Slow Dancing

I am grateful for these morning minutes to blog and journal and tidy the home I love so much.

I am grateful for my healthy family.  I don't come from money or inheritance or even good luck, but I am grateful I come from hard work and hard-learned lessons and good health. 

I am grateful that today my mom is well and my husband and daughter have everything they need. 

I am grateful for my friends.

Oh, Lord, what would I do without the women who make me laugh until I cry, the ladies with whom I talk at length and with brutal honesty with about our kids, our jobs, men and what we dream about, hope for, plan for, what ails us and what fails us?

I am grateful for history- 24 years of friendship.  This girl I sat next to in chorus at Imperial Jr. High.  Our teacher, Mr. Beckman, wore a toupee that waved wildly with each baritone crescendo in class as he waved his wand. Is it called a wand when referring to music?

Whatever it is called he waved it with such vigor you'd think he was casting a spell on Voldemort.  And as he wildly waved we had no idea we would be comadres for life. 

I am grateful for her chicken tortilla casserole.  I am thankful for her 13 year old daughter, Katelyn, that Sayler calls her "best friend".  Maria... please bring me more casserole soon, and bring your kids, too.

I am grateful for the scuffs on my baseboards and the sound hard wood makes when kids are running around on it.  As my friends and I sat downstairs around a warm fire more than once we looked at the ceiling that gave way to the sounds of our children, toddlers to teens, pounding around upstairs. We'd pause mid-conversation to listen for any sounds of crying or tears.  I am grateful there were none. 

I am grateful that Lloyd tells me when I am slacking off or being non-communicative.  "Don't withdraw" he'll say.  "Go for a run" he'll command as I occasionally concoct clever tales and excuses to not go for a run or do what makes me feel at peace. 

I am grateful for baking. I love the way the ingredients smell and the way flours and batters feel through my fingers.  Kneading doughs and getting lost in thought.  I am grateful for all those thoughts. 

I am grateful for this beauty.  She is strong, comical, thoughtful, sensitive, deliberate, assertive and confident.  

 

I am grateful for the weeks left in this year.   The rest of the year, though short, gives me time to be better and do better and look back at this year as a truly remarkable one.