Gratitude List: Day 11

Chime.in

The lists seem to get more and more difficult, and if I focus really hard, I can still skim the surface without digging deep. I’m still just listing what comes to mind first, but here’s an attempt at skipping most of the skimming:

That getting up to participate in Black Friday isn’t a must in this little family of ours.
The nicety of Chris & Crissy switching beds so I’d get a better night sleep, especially because I wouldn’t have been upset with them if they’d said no.
Triptephan naps.
Fuel efficient vehicles.
Erin’s ability to exercise her right to love me unconditionally, even when I’m being Oscar the Grouch.
Potatoes au gratin.
That there are always new people to meet, no matter where I go.
Mum.
Moments of silence within, when all the world is going on around me.
Coffee mugs.
Early gift exchanges.
The look on the receiver’s face when he/she enjoys his/her gift.
Being flexible enough to bend over and touch my toes, tie my shoes, scratch my foot.
That I now actively participate in not sweeping things under the rug.
Conversations that begin uncomfortably and end with greater understanding of and by all parties involved.
That my book is edited.
That my hiatus in writing seems to be over.
The connection I feel with my story, and all the ways its changed in the last year.
Human capacity for change and growth.
Home, wherever it is.
Conscious choice.
Suffrage and the women who endured it.
The wrinkles around my mouth that can only come from laughter.
Walkers and canes.
That my grandmother died just as she always wanted to: quickly.
The openness of science to questions.
That place in the brain which makes language amongst humans possible.
Organ donors.
The GATE program in 3rd grade, for challenging my grandfather’s belief that I couldn’t possibly be intelligent, as I’m just a girl.
The guts I had to run away, which also ended up being the guts I had to come back home.
The depth created in actively building new relationships, versus the sedentary flatness of staying within the lines of comfort.
That reality is just that, and doesn’t waiver (but in our fantasies) for anyone.
Whatever it is that pushes me past my fears and causes me to act in spite of those fears.
The moments in my day when I have nothing but clear vision, and can see beyond a reasonable doubt that I am born of love and creativity and greatness, and have no purpose but to extend those things to others.
The way the sky looks just after the sun’s dropped below the horizon, and that its beauty is recognizable in just a split second.
That there is humor, even (especially) in grief.
That family cycles are breakable, with the help of #21.
The idea that a body in motion stays in motion, which usually reminds me to get up and move, if (when)ever I feel stagnant.
The inquisitive nature that picks at my brain and my life, and encourages me to look beyond what I see on the surface and accept as fact what others profess to be the truth.