What Is Heaven?

I spent a good portion of my day yesterday doing a Tarot reading for a friend. This can be time consuming as I don't rush, and want to be thorough. I was intending to paint, but I sensed perhaps there might be a pressing need for this friend to get a reading as soon as possible. I don't see my kind friend during the Winter, and so wanted to get the reading done, which I eventually finished, but first there was a problem of power.

I had just started to cook supper, and had been working away at my friend's Tarot reading, when the lights flickered during what wasn't supposed to be a big ass snow storm. Fortunately I had a candle burning, and so I wasn't in total darkness when the lights went out. The weather developed into a big mess. I lite all my candles, kept feeding the wood stove, and had containers of water because I have had some 'pipe issues.'

I thought, well it's way too early to run to my bed, and I'd made up my mind I was going to refuse to give in to having a lack of power, when I have personal power to make the best of this situation. So I wrote in my journal, listened to my radio, the country station which was barely coming in, because the batteries were near dead, and decided to transfer my uncooked supper onto the wood stove. I cooked my grub and made a hot pot of tea. Oh I was so grateful for  'old faithful', my New Olympic Record Foundry wood stove, made in Moncton New Brunswick, probably 100 years ago. She's a great old beast, and got me through many a storm. I was grateful for my beautiful maple wood, my radio, and for being warm, full of supper, and hot tea.

The power was off for about three hours and came back on by 7p.m. I have been without power much longer in past days, over the twenty years I've lived in the country. When the lights came back on this time, I was so frickin' joyous and grateful I felt like I had been given the best gift and a new lease on life. I was high on happy. Later, I'd wondered why I'd felt this way. I attribute it to having a number of 'things' that have gone off the rails so to speak, nothing too serious, just the usual life events. But out of these events, I have really come to appreciate the little things so much, that it brings me a lot of happiness when things are right, and the ability to cope when things aren't.

Mind you, no one wants to be endlessly without power. Truthfully I resent being so dependent on the power company, especially here in Nova Scotia were we have some of the highest rates int he country. I dream of being of the grid.

And so I assure you, I am not Pollyanna, though I do like her I admit, because she had a good attitude of gratitude, in spite of her shitty life, but I think she knew how to focus on what she had, instead of what she wanted, and that's why she was happy because she was grateful  for what she had.

I'd never seen or heard this quote by William Blake before, but oh, it is a good one.
What is heaven mean to you?