1000 Gifts Friday-Week 10

It’s 9:42 on a Friday night and the house is silent. The Boy and Girl have gone with the GH to Beema’s house for the evening. Little is asleep. And I am once again reflecting on the past week and the many gifts it contained. And I am thankful.

Sometimes I think that my gratitude lists must be very boring for others to read. They consist of the countless dull everyday moments that I get to enjoy with my family. I feel redundant but I am sincerely grateful for every single one of them. I try not to take any of it for granted.

• Making cookies with the Girl and her friend.
• Sitting outside in the brief sunlight with the GH talking to the neighbors as the kids tear around.
• Talking to my mom on the phone. (Remember when it cost an arm and a leg to make an international call? Now I have a $5/month flat rate and I call all the time without giving it a thought.)
• Walking to the store with Little, her babbling the whole way, and pointing at everything she knows the word for as we went.
• The GH hugging me from behind in the kitchen while Little looked on, jealous at first but then bossing us around. “Kiss daddy, kiss!”
• Fog that settles over us after dark, making everything familiar look enchanted.
• Warm tea.
• A husband who seems to get more attractive as the years go by.
• Yells of excitement from the gang of boys that play by our house every afternoon.
• New friends, a bittersweet pleasure now as we continue to form relationships with people even though we will be leaving this place in the near future.
• The kind of friends who will accept a last minute dinner invitation with pleasure, show up with dessert and wine and won’t care if the place is a little untidy.
• Did I mention my 5 year old Girl yet?
• The smell of turkey broth permeating the house.
• The quiet of an evening alone.
• The candle lit face of my children as we spent time together this holiday just talking, and being a little silly.
• Playing peanut butter and jelly for the fourth time today.
• The moment in the evening when I am nursing Little and her body finally relaxes completely and she gives a little sigh and falls asleep. (And her little nails stop compulsively digging a hole through my belly button.)

These are the small threads that wind through my days, my life, and together make something beautiful.

When I was young I wanted excitement, adventure, something different and grand. Joy is hard to find amidst discontent. The older I get the more I realize that the most joy filled moments are often the simplest and most humble as well.

The gratitude community is here.