Gratitude
Posted on | November 24, 2005 |
I have learned this year how to give thanks for small things. For the time between waking and getting up, when Bean looks out the window and I replay fragments of dreams. For the seven sips of coffee with milk and sugar in the morning with the “What’s News” section of the Wall Street Journal. For the seconds of laughter that DH and I share each day.
I have learned this year how to gather these little fragments of joy like a handful of bright sea glass pebbles, and hold them close to my heart in the times of confusion and exhaustion. To remember the lighthearted glee of Bean giggling in the bath—hased by my washclothed hand around the tub, in the time when he is whining again, fretting from not enough sleep, or teething pain, or some other unnamed malady. To distill in my mind the sweetness of kissing DH, breath tasting of coffee, before he shuts his door for work, in the time when I my resentment that he can shut his door and go to work wells up in my throat.
I have learned to give thanks for where I am now, instead of wondering where I will be and imagining the gratitude I might feel.
Right now is good.
Here: where the forecast is for snow, the dog scratches at his collar, the heater hums, my husband sleeps on the couch beside me.
Now: in this house with my in-laws, where my father in law makes coleslaw and my mother in law rocks my baby pressed close to her chest for his entire hour long nap.
In this moment: with my hurt knee, and the paperwork still in limbo but almost final for the house (!), and my mother somewhere far away and my sisters somewhere else, and my friends still elsewhere
And for you: the people who I’ve grown close to through the Internet, scattered all over the world who make me feel sane, and beautiful and funny with your comments.
I am grateful.
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16 Responses to “Gratitude”
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November 24th, 2005 @ 11:23 pm
Mwah.
November 25th, 2005 @ 12:24 am
I want to eat up these pictures! Good thing I couldn’t enlarge them or I would have been forced to hug my screen.
I am grateful for my recent feelings of warmth towards a (sometimes) sunny spot in VT.
November 25th, 2005 @ 3:48 am
Among many other things: I’m grateful for wonderful bloggers, who share their thoughts & images with the world - making the world seem a little smaller & a lot happier, than it would without their words & pictures.
Happy Thanksgiving :>)
November 25th, 2005 @ 4:23 am
Final for the house!?! OH OH OH!!!
November 25th, 2005 @ 10:36 am
The internet world feels small and cozy and warm right now…
November 25th, 2005 @ 10:54 am
Lovely. Lovlier. Lovliness!
November 25th, 2005 @ 12:49 pm
mmmm that pumpkin pie looks so yummy!
November 25th, 2005 @ 5:05 pm
We are grateful for you. You make this world so much better, truer and freer. Thank you!
November 25th, 2005 @ 5:08 pm
that’s what it’s all about… those little moments. enjoy your blessings
November 25th, 2005 @ 8:13 pm
And we for you. So sorry you’re not feeling well. But very exciting about the house!
November 26th, 2005 @ 10:26 am
HOUSE?!?!??!?! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
(wraparound porch? tire swing? fig tree? IT DOESN’T MATTER because the Topography family is there!!!
November 26th, 2005 @ 8:57 pm
Yay on the house stuff and ditto, my internet friend…the feelings of gratitude are so mutual!
November 27th, 2005 @ 10:43 am
I could just hug you, you know. I’m grateful for this lovely moss green place, where you lift mommy-blogging to a new level (and I love all levels, this not-yet mommy person I am) and share your thoughts and AMAZING photos. You are a treasure chest, brimming over with flashes of jewels.
November 28th, 2005 @ 3:57 pm
and i am grateful for the beauty of your words and the beauty of your spirit shining through these words.
November 29th, 2005 @ 2:14 am
I am grateful to have found you, and to be able to include you in my life.
December 2nd, 2005 @ 5:17 pm
It is hard for me to express my gratitude for life - I’m so afraid it will all be snatched away from me if I say anything out loud.