Hi ff4152, I hope you are well. What did your friend give you? Did you give someone else a gift they weren't expecting?
I have long long lists of things I'm grateful for. Here's a sample ranging from quotidian/lovely but replaceable to life defining!
Pomegranates: They are so delicious. I eat half a pomegranate every day when they are in season and I love digging out the seeds while my kids are sitting at the counter eating their breakfast and chatting with me.
Weird Al Yankovic: The other day one of my teens and I had a spat (over a misunderstanding about where to pick her up from school) and I turned on Weird Al. We were both laughing by the time we got home. If you are a Star Wars fan and haven't heard "The Sage Begins: Lyrical adaptation of American Pie" please listen! He has so many funny songs!
My wiggly waggly pandemic puppy: She brings joy to every person in our home and people she meets walking down the street. I love taking her on long walks with my husband and watching the kids throw tennis balls for her in the back yard. She is SO bad at catching tennis balls. Her attempts are so funny.
One of my kid's bad report cards. Really! She is the fierce, sassy, sharp-tongued independent one. Apparently her pandemic stress shows up in the report card rather than at the dinner table. After a bit of door slamming and protestations that she doesn't need to graduate from college or even high school, she allowed us to help her and show her that she doesn't have to suffer in silence, alone. Thank God for bad report cards.
All of the many, many teachers I found when I went looking.
I wake up every day thanking God for another day with my husband and go to sleep every night thanking Him for another night with him. My knight in battered armor.
All of the proofs I have had that God is real, close as my breath and bigger than the universe, and always ready to care for me, if I ask, though not always in the way that I think it will happen.
