Category Archives: Gratitude Friday

Gratitude Friday

1. Colorado sunrises. There is something particularly magic about the sky here, and I feel so lucky to be up and out early enough to be able to see the sun come up and the various ways it lights up the sky.

2. Morning walks with the dogs. It hasn’t been long enough for me to start to take them for granted yet. It’s still fresh in my mind the long stretches of time in the last few years when I was injured or hurt or sick and couldn’t go.

I also love having lived somewhere long enough, walked enough miles on the same trails to have favorite spots, favorite trees, places where what happened there that one time is still such a clear memory. When things are really green in the spring, this is one of my favorite spots on the trail.

3. Good food. We finished watching the whole Samurai Gourmet series, so I’ve been craving Asian food lately, in particular a bowl of rice with vegetables and teriyaki chicken. I skipped a meeting the other day and took myself to lunch so I could finally have some. It was good, but it made me realize what I really wanted was the same thing from Love Love Teriyaki in Salem, Oregon.

4. The lilacs are blooming, so there’s flowers in the bathroom.

5. My tiny family. Ringo always makes me laugh, even when he’s being a jerk. I feel so tender about Sam because he’s the same age Obi was when he was diagnosed with Lymphoma, and with the worry this week about his health because of his tick bite, I’m reminded that we are “tangled up in love, running out of time,” (from “In the Middle,” a poem by Barbara Crooker). And when I woke up this morning feeling like I was getting sick, knowing if I walked the dogs in the rain like I’d promised Eric that it would seal the deal, he walked them for me, getting rained on almost the whole time.

Bonus joy: A good book, finishing the laundry, teaching yoga, having people see me and say so, writing with my dream Wild Writing class, saying “no,” putting on clean pajamas even if I haven’t managed to take a shower yet, the prospect of fresh biscuits and a nap later, tulips, clean water.

Gratitude Friday

1. Beautiful weather. It sure was making it hard to stay inside and work the past couple of days. Today is starting off gray and cooler, so that will make work a bit easier.

2. We saw a fox!!!! This is a terrible picture of her, but I had the dogs so didn’t want to get any closer, especially since she’s standing right next to her den. This is very exciting news because some kind of disease wiped out our fox population and there haven’t been any for about four years.

We used to see babies every spring and it was one of my favorite things, so I’m really glad to see them coming back. Here’s a few of the babies from one of the last litters four years ago.
3. Sam and Ringo. Sam had a rough start to the week. We found a tick on him, which led to a vet visit and new drugs and anxiety for the humans. But, Sam did so good letting us take it off of him, letting the vet look him over, getting the bite site cleaned and taking medicine twice a day, and fingers crossed he seems to be doing okay. Ringo and I have been having a really great time in our Nose Work class. This time it’s “vehicles and containers,” and last week he amazed me by finding the hides so fast and waiting in the back of the car so patiently for his turn.

4. Eric. For kitchen counter love notes, cooking us food, taking my car to get the oil changed, washing and vacuuming my car, helping me stay calm even when he’s freaking out too, laughing with me.

5. Being able to maintain my sanity and my health. I’m so glad that with so much going on, I’ve been able to keep it together. I certainly don’t do this all by myself, have a ton of help and privilege.

Bonus joy: crispy Gala apples with peanut butter, good books, podcasts, everything turning green and blooming, being able to sit outside in the sun without getting too hot, this weird show Eric discovered on Netflix which makes me so happy (Samurai Gourmet), good people in good classes with me who are willing to show up and learn and practice, flowers in the bathroom, how brilliantly yellow the daffodils in my flowerbed are, clean water, getting all the laundry done, the internet, computer glasses.