The VIEW From Above 6

There is nothing like a fresh haircut after nine weeks without one to evoke gratitude, especially when you are an “every three-week” haircut girl. So, today with my hair blessedly short again I’m all about GRATITUDE! But there’s more than clipped locks to be grateful for from my vantage point. Following a weekend Administrative Board (AB) meeting that was totally conducted via ZOOM, gratitude could simply be about checking that event off a “To Do” list. But that wouldn’t give the work of that group full credit! With over thirty-five actions taken (a few procedural, but most substantive) your Board members personified gratitude in the thoughtful consideration they gave to items ranging from the sale of our Headquarters property in Austin to the cancellation of the 2020 convention to the formation of a committee to begin planning a centennial celebration in 2029. But most telling was the discussion AB members had on the last afternoon of our series of five working sessions, the time devoted to how the Society might look post COVID-19, if indeed there will be a post to this experience. Some members worried about a decline in membership. Some delighted in the new technology skills members were acquiring. Some reveled in innovative approaches being introduced toward staging future international events. It was a meaningful discussion and left all of us with HOPE for the future. For that reason alone, GRATITUDE is an appropriate feeling going forward.

What inspires GRATITUDE in your life these days? It’s easy to get discouraged when you can’t see the ones you love, can’t hug your friends, can’t go to your favorite places to shop, eat, or sip. The “poor, pitiful me” syndrome can crash over you and knock you flat. I know. It’s hit me on several occasions of late. Issues, both work-related and personal, crowding into the last two weeks have generated a roller coaster of emotions. Will the hotel cancel our event? Will we be forced into cancelling the convention ourselves and face huge costs? Will financial obligations tied to contracts be absolved or not? How do you even go about planning a virtual event, if it comes to that? How will members, myself included, handle no face-to-face convention? Will I need to stay quarantined in Austin until this term in office expires? Should I consider googling “how to cut your own hair”? Eventually, and I might add not a moment too soon, these issues have been resolved and gratitude for those resolutions shines brightly. The hotel cancelled and released us from financial obligations. The DKG IT team stepped up to begin planning virtual events for a pseudo-convention week. My husband is driving out to visit me since I can’t safely fly home. And, today I had a haircut and didn’t need to figure out how to trim my bangs without cutting off an ear, a la Van Gogh. For those reasons I’m grateful. Truth be told, I’m close to being eternally grateful! But most importantly I am grateful for my DKG friends, like those pictured above. You make a difference in my life, especially during these troubling times.

This next week think about GRATITUDE in your life. You don’t have to wait till the official Thanksgiving Day in your locale to be thankful. Each day when we wake up, we should rejoice that we are not ill, our family and friends are not ill (hopefully), and that we have a Society that supports us during good and bad times. I know DKG does this because I hear from you and you hear from me. We are each helping each other and, in so doing, are showing our GRATITUDE in so many ways. How can you express your GRATITUDE? Think about it and then show it.

Comments (cathyd@dkg.org)