Oh my, the day is over and I am tired. It started at 5:48 this morning (what can I say, that’s when I woke up) and will likely conclude some time around 11. In between I’ve driven around various parts of the Bay area (including a morning trip into San Francisco for work), did my usual 3.5 hour shift at the Berkeley Food Pantry and then, ironically, went to see the film “The Hunger Games” at the cinema. Now I am home, fairly exhausted, contemplating the things I am grateful for this evening. I am grateful to be home sitting next to my daughter (both of us on our laptops) each of us working on some project or other–me on this blog and her on some other form of electronic media. We had a nice air-clearing conversation earlier this evening. Michal expressed some issues and concerns she’d had for a little while; we’ve had a number of intense and difficult interactions over the past few weeks and she needed to tell me how she was feeling. I’m grateful that she had the courage to bring up things that were on her heart and I was able to do so without my feeling defensive or guilty or other equally useless emotions. We’ve come a long way together, she and I.
I am not going to write much tonight except for a few simple gratitudes. I am grateful for the nice weather today. After a couple of really heavy rain days, I’m glad the sun was out today, particularly for the clients of the Food Pantry. When it rains, particularly as hard as it rained yesterday, it creates real havoc for the people coming to receive food and at least a few challenges for those of us who distribute it. I was happy that the weather cooperated. I am grateful for the smooth flow of the work at pantry and the patience and good humor of everyone involved in the process. People come there because they are in some need, but that doesn’t make them needy. It’s a pleasure serving people in this way and I’m grateful to be able to participate.
I am grateful for music. I love to listen to all kinds of music and I also love to create it. The other night when I was writing this blog I remembered a gospel song that I love that speaks to bringing a spirit of gratitude. And while I try not to spend a lot of space speaking in religious terms, some religious music form me transcends doctrines and dogmas and religiosity and touches those places in us that are and that resonate with the divine. I have included a link to this old song by the Walter Hawkins family titled “Be Grateful” Enjoy.
Thank you for reading and for being a part of this journey and the daily exercise in gratitude.
