Thirty days of gratitude: Days 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22

Here I am with another weekly wrap-up masquerading as a Friday night grateful moment! What I love about the season right now is that there are grateful moments everywhere, every day. It's what I love about this time of year.

I have been enjoying this photo challenge quite a bit, even though it ends up creeping into the evenings and my creativity gets a little hampered. When I'm savvy enough to look up the daily grateful word in the morning, it can follow me throughout the day, and that's a nice thing. But often I'm up and out the door before I remember, and it's a wild little scramble to get my act together that evening.

But, still, I'm grateful, even in the noise of the day. One morning this week I was caught off guard by a feeling of gratitude while at a traffic light. Probably there was some song playing on the CD player that poked into my sentiment, and I had a little tear at the awesome blessings that we have as a family. Blessed. Loved. Grateful.

Day 18: Change

My one nod to the holidays (so far) has been putting some bulbs out to sprout. And oh how they have sprouted! I love watching the green shoots climb up to the sunshine. Watching how they change is like I imagine God feels, watching a child grow from infancy into adulthood--zoom!

Day 19: Knowledge

When I think of what it is that I really know--as Oprah says, "What I know for sure," it is that love is really all. I think I've heard it said, "No matter what the question, the answer is love." I agree.

Day 20: Scent

This was one of those days when I had nothing. Scent? Grateful for smell? Really? What smell, where? Nothing. Then toward the end of the evening--one of our first really cold nights--I made hot chocolate. The scent wafted up, and I knew what I was grateful for. Hot chocolate is a bit of a ritual around here in the winter, and I love making up mugs for the boys and having mini marshmallows and whipped cream to "enhance" the experience--and the scent!

Later in the week I roasted some garlic and made some croutons with garlic, and I thought of the word again, and was re-grateful for scent. Roasted garlic is really heavenly smelling!

Day 21: Kindness

I am so grateful for kindness in this world, and in my life. There is nothing like kindness to set a day, a person, an act, apart from the ordinary humdrum day, person or act. Kindness makes everything better. Sometimes kindness looks like correction--think of putting a kid on the right path rather than allowing them to continue down the wrong one--but done correctly and with the right heart, kindness really does rule.

Day 22: Home

There are many things I like about our actual physical abode. Right now, on this cold winter night, I love that it is warm--the fire is going and we're all tucked in. In the summer I love the light coming through the windows, and the amazing view. But the best thing about this house isn't something you can touch; it's the love and laughter we have here together, we three.

Wherever you are, I hope you are warm and welcoming the weekend.

Peace.

Sept. 3: Back to school!

I have the fondest memories of the back-to-school phenomenon. From elementary through middle school and high school, I always looked forward to going back to school. I dreamed about it, plotted outfits and hairstyles, fantasized about who I'd see (boys?) and talk to, arranged and rearranged the school supplies, lost sleep the night before... there was a great deal of excitement around the first day. It undoubtedly revolved mostly around the social aspects (chat chat chat chat), but I was not opposed to a little learning, too.

Back-to-school shopping with my mom was always a joy. (Well, maybe the year where I was arm-twisted into wearing dresses one day of every week--seventh grade--wasn't such a *joy,* but other than that...) I think the older I got, the more fun it was--meaning, the less I dressed like an absolute tomboy, the more fun it was to pick out clothes. And even though the fall weather where I grew up in British Columbia stayed pretty warm and pleasant through September, it changed quickly afterward and stocking up on sweaters and corduroys early was a must. I can conjure up so quickly my favorite outfits from each year; I know this makes me sound like a little fashionista, but that's not how I remember it... I just really liked my outfits!

Our junior!

When I reminded Seth yesterday to get his school supplies together, and pick out his first-day-of-school outfit, both he and husband chortled and gave me a "whatever" kind of male reaction. Sigh. So I satisfied that little part of myself by picking out MY back-to-school (um, work) outfit for today.

The back-to-school anticipation that I've maintained in my life involves more than just the love of shopping. I'm a big fan of the school supplies angle--new pens! blank composition books! pencil cases! backpacks!--and everything that these supplies imply: this is a fresh start, and blank slate, a new year waiting to be the best it can be. I feel this way often at the start of a new calendar year (as many a resolution blog post can attest to), at the start of a new month, and even though it's now 23 years since I last started a school year, I still feel that way as fall begins and kids head back to the classroom.

This convocation speech has been shared widely on social media, but I can't help post it here for posterity and a reminder to myself. I love the sentiment that permeates the talk: be kind. Reading it took me back to situations in school where his words about regretting the failures of kindness really struck a nerve. There wasn't always overt meanness, but simply a lack of kindness. It's too easy to say that's just the way kids are; yes, there's a sensitivity that maturity brings. But I do believe that kids can be and are kind, if that is the culture and language that surrounds them.

In some ways, as I read George Saunders' speech, I thought, "I could have written this" about the regret of failures of kindness. There were at a number of examples in elementary school where a combination of subpar social skills and intellectual acuity brought scrutiny and criticism from peers. I have long regretted any role I played in making any fellow student feel "less than." Later, in high school as I looked back on those years, I was able to acknowledge to myself that I am capable of being less than kind. Owning that that propelled me forward into being more kind to those around me; especially those who may be on the fringes of social acceptance. I wish I could say I achieve it every day, but it certainly is a goal I strive for.

My wish for every kid I know is to live out the possibility of kindness this school year. To take the moment to reach out and actively be the friend and support, even just the smile, that makes someone's day better.

What would you wish for your kids, this school year? If you don't have kids in school, what would you like to see our young people focus on as they learn this year?

Jen and I are blog challenging throughout September. You can catch her blog over at Stuff Jen Says. If you want to write along with us, give me a shout and I'll send you the blog prompts.