Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Gratefulness

Monday
I am grateful for Susan B. Anthony and all of the women who fought so that I could have the right to vote tomorrow.

Tuesday
I am grateful for democracy.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Catching Up

Well, it didn't take long for me to fall off the wagon, huh? Here's what I meant to say for the past few days.

Friday
I am grateful for my little guy. He's 4 years old, and sometimes he can really drive me nuts. But he is the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. He tells me he loves me all the time, he says "thank you" for every little thing, and he always manages to make me smile and laugh.

Lately, he has been very into answering the door. On Friday, we had a package delivered by UPS. When the doorbell rang, he ran to the door exclaiming his intent to get it. Of course, the driver was already getting back in the truck by the time we opened the door. I showed him the package and told him to bring it in the house. He stood there in the entryway holding the package and very seriously asked, "but Mommy, how did this ring the doorbell?"

Saturday
I am grateful for my connection to New York City. I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, and big cities always fascinated me. I moved to New York when I was 19. I only lived there for 5 years, but we have visited regularly since we moved away. It feels more like home to me than Minnesota does. There are still many things that we have yet to see or do (e.g., the Statue of Liberty), so each time we visit, we try to do something new while also making time for some of our favorites.

Sunday
I am grateful for my life experiences. I do have some warm and fuzzy memories from childhood, but when I got to adolescence, everything hit the fan and there was a lot of heartbreak and more than a few tears. As much as I'd like to wish them away, I know for a fact that I would not be where I am today without those experiences.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

New Beginnings

This is my second third fourth attempt at keeping a blog. Let's hope this one sticks!

To get in the habit of posting, I'm going to commit to posting every day this month and participating in NaBloPoMo. I've also wanted to do the 30 Days of Gratitude that people do on FaceBook, but I always forget until the 2nd or 3rd of November. So I am going to begin this blogging adventure with my 30 Days of Gratitude, thereby ensuring that I have blog fodder for this month.

Today, I am grateful for running water and electricity.

Now, when I first thought about being grateful for those, my instinct was that it wasn't good enough...that it wasn't something worth being grateful for because everyone has it. And then it hit me. That's the point of 30 Days of Gratitude: recognizing things for which we are grateful that we might otherwise take for granted.

Right now, there are people still without power in the aftermath of Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. I heard someone on the radio today who was given an estimate of November 9th for her electricity to be restored. That's more than a week away! But beyond that, there are millions of people in other countries who do not have electricity and/or running water, and it's not because of a storm. We take electricity and running water for granted, but there are others who would view them as a luxury.