Things I'm grateful for. Past. Present. Forever.
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Number One: As always, this planet Earth, which shelters us in the vast, mysterious universe. This is where every other thing I'm grateful for lives.(Photo credit: NASA)
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Family holidays can bring out the best and worst in people. When I awakened at 2 a.m. and began to fret and mull, I stopped myself by pulling out a journal and writing down miscellaneous things that have brought me joy.
Here are some things I'm grateful for, including a holiday that suggests we consider our blessings. This isn't meant to be comprehensive or chronological. It just is.
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My father's weekend waffles, so golden and warm.
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Hawks adrift above me.
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The first time I looked into my daughter's eyes.
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Candlit dinners in my mother-in-law's house. I knew I'd found home.
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Snowy peaks floating in oceans of clouds.
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Visiting ladybugs.
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The boys who showed me how to catch tadpoles in murky ponds.
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The babysitting job that earned me cash for my first surfboard.
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My grandmother's love. No matter what.
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Maple syrup on fresh snow.
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Waves as translucent as emeralds.
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Reading Yeats by a peat fire in Sligo. Painting at a window looking at Ben Bulben.
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Whiskey and a pint on a blustery night in Dublin.
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Friends who hold drum circles to celebrate life.
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Critique buddies who laugh at my jokes and believe in my characters and still point out how I can make it better.
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My teenage discovery of Tolkien, Bradbury, Vonnegut, Hesse, Hardy.
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Coconut body butter.
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Standing in a room full of Van Gogh paintings in Paris. Surrounded by Botticelli and Da Vinci in Florence.
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The morning's first cup of coffee.
