Friday night grateful moment

Such a peaceful evening here, with the sun going down earlier and earlier, and the nights cooling off. I know it's only July, but I can already feel summer waning, even as the days are 100 degrees. So quickly, the long days shorten and before you know it, I'll be complaining about the frost on the tomatoes. Except (wait for it, you know what's coming, don't you Jen?), autumn is my favorite season. I almost forgot, I love summer so much too. And spring. Spring's not bad. Winter's really the low point on the season radar for me, but you can winnow that to January and February, really, because anything up to the first of the year is the holidays, and who doesn't love the holidays? So, 10 months to love, 2 months to be "meh" about? That's not bad.

Now that I've got my seasonal musings out of the way, I can move on to gratitude. I can't seem to pull much more together on the blog lately than gratitude. Gratitude and kale. Really, aren't those the same thing?!

The garden does continue to produce, and we continue to enjoy kale, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and this week our first little lemon cucumber. Still to come will be the avalanche of tomatoes, when all the plants are producing daily. Right now it's still mostly the Early Girls and some yellow cherry toms.

Today husband and I went to the funeral and it made me think about a lot of things to be grateful for--community, family, love, tradition, faith, health, and a host of other things that have complicated emotions tied to them. A friend, without knowing that I was headed to a funeral, sent me an essay to read about two recent funerals she and her family attended. One lovely takeaway line: "Joy and sadness often intermingle as we grieve." Too true.

Seth and I had such a great trip to Canada last weekend, road tripping together through the wilds of Washington. I am so very grateful for a teenage son who is so much fun to talk with, hang out with, listen to audiobooks and laugh with. We have done so many of these road trips together, and each one holds a special place in my memories.

I am grateful for sleep, which I know will come easily tonight.

I'm grateful for air conditioning during these hottest of summer days. I'm grateful too, that when I open the sliding doors in the morning, the cool of the morning will fill the house.

I'm grateful for husband, and his loving ways.

I'm very grateful for my faith, even as it is sometimes as short-sighted and ADHD as I am. I saw this video over on Donald Miller's blog this week, of Mark Wahlberg talking about his upbringing and decision to turn his life around and the role faith plays in that, and I was encouraged. So many people don't feel (especially in the public eye) like they can speak of their faith without a certain amount of scorn coming their way, and his matter-of-factness was refreshing.


I wish you a weekend of peace and gratefulness for wherever you are, and whatever life has brought your way this week, this month, this year.

Peace.