Daily: Reflect on 5 things for which I'm grateful.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. Productive workdays.
2. my friend, B, who has joined the gym so we can work out together.
3. waking up from a bad dream and knowing it was just a dream.
4. a good cup of coffee in the morning.
5. two long weekends coming up!

Today, I am grateful for:
1. having so much in my life for which to be grateful.
2. making myself get up and go for a walk on this brisk, late Spring morning.
3. the urge I get to straighten the house up on Sunday evenings. It has become somewhat of a habit. I enjoy my weekend then spend about an hour tidying up the house so that Mondays feel all nead and tidy!
4. feeling good about where I am with stuff at work.
5. my mother, as she is and as she was.

Tonight, I am mellow and grateful for:
1. Friday night yoga and meditation. The perfect way to end the week.
2. A phone call from SD#1 tonight, at the end of which she declared, “I love you!” (now, it is true we always end our calls with a quick “love you” but it has always been me saying it first and always that abbreviated form. This afternoon, she said it emphatically and I felt very much loved!)
3. A work crisis averted this afternoon. I was working to figure out an effective and quick solution when the problem solved itself. I love it when that happens.
4. dreaming with my husband about the things we want to do.
5. recovering all of the notebooks that went missing from my Penultimate app today. Not a great way to start the day but a tremendous flood of relief when they all re-appeared!

Tonight, I am grateful for:
1. happening upon Call the Midwife on Netflix. Oh, how I love that series!
2. my Friday night yoga/meditation class. Such a good feeling.
3. Saturday errands with my husband.
4. getting some new plants into the front beds. I have an image in my head of a beautiful garden that develops over the course of a few years. As of now, one bed is nearly there, two others will get there.
5. still feeling a sense of peace and calm in my life.

Tonight, I am grateful for:
1. chatting with my niece of Facebook, remembering a weekend spent together when she was a little girl…we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, read The Secret Garden , made pizza and sang “Joy to the World” (aka Jeremiah was a bullfrog) at the top of our lungs as we drove to the vet to pick out a new cat for me. That cat is still with me and I am so very glad that the happy memory of that weekend is still with her. She is wandering aimlessly right now in her early 20s and I like to think that I have offered her just a tiny bit of stability through the years.
2. chatting with my mother about her new cat this afternoon. The cat wasn’t in the room at the time we talked so she couldn’t remember what color he is but we talked about what she might name him and she said that as soon as they named him, she would let me know so I could address him properly when I spoke to him! I said, “Oh, you should call him T.S. Eliot” and she said, “No, I will call him T.C. Eliot” When I asked why she said “Tom Cat Eliot.” I love those moments when I can set aside my worry for her and just love and laugh with her.
3. cats. I have one sitting next to me, purring mightily and ocassionally rubbing his head against my chin or my arm as I type this. I know cats have their detractors but in my life, cats have provided an unseen but undeniable bond with so many people that I love.
4. discovering Call the Midwife on Netflix. I have only watched one episode but I am completely hooked.
5. the sense of well-being that I get from reflecting on my days as I try to capture some of the things that fill me with gratitude.

NOTE: The cat in the photo (if you can see him there) is Jazz (he likes to drink shower water after we finish our showers each morning but last night he was distressed because no one would take a shower and he, by God, wanted shower water for dinner!). Jazz is the cat that my niece and I found at the SPCA that long ago weekend in October of 2001.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. a good night’s sleep.
2. a good cup of coffee.
3. the abatement of yesterday’s headache.
4. the support of my colleagues.
5. the love of my husband.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. telecommuting. On days like today, when I don’t feel so good, I can sleep in for a bit and still be to work on time.
2. a hot bath with eucalyptus and mint bath salts.
3. my big blue cotton sweater…it is great for times when I am cold but not too cold. and oh, so comfy!
4. being able to celebrate this weekend with a friend who is getting married to a really good man!
5. feeling content and peaceful despite having a killer sore throat.

Today, I am delightfully grateful for:
1. my sweet sister-in-law who took me to the nursery yesterday to but lots of herbs for a new herb garden as an expression of appreciation!
2. a conversation with my mother yesterday that seemed almost normal (none of the scripts we repeat daily, no repetition at all, she was alert and engaged and engaging!)
3. an afternoon off on a beautiful Spring day.
4. a good workout with weights.
5. my hair stylist (is that what they are called now?) – she always starts me off with a wonderful scalp massage and then I can go into total relaxation (nearly napping) mode because I trust that she will do my hair right!

With the sun streaming into the room and a fresh cup of coffee at hand, I am grateful for:
1. the morning sun…I have savored it all of my life…something about the quality of the light of the morning sun just soothes my soul.
2. my uncomplicated life. I have a good husband, a good job, a good home and good friends. Yes, it is true that there are complications in the lives of people I love that cause me sorrow or worry and that require my time and attention, but I give my time and attention wrapped in love and concern and am grateful to be able to retreat to my own, uncomplicated life. I refuse to take it for granted.
3. trees. As I sit here writing, I look out the window and see our young maples in the exuberance of spring, young leaves unfurling in vivid green and red (Japanese Maple). I will appreciate their beauty with each season to come.
4. my second cup of coffee. I don’t drink a lot of coffee but sometimes, I appreciate a second cup in the morning. I just took a break from this list to refill my cup and I realized that I am grateful for the luxury of time to sit with a good cup of coffee and reflect on the gifts in my life.
5. my marriage. I am sure I have mentioned this once or twice here! We have grown to fit together so very well, having been greatly tested in our earlier years. I drive him crazy; he drives me crazy but we laugh and we share and we love. Ours is not a traditionally romance-filled or sentimental marriage. He doesn’t send me flowers and that is okay with me. He does much more than that. He puts up with my quirks and he works hard to keep his quirks under control and I do the same in return. It is not the marriage I dreamed about when I was younger. It is, oh, so much better than that!

This morning, I am grateful for:
1. taking time in the morning to remind myself that I can handle what the day will bring, listening to music, breathing, reflecting.
2. being able to express my ire in a professional way and to follow it up with meaningful advice to someone who was way out of line in her approach to me (she called me at home on a Sunday afternoon and left a message to ask non-urgent, nonsensical questions about our contract and expected me to call her back. She then called my office TWICE before my 8:30 a.m. arrival.)
3. my WAZE app on my iPad. Helped me avoid a very bad back up on my way home from work yesterday.
4. my husband’s humor.
5. being able to hear my cat purring from across the room.