172

We've been telling M. for years that she can get her ears pierced when she's 12--a milestone that's less than a month away. Because she had the day off school, we carpe diemed! Wendy met us there to lend moral support. After M. got her ears pierced, she headed for the merry-go-round. That pretty much says it all about what it's like to be 12. A foot in both worlds. I'm grateful that this cusp between girlhood and womanhood is a bit wide. It gives both of us the chance to adjust.

170, 171

170: The Iowa Summer Writing Festival catalog, which arrived today in the mail. I doubt I'll make it there this year, but leafing through the pages, imagining all the classes I could take, is like a mini mental getaway.

171: It was snowing hard this morning when we walked by the park--huge, fluffy flakes that were accumulating quickly (yes, yes, it was gorgeous and all, but after so many days of snow, I have so built a bridge and gotten over it, as M. would say)--but a bird was singing like it was sunny and 55. I don't know if it was optimism, confidence, or sheer denial on the bird's part, but I'm grateful for the reminder of spring.

167, 168, 169

167: The refs at tonight's hockey game made bad calls repeatedly for both sides. I'm grateful C's team won.

168: I'm grateful for the break in the weather so I could finally go see Mom and Dad. I'm grateful they are happy (Mom), content (Dad), and safe (me). Over the years, I've learned a lot from them (don't faint), most recently how to handle a huge life change with grace and good humor, or failing that, how to "bear up."

169: I don't remember how I met my oldest friend, Mary (Mary Margaret, actually). It might have been in kindergarten, but I think we bonded over the dreaded piano lessons we had on Tuesdays after school. I had lunch with her today and guess what? She still looks the same as she did in high school, and she's still sardonic. I'm grateful for old friends who know a heck of a lot about me and still like me anyway.

166

M., on not winning today at a science competition: "Two things about failure. One, you learn from it and two, it inspires you to do better." I'm grateful that this was her "take-away" for the day.

163, 164, 165

163: I'm grateful that my group of friends in the hood made time to have a quick glass of wine in honor of my birthday. The conversation ranged from marriage ("you get what you get and what you get isn't always what you end up with") to tips on how to get a constipated cat to poop ("put vaseline on its nose"). Need I say more?

164: There was this piece of work I needed to do and was kind of dreading, but then L. IM'd me and said, "How about we do it together at the coffee shop?" I'm grateful for both parts of that--the "let's do it together" and "let's do it in person." We ate and drank our way through three 90-minute sessions at the shop (you have to buy something in order to get 90 minutes of Internet access), but the work got done and we shared a few laughs.

165: As was my intent, Daily Bread gives only a narrow slice (ha ha) of my life. There is a whole lot more, not all of it positive. I say that as a preface to this: It was a rough week all the way around, and I'm grateful to have made it through.

161 and 162

161: Lunch with a friend in front of a warm fire on a snowy day, the bunch of yellow tulips wrapped in tissue and shivering on my front porch, a singing telegram left by a friend who has the flu, half a homemade chocolate mint cake that magically appeared on my back stoop, cards, e-mails, phone calls, and hugs. I'm grateful for all the attention on my birthday.

162: Tra-la-la. Made good progress on my work, in spite of it being another snowday. I'm grateful for good concentration.

159 and 160

159: Faith.

160: Resilience.

158

For vanpool duty today, we needed to pick up not only the normal suspects, but also a few others, including Owen, who is in the elementary building--and for that building, someone actually has to go wait in line to pick up the children. Being the brilliant thinker that I am (and also someone accustomed to having my riders show up at my van rather than having to go retrieve them), I put on my reading glasses so I could see the numbers on my cell phone, which I need in order text Clark, and asked him to go wait in line and pick up O. Ten minutes later, I see the two of them coming toward the van. I'm grateful Clark willingly helped out without any teenage attitude or resentment. It's his nature, actually, but I still appreciate it.

Day 157

M. had a heart of stone. She's a rock hound, always has been, and she found this flat stone that's about as big as the palm of my hand and shaped like a heart. A chunk from the upper right part of it broke off, and M. taped it back on with a bandaid. When I admired the stone, she gave it to me. I keep it on my desk as a reminder that even hearts of stone break and even broken hearts can be mended. That's what I'm thankful for on this Valentine's Day.

Day 156

As the kids get older, it seems harder to find things to do as a family that we all enjoy. That's why, at M's suggestion, we're all watching American Idol for the first time ever. File this under things you never thought you'd hear me say: I'm grateful for American Idol.

153, 154, 155

153: Once again, the weather is terrible--blizzard conditions. I'm grateful that my parents are safe and warm in their condo, and that they have friends in their building they can play cards with.

154: I'm grateful for my footwarmer, a gift from Brad several years ago, and one of the most thoughtful ones he's gotten for me. That's going some, because Brad is exceptionally good at picking out gifts for me. I suppose most women would roll their eyes if they unwrapped a footwarmer. But the thing is, I hate being cold, and because I have bad circulation (and because I live in Michigan, *&#! it), I'm cold a lot. But now at least my feet aren't!

155: A client e-mailed me a link to some recent material that directly relates to my work project. I'm grateful for the help. It's the little things like this that make my day. Winning the lottery would probably make my day, too. I'd like to try that sometime. You know--just to see.

152

Between C. being sick for two days, two snow days, M. being sick for a day, and another snow day, it has been difficult to get serious traction on my big project. I've been pecking away at it, to be sure, but I know it's time to immerse myself in it. Knowing immersion is required + not being able to immerse = stress. Today Brad offered to all the homefront jobs and activities so I could just focus on work, and I took him up on it. I'm grateful for a duct tape husband, useful and effective in a wide variety of situations.

151

I'm grateful for the hope that fills my heart every time I hear Barack Obama speak these words: Yes we can. And it's only in feeling hope for the country now that I can see how long I've been without it.

150

Another day, another six or eight or ten inches of snow. I'm grateful for the snowplow dude who plows our driveway.

148, 149

148: This happened a few days ago, but I'm not over being grateful. "Someone" turned on the spigot that's on the west side of the house. The water ran for a full day. Our basement stayed dry and no damage was done. Not even to the "someone."

149: I've been eager to watch The Office Special (British version) ever since my BIL, Jon, recommended it. But at about that time, something happened with something (highly technical explanation) and I was no longer able to view anything through my Netflix account. Today a very nice lady at Netflix support helped me fix the something. I'm grateful it was an easy fix that didn't cost me any money. Now I just need the opportunity to watch the program!

Day 147--so many things, so little time!

Where to begin? I'm grateful that C. watered down his hair before Youth Sunday today--and that it actually stayed watered down! I'm grateful that I discovered PBS's Frontline is available online, although that's a mixed blessing because now I want to watch every single episode. Finally, my BIL, Al (who really needs to suck it up and create a Blogger account so he can post here) reports this, in an email: Did you know that after February 10, statistically the daily snow cover on the ground begins to decrease? So, that being the case, February 11 is the first day with movement toward being snow free--maybe something for which to be thankful if one must live (or gets to live) in Holland all of the time. I agree. Wow. That's a three-fer! Clearly I need to work on focus.

146

Today I was reading a magazine and came across two items relevant to my big project--one was an ad for virtual meeting software and another was a piece on how LucasFilms is keeping its employees engaged. I'm grateful for serendipity.

Day 145

A critical aspect to the success of a free agent life is knowing when working is not working. Or, as my friend and fellow writer/free agent Deb said, "If you can't make it a billable hour, then just walk away." Today I ran into a few brick walls with technology and client availability. I fought it for about half an hour, then had the good sense to go to a feel-good movie, How She Move. I'm grateful for the experience and perspective to know when to say when. Middle age has its benefits.

Day 144

The roads have been slick since we had the "rain to ice to snow" storm on Tuesday night. I'm grateful we all made it where we had to go today, especially Brad, who had to leave before dawn's early light.