Tonight is a good time for simple gratitude. I spun the wheel four times and didn’t land on a blog that felt right for this evening. That was a little disappointing as I am tired this evening and would have loved to use a previous post and then turn in early. But alas, it was not to be. Even so, there are still plenty of things I am grateful for this day.
I spent several hours today hanging out with my sister who needed to buy a formal dress for a black tie event she’s going to later in the week. We walked around several stores for a number hours before returning to the first store where we found reasonable alternatives. She selected a dress, bought it and we headed back to my house. It was a beautiful day, and though I’m not much of a shopper I found that I enjoyed myself and the time went by amazingly fast. When we got home it was nearly 8 p.m. and by the time I ate dinner and sat down to write it was bed time. I am grateful for the time spent out away from home. Sometimes I get a bit too sedentary on the weekends, and while I now have a lot I need to accomplish tomorrow, I’m still glad I invested the time in connecting and creating community with my sister. It was a very good day indeed.
- I am grateful for the beautiful weather, driving along talking with my sister. Laughing and talking as she tried on gown after gown before finally settling on a selection. We laughed about the wide differences in our fashion preferences, as in the fact that the last time I wore a long gown and high heeled shoes was at her wedding 18 years ago.
- I’m grateful for the simple entertainment of watching the various “nest cams,” video cameras trained on the nests of various birds around the country. Last year I watched an eagle’s nest for some months as the hatchlings grew to adolescence and flew away from the nest. This year I’ve been watching four different nests, though the one I now watch with the most interest is the osprey nest at the Dunrovin Guest Ranch in Montana. I like it because it’s close up and clear. I’d never really seen ospreys, but they are beautiful birds. Their hatchlings are young, so I anticipate being able to watch them for a a while. In the absence of my much loved wild turkeys whose antics I watched during my last year in California, I have to amuse myself by watching these birds virtually. I’ve really been enjoying it.
- And simply put, I’m grateful for being alive and relatively able bodied wit no small access to various forms of privilege. While I don’t consider my life particularly easy, by comparison with so many people I live quite comfortable. I am grateful for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back, the safe and reliable transportation, and access to healthy foods to eat. These are “basic” things, but none that I take for granted. I have had moments in my past when I wasn’t sure if I could meet my obligations and could potentially lose my home, and there were definitely times when I didn’t have quite enough food to get me through a week.
I’m going to go to sleep now and promise to be back here tomorrow more clear-headed and articulate. Thanks for your continued interest in gratitude, generosity, and so many of the issued and ideas that I raise in this blog. May we all be free from suffering and the root of suffering. May we know happiness and the causes of happiness. So be it!
