My father used to annoy me on my birthdays. When I turned 39, for example, he would cheerily say, “Welcome to your 40th year!” He was an accountant. But getting used to being 39 is challenging enough without having your nose rubbed in 40.
My father passed away five years ago. Now I have to make do with remembering what he would have said to me last month when I turned 69.
Funny thing is, that memory doesn’t annoy me now. For, like so many others who have felt grateful for being granted the opportunity to enter their 70th year, I, too, am noticing more things around me. Small things I ignored in my younger years now make me grateful.
Things like writing a few lines by hand on real paper. Things like picking up an old black-and-white photo and noticing something I hadn’t noticed before. Things like taking my time, slow cooking a meal with my wife, Lori. There is poetry in the small things around us, if we notice.
No matter what your age, my Thanksgiving wish for you is that you notice your own sonnet of small things…things that fall gently, like autumn leaves, into your upturned palms.
Writing by hand
Who has time to write a journal–especially by hand? Maybe you. If you can adopt the ritual of writing by hand just a few lines per day. The magic of our 5-Year Journal is its constraints. You are only given 5 lines per day to capture a few moments, a few feelings. Your joy will multiply as you pass your first anniversary in this start-any-day journal and glance back at your life.
Keeping a little
Today, so much of our lives slip through our fingers on those glistening little screens we carry in our pockets. This makes those few, cherished physical things we hold all the more meaningful. A paper photo, a hand-written card, printed tickets, jewelry, a leaf from that special afternoon, a shell that passed from another´s hand to yours. Our new Remembrance Box preserves these treasures. Engrave the top with a name or message and you´ll make yours one of a kind.
Cooking together
Pati Jinich is the charismatic chef who lifted me from my kitchen chair, tied an apron around me, and showed me the joy of cooking. So it’s a special honor for me to see that the Levenger Circa Concierge staff teamed up with Pati. Together they developed what may be the most delicious recipe notebook ever to rest upon a kitchen counter.
¡Buen provecho!
Yours in thanks-giving,
Steve Leveen
Co-Founder