I’m dog-sitting in an apartment on the Upper West Side. It’s quiet aside from the window A/C unit and the movie About Time playing in the background. My morning has included a bagel sandwich, coffee and a long walk in Central Park with the dog who’s now sleeping at my feet. While a part of me wishes I had someone to share these moments with (quietly), there’s another piece of me that’s cherishing every ordinary second of it. My prayer is that I won’t take this life for granted, no matter the number of days i’m given. So, it’s June. Dignity is a word i’ve been thinking about lately and how that fits in my life…Does it have a room in my life? I hope so. It’s a word I can’t say i’ve spent much time with. There are a couple of people I can think of, in my life, who have lives that reflect dignity ~ in career pursuits, in personal decisions, in relationships. It’s admirable. One of the reasons why I appreciate prayer is that it’s a way to ask God questions. My faith is very personal to me; it’s been a haven for me in the best and the worst times of life. Often I pray for an increase in wisdom, and patience, in gentleness and generosity. My faith tells me God hears it and I do feel comforted by that. I want to add dignity to that list. My fears often hold me back and I think that hinders dignity, potentially, to live in more areas of my life. Do you ever have a word that bubbles to the surface of your brain? What do you do with that word? This makes me think of the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon. When Harold finds the crayon, whatever he wants to see or do, he draws and it exists…it’s quite magical. How i’m connecting this to my previous point is this: that the words, images, phrases, melodies or even PEOPLE that come to mind, are our crayons. They are there for us to pick up and do something with. That’s so important to me. So dignity is my word today to think about and hopefully have my life reflect it, like Harold’s purple crayon world.