Today feels like a good day to be grateful for all kinds of random things. My brain has been a bit scattered of late, so random might be the best I can manage. Like, can I tell you how happy I am that it’s summer and that some of my favorite summer fruits are in season? I am a huge fan of cherries; there season is much too short for my liking, but for a few glorious weeks I happily buy and munch them whole handfuls at a time. We won’t talk about what the overzealous consumption of cherries does to my digestion. I am grateful and happy each time cherry season rolls around, and equally pleased by the wide variety of watermelons, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, etc.
I’m grateful for audiobooks. Back when I worked two miles away from my house (the commute was about 10 minutes, unless there was “bad” traffic, then it took 20) I had no use for audiobooks. I would listen to them while I worked out in the backyard, but not consistently. Now that I live over 20 miles away from where I work and the commute takes at least 30 minutes and on a bad day can take over an hour, I now get many hours of pleasure listening to my books. I am not as attentive a listener as a reader, so I probably don’t get as much of the detail from listening as I do from reading. Still, it is a very enjoyable way to spend the commute. I’ve discovered a number of narrators whose voices I very much enjoy listening to and have listened to a number of “epic” series. It’s particularly great for the type of science fiction and fantasy books that I listen to–many of them are multipart books so I have listened to a number of good trilogies and other series over the months. When I need to make a shift from fantasy, I listen to audiobooks about meditation and Buddhist principles. These engage my mind in different but no less valuable or appreciated ways. Someday I would love to narrate and audiobook. I’ve no doubt it requires a great deal of effort (some of the different voices and accents required to really bring a book to life would be challenging, not to mention being able to simply read smoothly without messing up), but it could be fun to do it once. I just added it to my “bucket list” that I just now started…
I am grateful for having my daughter here for part of the summer. We’ve had our rocky moments over the past few months–part of it is perhaps about her getting ready to move “away” to graduate school and needing to create separation. At least that’s the psychological theory about what happens between parents and children–mothers and daughters in particular–as the “child” grows up and exerts her independence from her parents. Apparently it’s a necessary part of the evolutionary process. The other contributing factor that caused some initial ruffling of feathers is that there are now three of us living in a two bedroom condo. Michal doesn’t have her own space–a door she can close to shut out the world when she needs a break from everyone. So she’s sort of had to spread out in the living room, though she sleeps with me most nights. While it hasn’t always been easy, I’m still glad to have her here even if it’s just for a month or so. I have some time to impart the last bits of wisdom before she’s back out there in the big, wide world. Money management and ironing are among the items on the list. For her part, she’s going to help me start eating better and learning to exercise and take better care of my body…boy does she have her work cut out for her! All of this fun mommy-daughter togetherness will culminate in a road trip at the end of July when we drive together up to her new digs in Seattle. That should be quite an adventure. I’ll be sure to chronicle as it happens.
Today I have grateful for many things–some greater, some smaller, but all things I have appreciated over the course of the day. Sitting down these evenings offers me the opportunity to realize how very fortunate I am. So much has happened in my life over the last 18 months that could be considered unfortunate, unhappy, unsettling, un-lots of things, but in spite of everything I really am blessed. And while I still suffer some of the side effects of the various vicissitudes that have wreaked havoc in my life, I am doing pretty well all things considered. And for that I am exceedingly grateful. Random gratitude or gratitude for random things is still gratitude. What are you grateful for this evening?
