I live in gratitude. It’s a conscious choice you see. I want to be aware of all that I have at all times. Irony has it that every now and then that inner drama queen I carry with gets to have it her way and I tend to forget the big and little things that make every day a gift.
The list that follows is what I celebrate on a day like today, when the sun was out for enough time to make my sitting down and writing almost impossible, when the boys laughed enough times to make the day brighter than it already was, and that feeling of inner peace was strong enough to uproot any swirls of worry.
Here it goes:
1. My boys. They are growing, they are learning, they smile every day and they never shy away from hugs.
2. Having learned about boundaries: Knowing how to remind people (including my boys) of mine and helping my boys learn about theirs.
3. I am becoming better at listening. Just listening.
4. My new town. Small enough, big enough, sunny enough, winter-dressed enough and never boring.
5. Skiing across frozen lakes. Can never have enough of this.
6. Have the boys join in skiing across frozen lakes and asking for more once it’s done.
6. Getting our blue beta fish named Bubble to jump out of the water for food. It never gets boring. Tiny detail in the big overwhelming picture of the world but if it makes us smile it counts.
7. The sun.
8. Knowing that I matter.
9. Loving what I do. And hoping that my boys will learn to strive for the same.
10. Sleepy boys’ bedtime hugs and hearing them laugh together about silly jokes after I close the door and tell them they should be quiet. Hoping they’ll never stop sharing silliness like that.
11. Courage.
12. My boys’ trust.
13. Sunny walks with friends.
14. Clouds. Always.
15. The cute broom Sasha made for me out of some sagebrush he found on our way back from school.