Practice Gratitude

• for sunny weather & nature’s beauty
• for fresh hot coffee & good food to eat
• for safe travels & a reliable automobile
• that my husband & I do both have jobs
• for recent steps in professional development
• for a colleague’s willingness to mentor me
• for another colleague’s help in data collection
• for good results on medical tests
• for friendships old & new

• for antibiotics to cure infection
• for medication to control pain
• for my dentist’s competence
• for my dentist’s availability (phone consultation on a Friday night)
• for contemporary techniques that save teeth instead of older norms in dentistry (just yank ‘em out!)
• for health insurance covering part of the root canal cost
• for safe travel, despite the rain
• for a shorter-than-usual day at work
• for yogurt & cottage cheese, soup & grilled cheese sandwiches (comfort food!)

for my dentist, who trusted my word as to symptoms & called in prescriptions for me (antibiotics & pain control) when I reached him at home on a Friday night. smile

• for a good time at the movies Friday evening,
• for the chance to travel & visit with friends Saturday,
• & for the chance to rest & recover Sunday;
• for good & good-for-you picnic munchies
• & that we had good weather for traveling;
• that it was cool & quite pleasant for walking tonight
• & that I live in a neighborhood in which it’s safe to walk;
• for the chance to play board games & chat this evening
• & for the chance to meet a friend for lunch tomorrow

• for time spent with friends &
• for the chance to play board games again today;
• for a spontaneous outing – a picnic supper in the park – &
• for splurging on good Italian take-out for the picnic;
• for seeing lots of birds on the lake while walking in the park &
• for seeing a deer, while walking in my neighborhood;
• for two outings with the new shoes without problems,
• for being able to walk two miles without stopping, &
• for a nice cool evening so that I could enjoy walking smile

• for new shoes that seem to fit well right out of the box,
• for being able to walk 2 miles without stopping,
• & for relatively cool weather so that I can enjoy walking;
• that I’ve been able to coordinate visits with local friends
• as well as to continue planning a major summer vacation;
• for catching up with my sister by telephone,
• for sharing in a dear friend’s good news,
• & for spending time playing board games today;
• for splurging on pizza for supper tonight smile

[The “Utter Miscellany” Edition]

• for being able to walk 2 miles without stopping
• & for weather cool enough I can actually enjoy walking;
• that I’ve been able to coordinate visits with local friends
• as well as to plan for a major summer vacation;
• for having a fairly decent health insurance plan
• & being able to schedule some routine medical visits;
• for getting good relief from poison ivy with Prednisone
• & especially for being able to stop taking it now(!);
• that 43T – one of my best support systems – seems to be more stable again today:
  yay, Robots!

[The “Walking” Edition]

• for being able to walk 1 mile without stopping
• for being able to walk 1.33 miles without stopping
• for being able to walk 1.66 miles without stopping
• that my accumulated distance walked today totals 4 miles
• that my ASICs shoes have been such champion performers
• that a kind friend tipped me off to trying them
• for seeing Nature’s creatures (owl, bats, rabbits; cats) as I walk
• for a lovely, safe neighborhood in which to walk
• for cooler weather that lets me actually enjoy walking

[The “Life, The Universe, & Everything” Edition]

• for gorgeous & cheap annuals on sale at a local garden shop,
• so that I could decorate my front yard with flowers;
• & that I still had enough energy left to go walking this evening,
• which gave me the opportunity to talk with various neighbors whom I’d not seen in a while,
• as well to meet the new neighbors who are just moving in,
• & the chance to compare notes with folks, learning that houses in our neighborhood are holding their value pretty well despite the bad local economy (cue big sigh of relief here);
• that during my walk I could enjoy the choral music of crickets, the smells of woodsmoke & flowering trees, & the sight of bats combing the air for insects;
• that my husband & I were able to eat out tonight—literally “out” (the weather co-operated so we could sit on the patio at our favorite local BBQ spot);
• & that I had a good long conversation with my folks last night (an hour’s talk, without any rough or raw spots, as will sometimes happen)! smile

[The “Home & Garden” Edition]

• that the necessary dishwasher repair was minor & (relatively) inexpensive,
• & completed this morning (not next week!),
• by a local family-owned company (instead of the big national chain);
• that I did extra cleaning because I knew the repair service would be coming in wry grin
• & as a result the kitchen looks much nicer for me to enjoy;
• that the sun is shining beautifully & the house is air conditioned (it’s hot & humid again today);
• that the cut flower bouquet I bought (roses) has lasted nearly two weeks(!)
• & that the newly-transplanted roses in the front garden seem to be doing fine;
• & for strong coffee (& a single doughnut “splurge”) smile