Welcome to Kelli’s blog!

By way of bio, she is a human being who likes similar things to many other human beings, such as eating delicious food or walking in sunshine.

She was born lucky but not rich, so she has to work hard at a career doing a job (which she likes but it really has nothing to do with this blog).

If you care to define her by how she relates to others you could say she’s a sister, a daughter, a friend… She’s been married to Scott since 2010. But we aren’t defined by our relationships alone, so what good is that information really? Does it tell the content of her soul or how she loves? 

Since this a blog, perhaps you want to know what it will be about. That I cannot tell you, for it is just a wandering silly thing, only meant to be a place that is “other than” the usual places to put things. A spot to upload photos and mention memories that is not the standard fair, nor beholden to likes or shares.

But I suppose you do want to know something about what to expect, or else why read this blog at all, so I can give some guesses. I can tell you that Kelli is particularly happy whenever she finds herself in a bookstore or a cat cafe, or with brunch on the table, or listening to live jazz, or surrounded by ancient or interesting buildings, or rearranging rocks in a creek, or paddling in a kayak, or perusing vintage jadeite, or waiting to ride Splash Mountain, or sitting on a rock near a waterfall. But these are all dust in wind, and just as the categorized names of our external relationships say nothing to the content of our souls, neither are we defined by our likes and dislikes. A taste (or distaste) for coffee says little about our ability to sort right from wrong or our mettle to defend that which is right. 

I can at least tell you whence comes the rather enigmatic title of this blog.

The name “Unbidden Grace” is homage to a quote by Kelli’s favorite author, Oliver Sacks, who in the (autobiographical) book ‘A Leg to Stand On‘ described his experience of re-learning how to walk after a severe accident.

When all was uncoordinated, difficult, weakened, unbalanced, broken, and the nerves and muscles in his leg were so damaged that he could not coordinate the movements needed to walk, he heard a piece of music. And in that moment:

“Grace, unbidden, appeared on the scene, became its center, transformed the scene. Grace entered, at the very center of things, at its hidden innermost inaccessible center, and instantly coordinated, subordinated, all phenomena to itself. It made the next move obvious, certain, natural. Grace was the prerequisite and essence of all doing.”(Oliver Sacks, 1984, A Leg to Stand On)

May we all hear the music when we need it, and find unbidden grace, so that we may proceed with all ‘doing’. For the doing is what matters, but the doing will fail without first finding the grace.

If you’d like to see Kelli’s YouTube videos, please go here: https://youtube.com/user/BirdieandTheBear