Monday, November 9th
1. I am grateful for our home. Though I admit to complaining about the small laundry space, the never ending broken appliances and they first generation low flow (and thus crappy - no pun intended) toilets, we have a lovely home. We are blessed to have a roof over our heads and a space filled with little treasures and yard sale finds. My house makes me happy because I can look around a know the story behind every chair and globe. My house makes me happy because it is filled with the noise of my children. My house makes me happy because it is filled with memories. Calvin came home from the hospital to this house. Max and Sophie both started school from this house. I love my home - even with the mice.
2. I am grateful for leftover trilogy cake from my favorite bakery dropped off by Susan today. I am grateful that Susan and I can carry on a completely serious conversation about supporting each others goal to lose weight while we are in line at the bakery buying chocolate cake, lemon tarts and French bread. Kelly sent over delicious soup and salad today for no reason at all. I had soup for both lunch and dinner. Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have friends like these?
3. I am grateful for books. I love to read. I need to read. I have book storage as part of my food storage. If we are quarantined in our homes for a month with no power, we may run out of fuel to cook our food, but we will not run out of books to read. Books are an escape. They keep me company, they amuse me, they make me cry, they make me think, they make me long for something more, they make me grateful for what I have. I am so very grateful for literacy. I am so very grateful for a Father and Mother who love to read and passed that love on to me.
4. I am grateful for friends and acquaintances who send notes of encouragement through the mail and through email. I am grateful as they share their own experiences of divorce in their families or simply let me know that they are thinking of me. People are so very good. These notes have made me cry (the good kind of tears) many, many times over the last few months. I am grateful to hear how others have found contentment and peace after experiencing disappointment and pain.
5. I am grateful for finishing a new box of hair clips today to send to my girlfriend in Salt Lake. I am grateful to feel like I accomplished something tangible.
P.S. I set four mouse traps tonight with peanut butter as the bait. Anyone want to check those for me in the morning?!
I'm reading a book right now that has some pages dedicated to #3, so forgive the long comment, but it reminded me so much of you (and me, though I'm not so dedicated and don't have much more than a few cans of grains in my food storage let alone books): "I remember as a teenager reading that Marshall McLuhan had likened opening the Sunday paper to settling into a warm bath. The metaphor delivered a tiny jolt of recognition, because I too found reading - reading almost anything - to be a vaguely sensual, slightly indulgent pleasure, and one that had very little to do with the acquisition of information. Rather than a means to an end, the deep piles of words on the page comprised for me a kind of soothing environment, a plush cushion into which sometimes I could barely wait to sink my head. More often than not, I could remember almost nothing the moment I lifted myself out of the newspaper or magazine or paperback in which I'd been immersed. Not that I usually bothered to try. Mostly I just let the print wash over me, as if it were indeed warm water, destined to swirl down the drain of my forgetfulness." From A Place of My Own by Michael Pollan.
ReplyDeleteI love that! I could spend hour and hours living inside of books and pretending that real life was not there on the outside waiting for me to return.
ReplyDeleteI love that! I could spend hour and hours living inside of books and pretending that real life was not there on the outside waiting for me to return.
ReplyDelete