Friday, November 2, 2012

Gratitude Abounds: Day 2

Doing good so far; I've made it back for day two. I am practically on a role here.


2. The comforts I enjoy in my daily life have been thrown into sharp relief over the past week, as Hurricane Sandy and her aftermath have devastated so many communities on the east coast. There are many days that I come inside from the rain and the wind and I am so happy to be walking into my warm, dry house. However, the news from across the nation has reminded just how damn lucky I am to have consistent access to gas for my car, to stores stocked with food, to new rolls of paper towels and the stores that sell them, to Target for all the things that I know I do not need but buy anyway, to electricity to do silly little things such as charge my phone and run my modem. I know that life can be lived fully and very satisfyingly (is that a real word?) without any of the above things, so I do not doubt that, if I chose to do so, I could live my life quite well without any of them (some easier to give up than others). However, they have become creature comforts that make my life easier and, to a lesser extent, less dire and survivalist. And for that, I truly am grateful.

And I am grateful for warm kitties who, while they absolutely will not come sit on my lap no matter what I do, will always curl up on the arm of the couch to at least be near where I am (but would never admit this, if they could speak English, that is).

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Gratitude Abounds: Day 1

So this has been one killer year. Probably one of my best ever, if I do say so myself. I think the hubs would back me up on this one, too. We have made new friends, traveled to new places and experienced new things, we have become healthier than ever, we are constantly striving to make changes that make our lives better...happier...more fulfilling.

Because of all this, I feel it is time to start counting my blessings. Quite literally, in fact.

I give you Day One of what I am calling the 30-Day Gratitude Tour de Force.

P.S. To do this successfully will require me actually posting something on this somewhat musty blog each day for 30 days, so, you know, win-win.

1. I am immensely grateful for the job offer from a certain Ms. Holly Armstrong six, almost seven, years ago that brought the hubs and I down to Olympia to live. After hearing about the position opening as an aside, I have never worked so hard for a job in my life, even asking friends who knew Holly to call her after my interview to put in a good word for me. The hubs and I ran through practice interviews at the Starbucks near our house in Phinney Ridge, I drove through a torrential downpour to get to the interview, had to park half a mile away and paddle my way upstream to get to the Legislative Building in time to somewhat dry myself off with paper towels in the women's restroom before sloshing into the Governor's Office to wait, nervously fidgeting on those uncomfortable and forbidding-looking brown leather couches.

Luckily Holly is much less forbidding than those couches and I soon had a chance to work for her for two all too short years. Life-changing in so many ways, the events that led up to me getting that call from Holly ended up being what set my life on the path it is on now.

(I am also grateful for wireless internet. Seriously.)