A Lesson From My Grandbaby and da Vinci

Hi folks!

This week’s inspiration comes from a rare special visitor, my fifteen-month-old granddaughter Blakely Faye, and yes, Leonardo da Vinci.

At our large Thanksgiving table filled with family and friends, each of us shared something that we were grateful for. Although beneath our gratitude, I’m sure each of us had tender places of hurt or sorrow, Thanksgiving is the time we let our best thoughts of appreciation rise to the top.

Truthfully, we choose which parts of ourselves to show at any given moment.

Blakely Faye reminded me that young children know no such layered living. Her emotions were so raw, so real, so unfiltered. Even though she has only a few words, when she was sad, we knew it. When she wanted something, we knew it. And when she was happy, which was most of the time, we knew it—and reveled in it.

There was something about the simplicity of her life that refreshed and restored me. Was it the doting care of everyone around her, determined to teach her only the most positive parts of life? Or her creative play that so closely mimicked real life, illustrating clearly the power of observation?

Or was it the lesson she gave me about being fearless? Although my dog, Tripp, is nine years old, he jumps and barks like a puppy. Most of my visitors keep a distance, wary of his enthusiasm.

Not Blakely Faye.

Or maybe it was her constant motion and willingness to learn.

Or her eager curiosity about the outside world.

Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. —Leonard da Vinci

That’s it! No matter what age or situation, whether grateful or hurting, Blakely Faye reminded me to keep moving and keep learning.

How about you? In your Thanksgiving festivities, was there a moment that refreshed or restored you?  Tell me about it. I’d love to know.

My best—always,

This is a guest post by Becky (Nana B)

AUTHOR BIO

Rebecca Faye Smith Galli (Becky) is a weekly columnist who lives in Baltimore, Maryland and writes about love, loss, and healing.

Surviving significant losses—her seventeen-year-old brother’s death; her son’s degenerative disease and subsequent death; her daughter’s autism; her divorce; and nine days later, her paralysis from transverse myelitis, a rare spinal cord inflammation that began as the flu—has fostered an unexpected but prolific writing career. In 2000, The Baltimore Sun published her first column about playing soccer with her son—from the wheelchair.

Fifteen years later, with 400 published columns and a completed memoir, she launched “Thoughtful Thursdays—Lessons from a Resilient Heart” – a weekly column for her subscriber family that shares what’s inspired her to stay positive. She also periodically contributes to The Baltimore Sun’s Op-Ed page, Midlife Boulevard, Nanahood, and The Mighty. Join her Thoughtful Thursdays family at www.beckygalli.com/signup. Her book, Rethinking Possible: A Memoir of Resilience will be released next June.