Very Grateful for:

God’s care for all of us

Amelia, taking Ruby to the vet for me

Ruby, not knowing why she is stiff in her spine, and being brave anyway. (How does a dog know and understand pain?)

Amelia, coming to work with me on her last day at home

air conditioning in the hot office

cool water

Finding out that Rachel was unharmed when her car was burglarized.

Pancakes, even a small one for Ruby

Dad’s hugs

“Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.” ~Voltaire

Very Grateful  for:

God’s nudge (or push) toward change

realizing that I have changed what I value and need in a workplace environment

…the realization that I applied for a job for the person I used to be

…letting go

…moving onward

…new “AHA” moments

…this wonderful insight on attachment that Garrett tweeted (thanks, Garrett) : http://afirstsip.blogspot.com/2017/06/allowing.html

…the happy changes in friends’ lives

…Dad’s hugs

To let go means to give up coercing, resisting, or struggling,
in exchange for something more powerful and wholesome
which comes out of allowing things to be as they are without
getting caught up in your attraction to or rejection of them,
in the intrinsic stickiness of wanting, of liking and disliking.
It’s akin to letting your palm open to unhand something
you have been holding on to. ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

Very Grateful for:

…God’s intelligence working through smart doctors, technicians, and nurses

…God’s gift of rain this morning

…God’s creatures great and small

…the unsettling effect that a wolf spider had on my growing melancholy and apprehension this morning

…the focus it took to, um,  dis-invite this world’s largest spider from inside my front door shook me out of my apprehension

…the realization that if I could conquer the world’s largest spider, then I could show up and suit out for my medical tests today

Mary Ellen’s early morning email (thank you, Mary Ellen)

seeing a former work colleague before the procedure who then happened to be my nurse!

breathing into acceptance and trust in the process

“Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.”
~J. R. R. Tolkien

Very Grateful for:

God’s constructing us for rest

a long weekend

for once, I did not go into work “to get things caught up while the office is quiet”

green tea with mint from the garden

MaryEllen’s encouragement

Granny’s sweet potato pie

12,293 steps yesterday!

time to read

time to watch the French Open – and drink French Press coffee

remembering my mantra

this wonderful place that Crystal nurtures

“It’s not what you start in life, it’s what you finish.” ~Katharine Hepburn

Very Grateful for:

God’s timing

The significant news on each of the last 3 Fridays

that the concerning news followed the happy news of the previous two graduations

Sarah, who’s kindness and alertness got me a procedure appointment sooner rather than later

Amelia being at home after school

safe travels – 8 flights in 8 days

iced green tea

hugs

What are you going to do? Everything, is my guess. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. ~Nora Ephron

Very Grateful for:

God’s Account Representatives in Virginia

glasses. (without my glasses, I grabbed the wrong bill denomination as I ran out the door)

the beautiful woman at the Food Lion check-out lane

her compassionate eyes when she saw that I didn’t have enough money to pay my bill

$1.14- the going rate for my tutorial in gratitude

her enthusiastic and quick fundraising from other customers and her manager

our community-team approach to closing the sale

“Be blessed. Pay if forward,” she said

the realization of my illusion of my own self-reliance

the opportunity to write this list and teach my grandiose little child a lesson  :)

Be Blessed, Pay It Forward

Very grateful for:

God’s variety

almost all of my Facebook posts reflect friends’ photos of beautiful spring blossoms!

remembering a password for a website I visit occasionally

watching people at Dad’s church service who sing the words of the songs from memory.

“Granny” Debra

brakes on my car

warm corn tortillas

a long nap

little candle flames twisting under the A/C vent

Women grow radical with age. One day an army of gray-haired women may quietly take over the Earth. ~ Gloria Steinem, (seen on Carol’s FB post) 

Very Grateful for:

God’s Daring Architecture of Change

Two longs walks today for me: one in the am and one in the evening

a dear friend who sent a text about my application to her friend who works where I would like to work

freshly ground coconut coffee from the olive oil store

delicious french press hot coffee at the same store

time to re-read “The Artist’s Way”

Seeing photos of a friend’s 97-year-old father and 90-year-old mother

Steamed sea bass with kale & beet salad

the rare occurrence of getting everything done on my ToDo list

(finally) learning to keep short ToDo lists

“We must dare, and dare again, and go on daring.”
~Georges Jacques Danton
Jinja, Uganda July 2016

Very Grateful for

God’s Angels

Amelia, driving so well in the dark early morning rain

this delicately beautiful song that I play over and over: https://youtu.be/teSuDu84kMc

the man who greeted us curbside, checked my bag for me, and, after we talked briefly said, “your mom is having the best birthday ever today.”

the woman next to me at the security checkpoint who grabbed my boarding pass as it attempted to sail away from the gust of wind dispatched by my frenzied thrump of stuff into plastic bins

Amelia, calling and calling back to check that I boarded all right

the man in the aisle seat who lifted my computer bag into the overhead

the man in front of me who has graciously not reclined his seat

the man next to me who picked up my spoon when I dropped it

the woman behind me who picked up my apple when it fell behind me

the tears that come and go unpredictably, so I won’t think there is a magic potion I can impose upon them to control them

I am a mess today, and gratitude is my service dog

remembering my mom, on our first birthday apart- she in heaven and me in seat 13F

“Because every gift I acknowledge reveals another and another until, finally, even the most normal, obvious and seemingly mundane event or encounter proves to be filled with grace.” ~Henri Nouwen

Very Grateful for

God’s contradictions that provide insight

the encouragement of friends as I look for a full-time job

remembering to laugh when I lost out on a job in Columbus Ohio because I was not from Ohio and the same day, losing out on another job because I was not foreign-born

tennis

Ruby, who seems to have bestowed lifetime employment on me as her pet!

HSA cards

new glasses

not opening a phishing email that caused havoc at work

Compassion is the basis of morality ~Schopenhauer