1. Grateful that no one was seriously hurt in our apartment complex fire here.

2. Grateful for the peace that fills our home of late.

3. Grateful for our new kitten…a source of laughter and lots of Look Out’s as she knocks things down from high shelves. (You know, the things you put up there that are precious. As they fall, you let go of “precious”.

4. Grateful to have put out there that more work was needed and getting it.

5. Grateful to have my daughter home. She tempts out of the house with day trips that both of us enjoy.

6. Grateful to be learning a new (second) job.

7. Grateful for seeing possibilities open up.

8. Grateful for another good read: Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman.

9. Grateful for reading aloud and being read to…even being read to sleep.

10. Grateful for this Monday morning.

Continuing to type blind. Let’s see how this goes.

1. life as a roller coaster
2. being in the middle of a growth spurt
3. making space to get out into the sunshine and heat
4. honey
5. responding to rather than reacting
6. my twin brother
7. smoothies
8. spa days
9. little kitten meows
10. being calm as my daughter takes her first solo drives in town

Here’s a new challenge: I can’t see what I am typing as I add this post. Lol.

1. Sleep is good. I’m a very light sleeper sleeper.
2. Rediscovering working in bed. Actually on it.
3. My Cat from Hell. A new TV series. While I don’t have one that behaves badly, I am learning new ways of enjoying them.
4. Or is this five? The pretty breeze coming in and sunshine.
6. The new job and the lovely people that work here.
7. Water for Elephants: Read the book some time agao. The movie — well done though different.
8. Hot, buttered popcorn.
8. Light suppers with lots of veggies.
9. Discovering and exploring new places to visit and relaxing while Ariel does the driving. Shared road trips.
10. Adjusting my attitude and perspective.

1.  Grateful the world did not end. Guessing you are, too, if you’re reading this. Phew!

2. Laughing with my daughter until we cried…not about the possible ruination of us all, but that I had our new kitten convinced I had swallowed a kitten by meowing.

3. Our new kitten…a stray that wandered hungry onto our patio the other night.

4. Cypremort Point Beach State Park where I shall spend the afternoon napping to make up for the fact that I am awake now.

5. Another outstanding book: Confederacy of Dunces

6. And another: Driving on the Rim

7. And one more: The Lacuna

8. Starting a new job that includes road trips.

9. Cooking dinner with my daughter.

10. A good night’s sleep.

1. I am so very grateful to have spent the day with both my girls.

2. I met the most delightful people everywhere we went in Cleveland. I love Lafayette, still I’d move here in a heartbeat. Cleveland: where people walk down a big city street and say Hi! to strangers.

3. A midnight drive to find The Christmas Story house. Yep! The leg lamp IS in the window.

4.  Kicked back in a hotel in Winston-Salem, NC now minus one daughter and still marveling at the lobster tacos at Lopez’s (in Cleveland, of course).

5. My other daughter is in very good hands.

6. Winking Lizard baby back ribs. Yum.

7. Rose. What a lovely soul you are. Thank you again for the chin up.

1. I am grateful for the clarity to be had behind the wheel on a long drive. I was (no visual aid comes to mind) This Close to making a decision about a life-changing event and have downshifted a decision/event to process.

2. Pine trees. Cypress trees. Live Oak trees. No, really. That’s what they are called. Trees. Beautiful trees in all their greeny variations.

3. Graceful white egrets standing knee deep in flood waters, reminding me that tragedy and hardship has another side.

4. Dinner alone. I do so appreciate solitude.

5. NPR.

6. Wasabi.

7.  A love of reading and a library card.

8. Having lots of work.

9. Getting to spend Mother’s Day with both my girls.

10. Getting to visit Cleveland for the first time, albiet briefly this weekend. [Waving at Ya’ll with one hand:making sure I have Belle’s number on my cell phone with the other]

1. Identifying wants and want nots…removing things, people, and activities that create mind clutter; shifting perspective on what must stay and what I won’t compromise on any longer. I slide too easily into compromise to gain peace and, in the end, become just the opposite.

2. Recreating my work space. It is now welcomes fresh flowers, wide open windows, candle light, gauzy curtains, and silence but for the sound of my fingers on my keyboard.

3. Silence. The only white noise comes from outside on a breeze.

4. On hearing the words, “My dear, it is you.” Acknowledging that. Yep. It is me and it is still my choice to make.

5. My daughter who gifted me with a class assignment with interview questions on philosophy, ethics, moral standards, love and courage. Time spent getting back in touch with what is important to me. A good exercise in renewing spirit.

6. A little stash of Red Hots. Odd that they look larger than those I had as a kid. Most things seem smaller.

I am so very thankful that I had the presence of mind (lol) to save these books through my many moves:

No Enemies Within

The Myth of Freedom

The Wisdom of No Escape

Start Where You Are

The Four Agreements

Living the Mindful Life

Kundalini for Beginners

and

The Tao of Pooh

The Te of Piglet

It’s a process…

…in a circular sort of way.

1. Applying for part time work and finding a job I loved that I did when I was 19.

2. Getting word back that I actually got an interview appointment.

3. Falling in love all over again with sauteed vegetables. Everything in this great state is fried. I swear.

4. Feeling up after a solid day of work.

Window washing and porch cleaning; dusting and washing curtains and blinds.

Getting the car washed and ready in preparation for a road trip.

Napping after being painfully sick to my stomach and waking up feeling much better for it.

Just taking it easy today.