on the first day of the New Year, I look at what I is laying on the table close to me. Two cameras and lots of memory cards to capture the moments, a long lens to capture the details we often overlook, the wide lens to get the whole picture and a 50mm to let more light in. There’s my phone and laptop to provide a means of connection to the world, to read God’s word, take care of business, have conversations and share moments with Ohana, and most importantly find out where they are so we can spend time together. There’s a singing Elvis ornament myDarlin’, the notebook with the ‘Trust in the Lord’ cover that the girls brought to me as we were preparing for your celebration of Life and a coat to keep me warm. A ring you bought for me in Florida inscribed with the word ‘Dream’, your wedding band that I wear every day, a tissue to wipe the tears away, a penny for your thoughts, a coconut button that I found in a dish as I was cleaning the pantry and a fortune retrieved from a cookie that had been waiting for years for me to open it. It reads, ‘Your smile has the power to extinguish others’ gloom.’ And lest I forget, a bag to carry all of it! myDarlin’ Robert Kenui Pope, the one thing that is not lying on the table here in front of me is your love….. and that is because it is wrapped around me.

And at 12:01, I felt as if you are urging me to open the 2015 Book of Life and open myself to whatever the Holy Spirit has in store for me, knowing that you will be wrapping me in your love, a love that lasts forever.

Ohana, today I am grateful for each and every one of you, as you play an integral part in my life. I pray for each and every one of you to open your hearts and keep looking up to see the blessings that every day brings. After all, all you need is love.

#KeepLookingUp #AllYouNeedisLove #ALovethatlastsForever