Friday night grateful moment

Home from a day in the city. Home from a mixture of work and play and warmth and traffic and good food and walking and talking. And traffic. Did I mention the traffic?

So grateful tonight to be home. A couple of hiccups along the way (took a wrong turn, almost missed final boarding call, you know, those kinds of things) had me thinking for a minute or two I might not be so lucky, but I was. The picture above was snapped just after I deplaned. What a beautiful place to come home to!

I spent the morning with my fellow Trustees at CHSW in Seattle, a productive time indeed. In the collage below, the rainbow photo was in a thank-you note from a child who uses CHSW services in the King County area, and I just loved that at the spot I chose to sit, there was a rainbow note for me! It was karmically delicious. (Say that in a Lucky Charms rabbit voice, go on.) I'm grateful to have the opportunity to give back to my community.

The other color photos you see below were from my walk and talk with dear friend Kate, whose friendship grows to mean more as the years go by. She's a gem, and I'm grateful for the gift of her time on a busy work day! We went to all the usual girly places to look at girly, colorful things. Walking past a shop, she pointed to a bag and said, "Oh, I love that!" I looked, and agreed, adding, "That looks like something I'd have!" She said, "Me too!" So of course we had to go in and check out this magical handbag that both of us HAD to have. The humorous thing was, we were looking at different bags sitting next to each other in the window, and neither saw the other's bag, only assumed we were talking about the same one. If that isn't some window into projecting your view of things onto someone else... Ha! Anyway, the truth is, the bag I admired is so very me (bottom right pic), and the bag she admired was so very her (much more subtle).

I'm grateful for Walla Walla. On the way home tonight, I thought I had been transported to Huck Finn's world... there was a boy walking down the road with a fishing net over his shoulder, past a house with a couple of girls sitting on a porch swing, with cats in their laps (though why that was appealing in 80-degree weather at 9 p.m., I have no idea!). In the next few blocks I saw goats, a guy mowing his field in the dusk, and stopped and took more sunset photos. Positively idyllic. And feeling very blessed to live where we live.

The garden is coming along nicely. The rain of the past couple of weeks has of course turned out a bumper crop of weeds that husband attacked this afternoon, bless him. But word has it that there are red tomatoes to pick (so early, those Early Girls!), and the kale and potatoes just keep coming, with summer squash close behind. I am very grateful for farm-fresh produce! Husband asked tonight if we are getting close to gazpacho season? I believe we are very close!

I am so grateful for Husband. I was reminded of that today when telling some story or other about him, about how we met and became a couple, that I really did hit the kind and thoughtful jackpot. I appreciate so much his perspective and insights, and have learned a lot from him about contingency plans, planning ahead, being prepared, all things that do not come second nature to me!

I'm grateful it's the weekend, that tomorrow will be chill and family time, and Sunday may just be too hot to get anything substantial done outside after 10 a.m., so I guess we'll have to go to the movies! I love summertime and movie theaters. There's just something about going into those over-airconditioned rooms and needing to put on a light sweater because of the chill, and it's 100 degrees outside.

I'm grateful the rain seems to be gone, even though I did really enjoy the it while it hung around, mostly. However, nothing beats sunshine, for me.

The puppies greeted me tonight with their usual zest and pep. I am so grateful for their funny little personalities, and for their love and affection.

I'm grateful for the best son a mom could ask for. Sent him out on his first solo grocery shopping experience today while I was gone, and I think he did just fine. (No dripping ice cream in the kitchen, not put away, etc.! That's a success!) He's been getting into the summer job groove, getting more independent with the mobility having a vehicle available will bring. And he hosted a Magic the Gathering draft party last night; the sound of happy teenage boy laughter echoing through the house made me smile. Happy son = happy mama.

I wish you a good weekend! Recuperate well from the wears of the week!

Peace.