Gratitude Friday | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Gratitude. Yes, on this week’s list of things I’m grateful for is gratitude. I was outside looking at the sky when I got up this morning and I realized that this list could be subtitled “things that keep me from giving up.” Noticing, being aware and amazed, feeling that warm rush of thankfulness that is a strange mix of hello/goodbye, love and grief, full and empty — keeps me from giving up. Sometimes it’s as simple as birds in the feeder or a glass of orange juice or a warm shower, and other times it’s more complicated, bigger than that, like hugging Eric as we stand in our kitchen in a house we’ve made our home for 20 years with a love that’s sustained us for almost 30 years, knowing that we are so lucky and also that it won’t last, that everything we love will die, including us.

2. Morning walks. We were back on our regular schedule this week. It involved some different routes because of the snow still left on the ground. After a few days without more snow coming down to cover it or enough sun to melt it all, the trails where people have walked pack down, with the top layer thawing and refreezing into a sheet of ice, so to walk our normal dirt trails means wearing spikes on my shoes and has the potential to make Ringo’s feet too cold or him slip, so we stay on the city paved trails that are kept clear. Thankfully, there are still spots on these routes where we can see the river.

3. Pink sky. Some mornings it’s so vibrant, it changes the color of the light inside the house.

4. Ringo’s lost & found. I told you recently about the pair of gloves, which started to wear and tear and thankfully he found a bear on a walk to replace them so I could sneak them into the trash. A few days ago, his find was a soft fuzzy duck, this one not for dogs but a baby toy, the kind our Dexter always loved so much. It’s the new favorite. And just to be clear, if we can even guess at the true owner, such as a dog toy in someone’s front yard, we make him leave it. We only take home the truly lost.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. Eric was back at work this week and classes start next week, so Ringo and I were missing him.

Bonus joy: hanging out with Chloe’ and Hendrix, tater tots with salt and homemade fry sauce (seriously, the sauce is so good I’ve planned entire meals around it), old school grilled cheese sandwiches (texas toast with “american” cheese slices), new Catfish episodes, podcasts, really good books, my Kindle, snow tires, Wild Writing, vaccines, clean sheets, orange juice, a warm shower, cuddling with Ringo, smart phones, texting with Mom and Chris, feeling better after a couple of weeks of crud, down blankets and pillows and coats, wool socks, practice, physical therapy, gummy vitamins, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. Merry everything and happy always! Yesterday we put on Christmas music and I wrapped the last of Eric’s presents and watched a few Christmas movies (rewatched Single All The Way and then Love Hard, both really good) and then we went to lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. When we came home, I took a nap while Eric made an apple pie and walked Ringo, and after dinner we watched The Great British Baking Show holiday special. Today it was early morning presents, texts with people I love, talking to my mom on the phone, and not doing much of anything else. I hope that you too, kind and gentle reader, are making space for rest and ease, and that joy and love are finding their way to you.

2. Sunrise. This time of year, it’s extra.

3. Puppies and babies. Two of my favorite things.

She is the same size as Ringo, but Charlotte is only a baby (Great Dane).

4. Ringo Blue, all his quirks. I’ve mentioned before that Ringo loves to find things on his walks, pick them up, and carry them — sometimes all the way home. This week he’s found two single gloves and one pair of black knit gloves that he’s absolutely in love with. In fact, I spent a whole day washing and mending his toys, and when they were ready to come out of the dryer, he was clearly asking to play, brought me his beloved gloves. I took him to the dryer, opened it, and told him to “get a toy.” He set down his gloves and stuck his head in the dryer, had a look around, and picked the gloves back up! That was his choice. It’s like a kid who spends more time playing with the box a new toy comes in than the toy.

5. My tiny family, my tiny home, my tiny life. It doesn’t seem possible that it is already Christmas, it seemed to come so fast this year, feels like Thanksgiving was only two weeks ago, especially when today was 50 and sunny. There’s no one I’d rather spend the holidays with, or any of the regular days, even the awful ones — home is where they are.

Bonus joy: Eric being on a three week break, all the candy he made, new books and empty journals, a warm shower, clean laundry, clean sheets, down blankets and pillows, raspberries, apple pie oatmeal, naps, nuts and seeds, Eric and Ringo napping together on the couch, slowing down, knowing that slowing down is a necessary part of the process, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna, the hydromassage chair, Christmas music, Christmas movies, all the lights, vaccines, listening to podcasts, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.