November 26

Last night's entry would've been a short one if I'd managed to blog.  Last night, I was grateful to have Nat back home.  Spent my blogging time happily chatting with him til past my bedtime.  So there.

Actually, there was lots to be grateful for yesterday.  Some of the highlights:

* the opportunity to get my children ready and off to school in the morning.  Routine and ordinary though it may sound, it was a gift.  I loved watching Jack skip off down the path, so serious about being on time.  And the cuteness factor in Ivy's preschool class is really out of control.

* a short and peaceful day at school.  Students who, despite the fact that they've been driving me crazy and I've been too short with them of late, said they'd miss me when I went to my conference on Tuesday.

* My too-kind co-teacher who surprised me with a perfect birthday gift.  As if working with her weren't gift enough.

Tonight, I am grateful  to have slept in until 7, the second morning in a row.  I am grateful for the opportunity to go to a workshop with one of my favorite co-workers, a day of learning and collaborating and drinking coffee with nice, cooperative adults.  I am grateful again to have my family all together, grateful that I do not have to single-parent all the time.  We are blessed with our partnership, Nat and I.  I am grateful for a coffee date, for companionable work together over an Americano.  I am grateful for family dinners in Lakewood and the gift of time to sing with my choir.  I am grateful that some of our pieces are really starting to come together, just in time for the concert.  I am grateful for the friendly and funny group of sopranos I am sitting with, and that my seat in concert order is in the front and on the end, my favorite place to sing.  I am grateful that the roads weren't any worse driving home, and that the world is soft and white and magical outside my window, as candles glitter within.  I love snow when I am not on the road with it.  I am grateful for this reminder that these upcoming holidays, stress and scheduling aside, serve such a deep purpose for me: a settling in, a slowing down, sheltering from the storm and pushing back the dark.  I am ready to greet this next month with a grateful heart.