November 8

Tonight I am grateful that I don't spend 14 hours at work every day.

I am grateful that the sun has shown its face often enough for me to begin to take it for granted again.

I am grateful for my husband, who shepherds our little troupe through long days with panache, who provides the littles with endless crafts and activities and joy.

I am grateful for warm blankets and hot tea and snuggling in against the frosty winter-night air.

I am grateful for PBS.  For Antiques Roadshow in particular.  I love Antiques Roadshow.

I am grateful for computers and email and online shopping and all the unfathomable miracles of technology that make my life so very easy, in the grand scheme of things.

I am grateful for the chance to touch the lives of my students and their families, for the opportunity to problem-solve, brainstorm, build on strengths and help them grow.  In the midst of endless paperwork and standards and tests and deadlines, it is important to remember just how vital this work really is.

November 7

Tonight I am grateful that the Presidential campaign is over, and with the outcome I had hoped for.  I am grateful for our President, for this kind, decent, brilliant man willing to sacrifice himself and lead our broken and divided nation into the future.  I am so grateful to see my fellow Americans turn their backs on politicians who have spent the past 6 months inundating us with their small-minded bigotry. I am grateful for all the votes for equality-- Maine, Maryland, Washington.  I am grateful for this moment of hopefulness about the future, even as it is tempered with fear that nothing can possibly can possibly change in such a polarized society.  But for tonight-- gratitude, pure and simple.

Also, I am grateful that  tomorrow is like a Friday, and that Friday is a half day.  I am tired today. This may be due to the overflowing gratitude happening last night around midnight, the celebratory beer and dancing around the living room with my dog that kept me up well past my bedtime.  I am grateful that elections like this one only come every four years.

November 5 and 6

Sorry to miss last night.  Stupid time change, had me falling asleep on the couch at 9:45..

Retrospectively:

I am grateful for my boy, for his light-the-world smile of victory as he faced his own demons and tried something new.  I am grateful for a half hour of chilly sitting at an ice rink, watching him fall-- and more importantly, get back up again.  Smiling.  Miracle of miracles.
I am grateful that my children love a nice hot bubble bath-- and that it can entertain them for a good long time.  I am grateful for tortillas and quick dinners and Little Bear and Max&Ruby on DVD.  I am grateful for snuggly-under-a-blanket warmth old a cold night.


Today:

I am grateful for the sun, every retina-burning moment of it on my drive to work today.  I am grateful for the good-tired feeling of starting the day with a workout, and grateful for the lovely showers at the JCC.
I am grateful for friends and pizza and the joy of 9 little ones racing loops around a house.  I love the beauty of these growing families, the children of these people I love. I am grateful for the way they are growing up together, their ease together, their laughter and their smooth, bright faces.
I am grateful for the crisp wintry air and for the holiday feel that comes into my heart on these dark evenings.
I am grateful for the sublime, singable beauty of the Faure Requiem, for the chance to pour my  heart into the Pie Jesu, for the dancing joy of Uni Genite, for singing in mixed position.
I am grateful to live in a country where people have a choice in their government and their future.  Even if the choice of half of our country is not the one I would make. In the face of the unknown and the trepidation tonight, I am holding tight to my gratitude for the people who work for change in our nation, for the people who care about the welfare of others and strength of our future, for the people who use their minds and hearts to make the world better.  I am grateful that a few of these people have already, solidly, been elected.
I am grateful for like-minded friends and loved ones with whom I can sit, on the edge of our virtual seats, through this long night (days? weeks?) of waiting for the choice to be made. 

November 4

A crisp, cold, dark evening wandering among leaves and glowing pumpkins... I am grateful for my neighbors again tonight.  Grateful for their welcoming smiles and for the way they know my children's names, for their well kept cozy houses and the care they put into making this night magical.

I am grateful  for playdates with friends and quiet moments at a coffee shop, for great big cardboard blocks and the imagination that comes with them.

I am grateful for dinner swap and the routines we depend on. I am grateful for the way these short days help to draw life into sharp perspective, and for the warmth and light we create in our homes to combat these long nights.

I am also grateful that my children aren't sick all that often, really.

November 3

Tonight I am grateful for our neighbors, for the diverse and friendly group of people who make up this community.  I am grateful for chili and chips and chatting with friends.
I am grateful for a gym full of children and basketballs and the chance to run and play and laugh and focus on my boy.  I am grateful for the flush of his cheeks and the exhilaration in his smile.  I am grateful for the way he is growing, so tall, so full of enthusiasm for the world.

I am grateful for technology, for the wonders of this modern world, which we so often take for granted, that let us erase miles and bring a Grandfather and grand-daughter together in the same room for a few minutes.

I am grateful for the theaters at Playhouse square, for the murals and mosaics, the gilded plaster, for the forethought of the people who saved these spaces so my children could walk in and gape in wonder.  I am grateful for the light in their eyes as they waited for the show to start.  

I am grateful for this lovely Saturday with my family.

November 2

Today I am grateful for the company of friends.  I am grateful for fuzzy blankets and fuzzy yarn and pajama pants, for wine and crackers and good movies and talking into the night.  I am grateful for electric lights glowing cozy in house windows.  I am grateful for the work that has gone into cleaning up our community; signs of the storm are abating.

I am grateful for the clearing skies, for layers of clouds in variegated greys instead of one thick, dismal blanket.  I am grateful for the smell of leaves emerging into crispy air as the world begins to dry. 

I am grateful for a morning run and a cup of Starbucks and the chance to network and sip coffee and do lunch with a co-worker-- professional development days are a wonderful reprieve!  Today was nice, paced right.  Home early enough to play with children and clean a little and have friends and pizza too.  I am grateful for days that work out this way, that leave me content.  That give me something to aspire to, in the midst of other craziness.  Today, I had time to really look at people, to notice life and appreciate it, as it happened.  I could get used to that.

November 1

A bit absent as of late, but you'll forgive me.  I have a hurricane to blame it on...

October was a blur of travel and rain and I can blame all of that for the fact that daily push-ups... weren't exactly daily.  I did, to my credit, make it a good 17 days into the trial, and I did, to my credit, get up to being able to do 18 push-ups in a row.  I did not, however, form a new lifetime habit.

Maybe some other time.

In the meantime, it is November.

November,  month of grey skies and grey trees and damp chill and my birthday.  The month of burrowing in and cozying up and preparations.  The month of enforced, cultural gratitude as we head into the holiday season.

Why yes, I think I'll get right on that bandwagon.

There is something about this time of year that yearns for self-reflection, for appreciation of the minute and meaningful.  We need something to combat the grey, I think.

This year November made her entrance even more profound, with our Ohio hurricane.  A week of solid rain; a "super-storm" that wiped out the Jersey Shore, swamped Lower Manhattan, and left us without power for three days; two sick kids in succession.

If there has ever been a time when I need gratitude, it is now.

With no further ado, five minutes on the timer and a bit of thanks.

Tonight, I am grateful.  Deeply grateful.

For the return of our modern conveniences, for heat and light and our little electric fireplace.  For my family snug in their own beds and for the return of routine in our lives.  I am grateful for our cluttered, messy little nest where every surface is littered with candles and children's craft supplies, and where I know just how to find what I need.

And, I am grateful for the gift of family nearby, for the fact that we had somewhere to go when our house temperature hit 50.  Grateful for the comfort and love and safety that we can depend on, just across town.

I am grateful that in the face of this wild weather, we faced nothing more than inconvenience.  A few trees down, a few days of darkness in our neighborhood-- but we are safe.  Our house is here, solid and strong.  Our clean-up will consist of raking a lot of leaves and cleaning up the pile of tempered glass that was once the top for our patio table.  We are very lucky indeed.

Today, I am grateful to have a job that allows me to spend the day sharing theater and lunch and laughter with my little group of students.  I am grateful for the sublime gift that is a well written play, for the moments of clarity that come as you sink into the lives of characters on a sparsely-set stage, when the words and emotions are the main event. "It all goes so fast.... we never really look at one another..."  Emily says in Act III of Our Town.  I am grateful for words that make me reflect and slow down and look into more people's eyes because they are all so beautiful, all those eyes.  I am grateful for youth and beauty and talent and for the young people who shared theirs today at the Beck Center.

I am grateful that the rain seems to have stopped for a moment.  I am grateful for light shining out through the layers of clouds, for my dog softly snoring beside me, for my husband combing wool across the room.  I am grateful for the storm and the clouds, for that stark contrast they give to the brilliance in fall leaves, and in life.