Friday night grateful moment

What a lovely week! Not hard to come up with a list this week:

Grateful for great weather. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. A couple of muggy moments, but nothing that stayed too long, and great weather in which to accomplish lots of outdoor activities (code for: yard work).

Grateful for good energy for aforementioned yard work. One of my little methods for getting it done is to have an early shift and a late shift. I can get stuff done from 8 a.m.- noonish, then need to knock it off for a few hours. By 4 p.m. or so, I can get back out into it and then it is truly my favorite time of the day for working in the yard… cooler, and long on the shadows. Even working until it's almost too dark to see works for me!

Grateful for my husband, who after a long week of work, trekked over to the TriCities with me this afternoon to figure out AT&T and my iphone… and didn’t even get perturbed when I left the iphone sitting on the sofa back home. I was pretty sure they’d tell me I had to have the ACTUAL phone on my person to sign me up (that’s what I’d been told on the phone), but a helpful young man hooked me up with a sim card and I’m good to go. Looking forward to playing with it all weekend...

Grateful for my son, who called me a couple of times last night to check in, see if I’d do him a favor, tell me he loved me, see if I’d do him a favor, and inquire about my week. Oh, and see if I’d do him a favor. It’s always nice to hear from him in the “off” weeks, and today was his last day of school... Oh joy. He’s now a 7th grader! And did I mention he needed a favor? Mom always accommodates, especially when “I love yous” are involved. Sucker Mom. Always.

Grateful for pens that write just so. Do you have a favorite pen? I do. Those lovely gel ones that flow so beautifully that I think they must just inspire beautiful writing… actually, even my lists feel more poetic when I write them with happy pens.

Grateful for my friends, the near and the far, the newer and the o-so-old (in years, not age!). I can honestly say that each of my friends brings something unique to my life that no one else could bring. I'm very lucky.

Grateful that I didn’t die while running with my aunt and uncle this morning. I have some superfit relatives visiting, and I am inspired by their fitness in the golden years. Three miles is their warm up run. Three miles is the longest I’ve run in some time. But I was inspired to do it again (seeing as how I lived and all), sooner rather than later.

Grateful for creativity. This is a recurring theme with me, as you know! Found this absolutely amazing interactive music video this week. You have GOT to check this out. How often do I use caps when trying to persuade? Really, not often. So you know this one made an impression. I think I had a smile on my face the whole time I played with this song. So cool.

Along those lines, I’m always grateful for whatever song is currently putting a smile on my face. I found this a capella version of Africa by Toto this week and wanted to share. I especially like the rain/thunder/storm sounds they start the song with, but I have always liked this song. Very specific time and place memories for me… fading now, but the song always makes me smile.



And speaking of smiles, I am grateful for comedy and laughter. We were listening to XM radio’s comedy channel on the way home from TriCities tonight and I laughed so hard I cried. Can’t even remember what at, but it was priceless. I’m not sure those channels should be allowed in cars… what if I was driving and lost control of the car? Husband was driving, thankfully, and had some good laughs himself, but I don’t think he came as close to wetting himself as I did. What a hoot. So very good to laugh.

Grateful for prayer/meditation and its calming and healing effects. I know this from my own life, and I know it from other’s lives as well, how powerful this simple act can be.

Grateful for all the resources we daily take for granted. When I think about my life without water, or electricity, or… you name it, I am grateful for these things and for the times we live in, to enjoy them. I would have been a very bad pioneer woman in those nutty skirts and sweeping my dirt floor. Very bad indeed. So I try to do my little part to reuse, recycle, not consume, be more fuel efficient, what have you, and appreciate very much this rich rich world we live in.

Which again segues nicely into my gratitude for this peaceful and quiet place we get to call home. It is generally so still… until 1 a.m. and the coyotes sound like they are IN the bedroom! Or a neighbor hollers across an acre of hay… but still, so quiet. I was listening, quite intently, to an audiobook this week while working in the yard (Angels and Demons by Dan Brown—fyi, his writing is much better listened to than read, in my humble opinion. While this isn't saying much... it made for good weed-pulling entertainment!). I was in a pretty tense/suspenseful place in the story, all the while hauling bricks away from the old herb garden/pond area. At a really critical moment, all the dogs (all 4 rambunctious rascals), who were above me on the deck, decided to get up and race across to the other side of the yard and start barking. I just about jumped out of my skin! So yes, generally peaceful. Generally quiet…

I think that’s it for the moment. Have a chillin’ weekend. I know we will!