Say it with me!

I'm thankful for Thanksgiving Day, which is really one big chorus of gratitude. If we could all stay in this place of gratitude in our hearts and our attitudes, the world would be better for it.

Prep work

Throughout our marriage, Brad and I have enjoyed cooking together. This afternoon he was pouring over Cook's Illustrated, learning everything he could about how to cook a better turkey. Once he had a good handle on that, he started in on the cornbread stuffing. I'm grateful he likes to cook. I totally enjoy our time in the kitchen, and it's nice that he sometimes takes the lead on recipes. I'm happy to be his sous chef!

Patently thankful

Several years ago, Brad filed for a business process patent. Today he finally got the official number. Entrepreneurism has been a long and often lonely journey and it's not over yet, but I'm grateful that he achieved this milestone. I'd post the actual patent number, if I could remember it. All I remember is that it started with lucky number 7!

Rainy days and Mondays

It poured today. Torrential. There were times when the windshield wipers couldn't keep up. I'm grateful Clark was able to navigate the roads and the inclement weather and make it to hockey practice.

Nose to the grindstone

One of the toughest thing about the free agent life is the gap between projects. You do the best you can to avoid that gap, but it's not always possible. At the beginning, the gap is a nice breather, but if it goes on for more than two days, you start hearing the Voice of Doubt and it can get pretty obnoxious. Today I'm grateful for work--a new paying project for me and for my DH to add to a few others and to a few nonpaying projects. My mom always says "If you have your health, you have everything." I think that's true, but I think work is not far behind. We all want to contribute, to earn a living so we can make a life.

Deer alley

We drove about 300 miles roundtrip for the graduation shindig through some very flat farmland during the first week of deer hunting, half of it at night. We saw lots of deer carcasses (carki?) and several live deer. I'm grateful none of them (dead or alive) leapt out in front of us.

Celebrating success!

It has been a long road for my sister-in-law, but today she received her Masters degree. (That's her up on the big screen, shaking the president's hand.) I'm grateful she found the strength to persevere in spite of difficult circumstances. She would laugh to hear me say it, but she's an inspiration.

The long and the short of it

For a while I was waiting to get a haircut until my DH got work, thinking the money needed to come first. But I was getting pretty shaggy and we were heading to a graduation and a party, and I thought that maybe I was wrong about waiting. Maybe I needed to get the cut first, and the money would follow--kind of like "leap and the net will appear." By the time I got back from my appointment today, someone had called my DH with an opportunity for a gig. Regardless of whether it comes through, I'm grateful to be all trimmed up.

Another perspective

Tennis has been almost an obsession lately for me. To figure out why, I'm writing an essay about it. I'm grateful that my tennis instructor was willing to sit with me for an hour today and talk about the parallels between the game and life.

e-Cognitive Surplus

I'm done with Undine--really done with her--so I returned Custom of the Country to the college library. While I was there, I thought to try to find our next book club book, Cognitive Surplus. The library website showed that it was available on Kindle. A lot of good that will do me, I thought, since I don't own a Kindle. But I went to the checkout desk and said, "The database shows the book is available on Kindle." The woman said yes, and then she put a Kindle on the counter, showed me how to use it, and let me check it out! She said it's the only one the library owns and usually there's a waiting list. I'm grateful I get to try out a Kindle, which will be perfect to take with me on the road.

Just FIX IT!

Our digital camera came apart at the seams a while ago. To my amateur eye, it seemed that it would snap together again pretty easily, if you had the right tools, so I went to the local camera shop. The salesperson told me it would likely be more than $100 to fix it because they'd have to send it out, and then showed me a new digital camera they were offering a sweet deal on--less than $100. Nice, but I don't think so. It makes me crazy that it's cheaper to replace many small appliances than to fix them! Since he had nothing to lose, Brad said he'd try. He found the world's teeniest screw driver and unscrewed the world's teeniest screws, and then he fixed it, surprising both of us, I think. I'm grateful he was able to fix it, even if it is a tenuous fix. (This is the test picture I took right after--the fixin's for cashew chicken.)

Snape-d

A vanity plate I saw during my morning commute read "Snape." I'm grateful for the smile first thing on a Monday morning. (Seeing it also made me regret not buying the "Trust Snape" t-shirts that were available after the sixth Harry Potter book but before the seventh was released. Snape was one of my favorite characters and I believed in him.)

Dying well

Lately I've been going to Sunday school instead of church, attending a class called "Dying Well." I'm one of the two youngest people in the class; most attendees are over 70. But any of us can die on any given day, and I would like to do it well, if possible. The woman leading the class said dying people feel the need to say/hear five things: I love you, I forgive you, will you forgive me, thank you, and goodbye. They don't always manage to say those things, at least not in those exact words, so you have to really listen for them and maybe read between the lines a little. I also learned that dying well means feeling at peace with yourself, others, and with dreams--both fulfilled and unfulfilled. I'm grateful for this class. It makes me think, and it gives me a little hope that maybe the end is not only about letting go, but also about moving forward. Our movement, some say, is always toward the light, toward love, toward God.

Hard, followed by easy

One of the two best things in my life arrived 17 years ago, healthy, calm, and trusting. To say that I'm grateful for him and everything he has brought into our life is bit of an understatement, but I'll let it stand.

Days like this

Days like this are the reason I started doing Daily Bread again. I didn't connect with a contact, so I couldn't finish a draft for a client; I had unproductive fights with certain family members; and my long-term prospects remain unchanged. The loop of worry running through my mind has been at warp speed, wearing a groove that I could easily disappear into. There is nothing good in this day, nothing for which to be grateful. Wah, wah, wah. You see how self-pity begins and how easy it would be to give way to the vortex of hopelessness. Instead, I breathe in and breathe out. I remember: Be still. And I force myself to find something. I know there is always something. So! I'm grateful for the book I'm reading, Custom of the Country. For an hour, Undine's twisted values and manipulations gave me sweet relief.

The groove

After four days of being sick, M returned to school today. And I got my groove, found my rhythm, hit my stride--whatever you want to call it, I'm grateful for it.

Three writers! And coffee!

Met with other writer friends about a writing project that has been a long time coming! Over coffee! We are making progress! Very stimulating! I'm grateful for a new prompt--something that will push me just a little.

Three writers and a drink

Stuck--the long-term kind. Met two writer friends for a drink. Talked about books, movies, kids, writing. In the process, was reminded of ways to get unstuck. Grateful for writer friends. Nobody understands like they do.

I had a vision

I'm over (ahem) 40, so of course my vision isn't what it used to be but I wasn't ready to wear real glasses. So I went to see the neighborhood opthamologist. It took four visits to get the contact prescription juuuuust right, but now it is. I'm grateful he didn't give up on me.

Kneeling at the throne

My daughter is part of a class at church that, among other things, explores other religions. Today the students and a few chaperones including me went on a field trip to the Catholic church not far from our house. As arranged, a woman met us there and told us a few things about Catholicism, including that only Catholics are allowed at the Eurcharist how we could kneel during the service, but we didn't have to. I don't know about the kids, but I was learning quite a bit when my daughter whispered that she didn't feel well and needed to sit down. Before long, we were in the bathroom, and she was kneeling before a different kind of altar. I'm grateful I was there to give empathy and comfort and, when she had recovered a bit, walk her home.

When the nets are down

The City took down the nets on the tennis courts yesterday (even on "Mary's court," the charming court right in the center of our hood), and what I refer to as "the dark days" are upon us. Yes, the lowering of the nets coincides with the end of Daylight Savings Time, but for me the dark days are also psychological. In previous years I've grieved it and railed against the dying light and dug myself into a bit of a hole that it was tough to climb out of until spring. But today I got up, scrounged together some money, and went to cardio tennis indoors. I prefer outdoor tennis, but during the dark days, I'm grateful for indoor tennis and the instructors who run us til we're sweaty, exhausted, and virtuous. (Photo of Mary's court courtesy of Three Horses Photography.)

Taking stock

Chicken stock was on my grocery list, but somehow I overlooked it and came home without it--something I didn't realize until I was ready to make Marigold's recipe for Butternut bisque. So I called Lynn, one of many chefs extraordinaire in my neighborhood and a good friend. She found some chicken stock in her pantry for me, and it was the kind of chicken stock that some cooking magazine has rated the very best chicken stock available (Swanson's Organic in a box). So not only did I come away with the ingredient I needed for the bisque, but I learned something new! This type of thing--the borrowing, lending, and learning--happens all the time among my friends in the hood. I'm grateful for Lynn's knowledge, generosity, and well-stocked pantry. (The bisque was pretty good, but I'm looking for something a little more interesting. Suggestions?)

When gratitude escapes me

For a period of time, L. and I used to go to Iowa every summer to write, reflect, and clear our heads. On one of the trips, she listened as I admired this vase and later bought it for me on the sly. She gave it to me months and months later for my birthday, along with a poem she'd written that begins:


When we were in Iowa last summer
you said you'd like a piece of this "when you're rich."
And I thought
you're rich now
because you have

and then body of the poem spells out things that absolutely do make me rich, some of which I take for granted (all those siblings, who all speak, mostly!), others of which I had never noticed (quick access to yarn stores). The poem ends

So, if you're that rich (and more),
you'd better have this glass,
too.

Things have changed since that summer. We have less. But I still have every single thing L put in that poem. I'm grateful that whenever I feel not rich (today, for example), I can look at the vase and see the poem rolled up inside and I remember I am not not rich. Far from it.