How about all those small things that happen every day, which could go wrong but usually don't.? I just noticed that I didn't have to restart my computer when I came home and it has occurred to me to offer up a small prayer of thanksgiving for this. For that matter, I woke up way too early this morning and had to nap for almost two hours after breakfast. I am thankful that I haven't felt too tired today and have been able to do well at work with my clients. Moreover, I do not feel exhausted upon returning home today. For this I am thankful. I can do paperwork, write my blog, do dinner, and generally enjoy my daily denouement this evening before packing it in for the night. I am also grateful for my snack of cheese and crackers (both delicious, Breton with extra old cheddar, white of course) before starting dinner. Wow, the things we take for granted!
My health is another cause for thanksgiving. I am sixty-one without diabetes or high blood pressure, nor heart disease, and if I have arthritis it is very mild. My health concerns are still minor, despite my thyroid and pituitary issues, but the medication keeps everything in check.
Every morning I wake up in the same bed without fear of losing my home or having to seek elsewhere to live. I never have to choose, any more, between eating and paying my rent on time. I no longer live in fear of losing my job. Even though I have no family I have friends and the ability to be alone. I have an enviable home library in two languages (English and Spanish) and I still haven't read most of my books. I have easy access to news, current and socially relevant programming and entertainment, thanks to Google and YouTube, as well as the CBC on my radio. I love making art and have an embarrassment of riches for materials to work with.
Nature is easily accessible where I live and I am able to walk daily, enjoyably and for long distances, maintaining a healthy weight and level of fitness. Even when I feel empty, anxious and at a loss for what to do with myself, I always seem to find some means or avenue of escape.
I always seem to have access to good, delicious and nutritious food to cook and eat. I love cooking and making bread and sometimes cookies. There is really nothing more that I could possibly want in life. I recognize the importance of reaching out to others. Indeed, my life would be empty and meaningless if I didn't make some effort to care for others, to express gratitude for their friendship, for their role in my life and for the privilege of having a role in theirs.
Even though I am entering into what they call in Spanish, la tercera edad, or the third and final stage of life, I don't feel like it's time to end things, but that I am going to somehow go on learning, experiencing and experimenting. I look forward to new lessons, new experiences, new places to travel to, new people to meet, know, befriend and enjoy, and new lessons in humility.
I am thankful for the many gifts in my life as I am for the many bumps and grinds along the way that hopefully keep me from getting too proud. I am thankful that these humiliations, major and minor, can also teach me the value of humour and of laughter, especially at myself.
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