September 30

I am grateful for these past 30 days, which have been just what I've needed.

I may well keep this up.  We'll see.

October will bring 30 days of conscious and conscientious eating and I am trying to be grateful in advance for how good I'll feel because of it.  Even if I think I am missing September's 30 days, already.

Today, I am grateful that the rain held off until we were just about ready to leave Hale Farm.  I am grateful for the patient and friendly service at Chick-Fil-A.  I am grateful that my 3:00 math group went more smoothly today.  I am grateful for lad back dinners and happy children making messes in a playroom and comfortable time spent with the best of the best of friends.

I am grateful for the love I am feeling in my heart just now, as I think about my day and the people who have been a part of it.  This month has been a lot about people, and all the love, and my kids of course.  And the weather.

But mostly, it's been about time.  Time, and the glory of it.  How lucky we are to have each day, even the worst days, certainly the best days, most especially the ordinary days in between...



Collection of "last lines" from each post this month...


I am grateful for what I have and for what I have yet to reach.
I am grateful for three day weekends. This is the way life should be....
I am grateful for delicious grilled chicken and salad, for the abundance of food, for coffee with cream, and the blessing of time to enjoy it all.


I am grateful for friends.  I am grateful for time.  I am grateful for the chance to sit with my feet up for a few moments.  I am grateful to be home.
I am grateful that a bed and a new day tomorrow await.
I am grateful for graham crackers dipped in milk


I am grateful for sunshine peeking out from behind a cloudy week.
I am grateful for how much I laughed today.
I am grateful for all the ways the stars have aligned in my life.  Even when I am tired.


I am grateful for my children who love to play together, all of a sudden.  
I am grateful for the chance to affirm that yes, I've got my priorities straight.
I am grateful that tomorrow is Friday, though the weeks are starting to fly precipitously fast all of a sudden and I think I would be just as grateful for more Thursday, to tell the truth.
I am grateful that I am not trying to entertain the queen this weekend, that's for sure.
I am grateful that the weekend is not over yet.


I am grateful for hot tea and our faux-fireplace on a chilly evening. 
I am grateful that this give me the excuse to look for a larger dining room table. 
I am grateful for all the joy and laughter in my life.
I am grateful for the body I have, in this moment of my life, and I will choose to its beauty and its strength.  
I am grateful for quiet evenings and early bedtimes.


I am grateful for all the richness and fullness of my life, one event scheduled tight against the other with mere minutes to spare...
I am grateful for the opportunity to bring my focus back to where it belongs. 
I am grateful I had more than 5 minutes to write tonight.




Thank you all for sharing this month with me.  I hope you'll stick around for the next 30 days, too.  Have you started your own 30 days yet?  Link me to your blogs so I can support you too!

September 29

Tonight I am grateful for so much.  Five minutes may not cut it, but I'll try.

I am grateful for the gift of a midweek day off with my time and my kids all to myself.  I am grateful for adventures and trains and the very kind volunteer conductors who helped me get the stroller up and down the stairs. 

I am grateful for my well-behaved children, for their laughter and curiosity and engagement.  I am grateful for passengers and passers-by who are kind and gracious and complimentary, who play peekaboo with my baby and smile at my boy.  I am grateful for the nice man who let Jack hold the coyote pelt for a very long time.  I am grateful for my little scientist of a boy and the way he just soaks up the world.

I am grateful for picture-perfect front yard gardens and red water-pumps in the side yards of meticulous century homes. 

I am grateful for train tables in restaurants and kind hostesses who seat mommas right near them so kids can play and mommas can drink their coffee.  I am grateful for coffee.  I am grateful for my kids who can play at a train table together.  I am grateful for my little love of a daughter, flirting and chasing and charming everyone she meets; kissing babies and laughing and daring life to keep up. 


I am grateful for lovely evenings with friends, for saying "We should do this more often" and really meaning it, for the gift of kindred spirits and bonding over our shared parenting experiences.  For the mutual support and the laughter and for seeing our truly adorable children playing together in the other room.

I am grateful for the people who have taken the time to tell me how this month of gratitude has touched them.  I am grateful that it is not just my own life I am changing. 

I am grateful I had more than 5 minutes to write tonight.

September 28

Getting near the end of the month.  Crazy.  I have to say, I have enjoyed this month of gratitude.  I've been grateful for it, in fact.  I've been grateful for the sense of obligation that comes from having a public forum, which pushed me to take that pause each night, to record my day in the best possible light.  Sugar coating my life for a month?  Perhaps.  But isn't everything better with sugar?  Why not see things as rosy, I say.

That said, today's musings:

I am grateful for Rosh Hashana-- for the holy day it is to many friends and neighbors, and for the fact that I have tomorrow off.

I am grateful that there is such a wealth of activity, scenery, and seasonal events in my city as to make it seem like there just aren't enough weekend days in the fall. 

OK, there are never enough weekend days, period.

But isn't it wonderful to have one's options over-full?  The hardship of decision-making is softened somewhat when the choices are all wonderful things.

 I am grateful to my son's Pre-K teacher who, in one day, taught Jack 4 yoga poses ("yogo class!" he called it...) as well as most delightful little song about buying bubblegum.  Perhaps these aren't the most earthshattering of accomplishments, in the grand scheme of things...but they both made him so happy and proud.  I love it.

I am grateful for the fact that Ivy went to bed quietly and sweetly tonight. 

I am grateful for brisk walks in the almost-rain and the soft fall air. 

I am grateful for quick trips to the library, for my two children who navigate the space independently and confidently.  I am grateful they love books.  I am grateful for their laughter on the library bridge.  I am grateful for simple evenings focused on my children.

I am grateful for the opportunity to bring my focus back to where it belongs.

September 27

I am grateful for the energizing effect of singing.  I am grateful for the genius of Mozart, the way the notes flow, the absolute sense of it and the magic it makes.  I am grateful for that one line, regina coeli, alto and tenor voices and the blend-- it's heaven indeed.

I am grateful that I will have my planning period tomorrow instead of a meeting.  Nevermind the meeting I have over lunch.  I'll take what I can get.

I am grateful for Tuesday afternoons, for a coffee date with my husband and family dinner with my mom.  I am grateful for homemade spaghetti sauce and my two kids playing on the piano together. 

I am grateful for sunny mild afternoons.

I am grateful for all the richness and fullness of my life, one event scheduled tight against the other with mere minutes to spare, but each event is good, you know?  When people, those random acquaintances, ask "How have you been,"  I answer, "Busy.  Busy.  But good."  And I mean it.

And I am grateful for that.

September 25 and 26

Tonight, sleep trumps gratitude. Not that I am not grateful. No, I am grateful for many, many things. But I am not sure my eyes will stay open for the rest of this sentence, much less a whole post. So, more tomorrow...

September 24

I am grateful for the gift of a sunny fall Saturday.  For Fall Harvest Festivals and Tractor shows and the children's amazement at the inner workings of motors.  I am grateful for hay mazes and corn mazes and crowds of littles wandering through them all.

I am grateful for a day spent "out and about", avoiding housework entirely.

I am grateful for my affectionate little girl, for the constant streams of hugs and great bit "mah!" kisses.

I am grateful for silly little overpriced pony-ride circles, for the joy and confidence on my son's face when he realized he really could do it.

I am grateful for the light in my daughter's eyes when she sees an animal, the way she pressed herself against the fence to get closer to the "nay nays" and the "seeee". 

I am grateful for a quiet ride in a horse-drawn wagon, around the perimeter of the farm, my two happy kids sitting on the bench seat with me, a delightful older couple for company, a moment out of time, lulled by the rhythm of the draft-horse walk. 

I am grateful for quiet evenings and early bedtimes.

September 23

I feel like  need to set the stage just a little bit for this post.  This morning I had a good run at the gym, my first "4 mile Friday."  Took my tired, sweaty self into the locker room and went for my quick weight check before my shower.  Sure enough, stiiiiillll stuck at 151, where I've been since, oh, I don't know... June??  I know, I know, I'm not REALLY dieting anymore, and I've only just started exercising more than 2-3 days per week.  But still.

Bleh.

Went into my shower, and the rest of my morning, feeling disgruntled with my body, flabby belly and aging skin and all.

But then I got to thinking about what I'd be posting tonight, what to focus my gratitude on, here at the end of the week. 

And I decided a paradigm shift was in order.

Today, I am going to dwell in some gratitude for my body.

I am grateful for this body I have, for its life and breath and vigor.  I am grateful for two strong legs that can walk and run (indeed, 4 miles, at an under-10-minute-mile pace, no less!) and climb and stretch and keep up with children.  I am grateful for two strong arms that can hold babies and children and dogs and hugs for those I love.  I am grateful for two good hands that can type and cook and draw and write, cut and tie and caress and hold other hands.  I am grateful for my healthy lungs and the steady beat of my heart and blood that flows unfettered through my veins.

These are things I take for granted. I am grateful that I am lucky enough to do that.

I am grateful for this body that has grown and birthed and nurtured two babies, that has brought two amazing little humans into this world.  This body works miracles.  This body holds life and creates and sustains and gives and it is amazing.

I am grateful for the stretch marks and unsightly bulges and new shapes and curves that seem to be a part of me now, because they remind me that this body is not just for me, it has a job to do and it is doing that job.  It is a body that has been pregnant or nursing (or both) for nearly 5 years straight, a body working on 5 short hours of sleep most nights... and still it can run in the morning. 

"Target weight" be damned.  I am grateful for the body I have, in this moment of my life, and I will choose to its beauty and its strength.