I figured since I've talked a fair amount lately about the hard times we've been having, and the things I don't enjoy, that there's nothing better to follow all of that up with than a great big dose of gratitude. So, I've taken on the Let's Take the Metro Gratitude Challenge: to write a list of 100 things I'm grateful for to post on Thanksgiving Day.
It took me longer than I wanted, but I did it! Here are (only) a hundred things I'm grateful for, though there are so many more:
(In no particular order) I am grateful for...
- Jaymz
- Daniel
- All of my family members
- and friends
- including the incredible NPN volunteers
- Oxygen
- The smells of Thanksgiving!
- Delicious food, including:
- Gluten free baked goods
- Sweet Winter squash
- Soup
- Honey
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Convenience foods
- Food carts (and the people who run them)
- The farmers who cultivate all the food I eat
- The many farmers' markets we can visit on a regular basis
- Heat for my house
- A comfortable bed to sleep in
- A deep freezer to keep food for later
- Salty baths
- Candles
- Breastfeeding
- Oxytocin (and all the happy brain chemicals)
- Heavy things that help to calm Daniel down
- Lisa (our OT)
- OT itself and
- my ability to learn new things
- The plasticity of Daniel's brain
- Gregorian chant
- Daniel's truly joyful times
- Haircuts that go smoothly
- American Sign Language (because it helps Daniel communicate more effectively!)
- Persistence
- Baby carriers (and babywearing)
- Rocking chairs
- Warm sweaters
- Thick blankets
- Fuzzy socks
- My sewing machine
- Creativity
- Tea time
- Cloth diapers
- Wool
- Cotton
- Bamboo
- Hemp
- Our cats
- Beautiful art
- The Portland Saturday Market (running since 1973!)
- Hugs (especially the really squeezy, not-letting-go-right-away kind)
- Getting the opportunity to watch a television program with Jaymz some evenings
- Cooking dinner together (even when we don't get any "us time")
- Vacations
- Freecycle
- Generous strangers
- Deep breaths
- Earplugs (things are loud here a lot)
- My tree
- Bicycles and
- bike lanes and
- bike seats for little ones!
- The MAX (our public light rail train)
- City parks
- Telephones
- 9-1-1 service and
- friendly & responsive police officers
- Fire departments
- Libraries
- Urgent care doctors
- Modern medicine and
- ancient ("alternative") remedies and healthcare alike
- Counseling (and my incredible therapist)
- Powell's Books
- Local businesses
- Improvised toys (like this box car)
- Yoga practice
- The internet, including
- web applications,
- open-source software,
- web comics, and
- Netflix instant play
- Blogs by so many thoughtful and insightful writers (for my reading pleasure!)
- Swimming
- A helpful and knowledgeable realtor and
- mortgage broker and
- insurance agent on our team
- Health insurance
- Jaymz's job (which he loves!)
- My shop (it's so fun to create things for others!)
- Handmade gifts
- Credit card rewards of the cash back and
- free airline ticket varieties
- Soothing rain
- Fog
- The moon
- This gorgeous and incredible planet we live on
- Everyone who cares about me and my family and is affected when things are difficult for us
- All the people I'm not even totally aware of who play a part in supporting my quality of life.
What are you feeling most grateful for today?
LOVE how you made it all flow so nicely. Felt like I was reading 1 never ending thought :) (I wanted to type continuous but that spelling does not look right to me haha)
ReplyDeleteThis has to be one of the best blogging challenges I have seen/participated in/read in a long time. I need to book mark all of these posts tomcome back and read when I need a pick me up!
Great list! Succinct, and comprehensive. =) Question unrelated to gratitude, although I will be grateful if you have a chance to answer, do you have insurance for your small business? I'm looking at opening an etsy shop but wondering about insurance; I can't anticipate making enough money to be able to afford insurance, let alone supplies and hopefully an income on top of that. What do you think? I love your etsy stuff!
ReplyDeleteAh, this is a wonderful list! It really is amazing what focusing on gratitude can do! I am behind on my reading, so forgive me if you've mentioned it already, but - are you buying a house!? That's awfully exciting :)
ReplyDelete@melissa v: Thank you for the compliments! No, I do not have small business insurance. I look forward to hearing more about your shop!
ReplyDelete@melissa k: Thanks! We are trying to buy a house, but I haven't written about it at all. We're kind of at a stand-still right now, playing the waiting game. Hopefully there will be some progress soon! =)
TY! =) Enjoy your Sabbath... xxoo And good luck with the house!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of this list was when you mentioned being able to watch a "television program" with your hubby on some evenings, just because it sounds so prim and proper and...1950's esque :) It cracked me up. Of course, I loved the rest of the list as well and I enjoyed the readability of it along with the pictures :) Thank you for sharing your gratitude :)
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