Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for avocados and sledding time with our grandson Leo.  I'm still on a squirrel kick today. They can certainly be pesky, and have irritated us more than a few times, but they are also cheap entertainment. They scurry and scamper on wires and tree limbs with a light agility I envy.  They have also gotten more than a few mentions in my blog posts, including yesterday's: The squirrels are now more obvious as they scurry across the white landscape. I watched a couple doing the work of searching for food. Different work now than it was before the snow. In the stillness, I felt a simple connection to other living things. Connections are important. This morning, I took a look out our picture window and soon noticed six squirrels. At one point four of them were in the crabapple tree in our front yard. Two more were across the street doing some foraging. It was a New Year's Eve party of a different kind. Some of you may be having a different kind of New Year's...

Living gratefully, I appreciate the opportunities each day presents. Opportunities to ponder and practice the true presence I mentioned yesterday.  There have been strange days and difficult times in 2020. For all of us. And there are silver linings. Some we may not even see yet.  One of my silver linings has been real life really asking me to stop, notice, focus, acknowledge, open to grace and acceptance. Some days it is the only thing that tethers me to some stable ground.  Let's get this straight too--true presence isn't always about experiencing joy. Sometimes it is about fully feeling the pain, fear, and uncertainty in the moment at hand. The key is embracing the emotion, because it is the genuine emotion that guides us to the next moment. Sounds pretty heady. It should be.  My word for this year has been “stillness.” A good word for the perpetual thought and action machine I can be. Yesterday some squirrels and snowflakes were my teachers. We have had two signi...

Today I am grateful for safe travels, treasured family time, birthday parades, and puppies.  On our travels, I noticed holiday decorations, lingering political signs, and also these two: Decency Matters and Just Be Kind . On the one hand, it is disheartening that we need signs to send this message and help set the tone in contentious times. Sad that we we need visible reminders of what should be typical behavior and human compassion.  On the other hand, to see the words in writing, in the front yards of two average houses, is also heartening. We are bombarded with all kinds of news, sound bites, messages. We do need reminders. If you are like me, I get busy with my day, or busy in my head, and I sometimes forget the obvious. I lose focus and attention. When it comes down to it, decency and kindness really begin with our presence in the moment. True presence allows us to listen to one another, look someone in the eyes, and hear the tone of their voice. True presence provides ca...

Today I am grateful for holiday traditions that remind us of what matters most--the people we love and the time together. And the people here in spirit, heartstrings still attached.  Yes, it's been an interesting year. Yes, the pandemic has impacted us all and put limits on what we would like to freely do over the holidays.  But . . . and it's a big but . . . Love wins. It always does. And Christmas joy reigns, even in a pandemic year.  Here are a few doses of that Christmas joy. First a picture from our holiday hearth. The bowl in the foreground a family treasure, the nutcrackers in the background a nod to our son Sam who really liked them when he was little. The lighting brings joy to me with the warm comfort it exudes.  Next, I am happy to share a poem recently written by my sister Ruth: The Anti-Hallmark Movie Quiet on the set. Did I wake trapped in a Hallmark movie? Fresh snowfall overnight Presents under the tree Cookies on the counter No Hallmark movie here. O...

With gratitude today for a sense of presence on the physical as well as spiritual levels. And for eggnog, a seasonal favorite. Here's a 2020 spin on a seasonal favorite, thanks to my sister Zita. She gave this nasty COVID virus the what-for with her word selection and wit. Thank you Zita for capturing the emotional range of this strange year so well.  You're a Mean One Mr. Virus You’re a mean one Mr. Virus, You really are not nice. You’re as cuddly as a rat, you’re as welcome as some mice, Mr. Virus. You’re a dirty blanket, filled with crawling lice. You’re a monster Mr. Virus, You dig around like a mole. You make people so afraid, your spread has taken a toll, Mr. Virus. We try not to touch each other with our six or more foot pole! You’re a foul one Mr. Virus, You’re round with lots of spikes. You have no friends and on Facebook you get no likes, Mr. Virus. Given a choice of friends, we would choose a slimy snake – Yikes! You’re a rotter Mr. Virus, You have made so many die. ...

Today I am grateful for the colleagues, students, and parents that are part of the school community I work in. I am also grateful for Grandma's chocolate star cookie recipe. Both of my grandmothers died by the time I was five, so my memories of them are minimal. The recipes are memorable though.  We ended our semester at my school and now have a couple of weeks off. A much needed and deserved break. They always are, but especially so in this time of COVID. We were in-person a vast majority of the time these last months. It has been a grueling grind on the one hand and some semblance of normalcy on the other.  The mix of emotions about it all run a wide range, and are one of the sources of exhaustion I am feeling. Another source is the daily toll of wearing masks. I am a firm believer in masks and I commend all of our students and the faculty and staff for just making them a part of our days together.  You do get used to them. But they do wear you out over the hours. I can...

Living gratefully, I offer daily appreciation for something I tend to take for granted--even in a pandemic-- my overall health. It is a gift beyond measure.  I started out on my run yesterday morning after an icy Saturday prevented it. Sunshine and clear sky greeted me and it was just what I needed after some heavy and gray days, in the natural world and in my inner world. I had one course in mind, and still had to watch my step in a few places.  As I neared the middle school a mile or so from our house, I realized that the track would be a good place to run—it was clear of ice and how often can I run on an outdoor track on December 20 in Minnesota?   I started out in lane 8 and as I headed around the track I decided to do 8 laps and work my way over to lane 1, a lane and a lap at a time.  It was a simple way to cover the next couple miles, and there was something to be said for circling the oval and reminiscing a little—on the year, and on my own track days.  A...

Today I am grateful for the book signing experience I had yesterday, and to Rick and Rose for helping make it possible. I am also grateful for the music of the Bee Gees, and the well-done documentary "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" that we enjoyed watching last evening.  I love the Bee Gees older music, and couldn't really pick a favorite if I had to. Every song on their 1976 album "Bee Gee Gold" would be on the list. The way these brothers could harmonize made their sound captivating. As a young girl and teen, I was also captivated by the good looks of Barry and the youngest brother Andy. Andy had an amazing start to his own career, but died at age 30 after addiction took a heavy toll. Addiction takes a heavy toll every day in the lives of many. For some addicts and alcoholics, today will be their last day. Their affliction will silence them. No one, addict or not, is guaranteed tomorrow. But I strive to do the work I need to do daily in the hopes that my las...

Today I am grateful for rest, even when heavy thoughts sometimes break the slumber.  If I took a poll, I bet most of us would raise our hands to this question:  How many of you have had trouble sleeping soundly on a regular basis since the pandemic began?  This week has had a deeper level of exhaustion for me. The first semester ended at my school yesterday. We were in session in the building for all but 9 school days since we started on August 19. What a grind. What an accomplishment. What a mix of emotions.  We did something a vast majority of schools in our state did not do in recent months.  I'm not sure how I feel about it all. I'm at a loss for words. Part of me appreciates what we were able to do and getting to know our students, masks and all. Part of me feels absolutely depleted from the position we were all in day in and day out.  This week my school community also lost a long-time employee, recently retired, to cancer. Dan dedicated his work life...

Today marks a cancer anniversary for me. And today I am angry at cancer. Just pretty much pissed off at the "C" word. Not my own experience so much. It wasn't easy, but my scars are more physical than emotional today,  exactly twelve years out from bilateral mastectomies. I am here, living fully.  I am one of the fortunate ones. So are my sisters Zita, Leonice, and Aileen. For now.  That is the uncertainty and fear we all live with and can't entirely shake.  Our sister Mary Jo used to be on this list. She's not anymore. There's only one way off the list . . .  I am angry that cancer continues on an insidious path of destruction.  Just like that other "C" word of late--COVID-19. The anger and fear subside as I am reminded of what really matters.  This picture was taken on February 22 of this year. It was on a bulletin board at the nursing home my mom resides in. Feels a little strange to read that sentiment now doesn't it?  We were gathering to ce...

Living gratefully today, I am appreciating the amazing scientists and science behind the development of effective COVID-19 vaccines. Messenger-RNA and advanced technology made possible the condensed timeline for these vaccines. Shots in the arm that could save many lives and get us back to some sense of normal sooner. There are dark days, weeks, and months ahead, but there is also hope. And plenty of discussion and speculation from people about their comfort level with getting the two doses needed to help build immunity against COVID-19. When infectious disease experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Michael Osterholm say they will be in line when their turn comes for the vaccine, it gives me more confidence and courage when my turn comes. The divisiveness that has splintered efforts to have a united front in this pandemic will likely persist as the vaccine continues to be rolled out, but please think long and hard about what you are willing to do individually that will help us all coll...

Today I am grateful for old movies with timeless messages.  Darcy likes to watch old holiday movies in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I don't always join him in the viewing, but when he chose "It's a Wonderful Life" yesterday afternoon I did. The movie is from 1946, stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, and was directed by Frank Capra. Here is the movie's description: After George Bailey (James Stewart) wishes he had never been born, an angel (Henry Travers) is sent to earth to make George's wish come true. George starts to realize how many lives he has changed and impacted, and how they would be different if he was never there. Life sidetracks George from his dreams, but also leads him to love, family, and opportunities to live by the values that mean the most to him. Many of us can relate to that. One path ends up a detour, we are sent down a new one, and we end up finding fulfillment and meaning. The pandemic has been a real sidetrack for us all this year...

Living gratefully today, I appreciate a slow pace to my morning. This is something I don't treat myself to often enough. My goal is slower pace overall, and especially in my head.   Yesterday morning as I started out on my run, I checked my pedometer to see where I was at. It showed that I was at 1950-some steps already for my day. I thought to myself “hey, it’s closing in on 1965.”  That's the year I was born. Already running, I watched my pedometer quickly go from 1965 to 2020 steps.   Wow, time flies. I considered the year I graduated, the year I got sober, the year we got married, the year Sam was born, the year I was diagnosed with cancer, this year. I sometimes wonder how I could possibly be 55 years old already??  Even this year, with the challenges we have all faced, the time has cruised on by. There are only a couple weeks left in 2020. In ways, March and April seem like a lifetime ago, and in other ways like yesterday.  I thought about my sis...

Today I am grateful for coffee, bacon, and eggs. Caffeine and protein to start the day. It's been a real grind this week in many ways. I bet it has been for you too. These are not easy times. I am thinking especially though of people who are really struggling this week . . . with their own physical,  mental, emotional, and spiritual health challenges. The loss of an adult child, a devastating diagnosis in a sibling, the pull of addiction, relatives dying of COVID, emergency surgery; the list goes on.  Add on COVID COVID COVID and the social, economic, and political strain it is putting on our communities, nation, world.  Every day, there are many of us who would rather not get out of bed, and too many who cannot get out of bed, even if they want to. It all threatens to pull us under at times.  Keep swimming, but take time to stop at your version of an island sanctuary before heading out again,  grab the life jacket someone throws your way, or be the one extendin...

Living gratefully today, I embrace the holiday traditions that comfort me and try new ones in new times. One that I am rolling with this year is wearing fun holiday socks every day to work. They make me smile and usually at some point in the work day allow me a couple more smiles. I talked to my mom over the weekend. She is COVID positive but plugging along pretty well with no noticeable symptoms. She had a minor fall a couple days ago and was unscathed for the most part. Either one of these scenarios could still play out adversely. Time will tell. Plugging along in the meantime. I pray, I send her good thoughts, I make a heart connection. And I listen when we talk. Pandemic or not, Mom is old and failing. Every time I talk to her there's a little part of me that knows these conversations are numbered. Life is precious, life is fragile. All any of us get is today. The other day the nugget I gleaned from her was "some things never change . . . and that is good." The sun ri...

Today I am grateful for the soothing sounds of a ticking clock and the keyboard letters beneath  my fingers as I tap.  Living gratefully is really as simple as pausing and noticing. Here are a few things I noticed on my brief walk with our dog Oliver this morning: *The mild December air *How that air smelled. Fresh doesn't quite capture it. *The lack of traffic. Recent months have had less people heading to work, etc. *Bright and cheerful holiday lights in our neighborhood. Plenty is noticeable each moment. The moment simply needs us to pay attention.  What is noticeable to you as you pause with kind attention? 

Today I am grateful for a second consecutive day of taking time to meditate and how that helps me start my day more calm and focused.  I wrote on Friday about misplacing this house key and keychain briefly in my befuddled morning state:  It holds special meaning for me because it was a graduation gift from my alma mater, Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. I graduated with a Master's in Guidance and Counseling in May of 2000. My twenty-plus-year career as a school counselor has been a good fit for me, a better one than full-time teaching was. All my years in education have been fulfilling as well as challenging in numerous ways, but as a licensed school counselor, I feel my skills and talents are best put to use.  This keychain signifies my continued education as well as my profession, but it also has gone thousands of miles with me on runs, walks, and bike rides. I often hold it in my hand or looped around a finger when I run so I don't hear the jingling and feel...

 Living gratefully today, I appreciate morning quiet and some valuable meditation time. All meditation time is valuable in my opinion. So you would think I would find time for it more regularly. I'm a work in progress here. This morning I realized just how sporadic I have been with meditation. I gave myself permission to put extra time into it this morning. I use the Insight Timer meditation app and highly recommend it for anyone who wants to get started with meditation practice or deepen the practice they already have. It's free and has over 40,000 selections you can search.  I have come to appreciate the style used by teacher Sarah Blondin and tend to return to her offerings on the app. In what I listened to today, she used the term "heart coherence."  It's not a phrase I have used or heard. I will be holding it closer now.  One quickly learns in any meditation practice the importance of our breathing. Quieting ourselves and tuning into our breathing is where t...

I find myself grateful today for some random happenings that reminded me of humble and amazing grace. Here are those random happenings, all within an hour this morning: 1. I have gotten in the habit of doing word puzzles on my phone every day. Sometimes I just do the daily puzzle, and sometimes I will do several. It has become a go-to in these last months when I need to turn the volume of thoughts down in my brain. I give thanks for this simple puzzle and the exercise of healthy thinking that it helps promote.  2. As I was doing some of my targeted exercises, I rested my hands on my forehead, and the light was just right so that I could actually see the pulse in my wrist. I watched it for a moment, awed by the human body and thankful for the lifeblood flowing through me. 3. Then I got ready to take Oliver out for his walk. When I was set to leave, I couldn't find the house key we always use. I looked several places, pretty sure I had just seen the darn thing, and getting frustrated...

Today I am grateful for the continued sunshine and blue skies recently. They are helpful as we, in this Northern Hemisphere, are in our shortest days of daylight.  It's a dark end to a dark year. It's true, 2020 has been a real doozy of disappointment, loss, hardship. It's been loaded with fear, anxiety, uncertainty, unrest.  I've been writing this week about not being too hard on ourselves or one another. And while we're at it, let's not be too hard on this year either. It didn't ask to be the year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, or a very divisive campaign season in the U.S.  A couple of the toughest emotional experiences I have had this year are: -The upheaval of my son Sam's final weeks of high school and the loss of all things most exciting and earned by these young people surrounding one of the biggest, if not the biggest, event in their young lives. He had no idea when he walked out for spring break that...

Living gratefully today, I so respect and appreciate the amazing work of the scientists developing effective COVID-19 vaccines and now the production and distribution systems that are working hard to make them available to millions of higher risk people soon.  Today's post takes the "let's not be too hard on ourselves" beyond our personal spheres. Let's not be too hard on each other. Crises like a global pandemic, racial unrest, and political tensions tend to bring out both the best and the worst in all of us.  It has been easy to find targets for the judgment and disdain that is an undercurrent in my thoughts and feelings these last months. Easy, but not helpful. For me, it's all about the energy. Practicing gratitude, living gratefully, is so healthy and helpful for me because it generates good energy. Frustration and self-righteous anger drain energy. There may be times I need to speak up or speak out, but more often I just need to focus on my own attitude ...

Today I am grateful for the grace of life that shows itself in many ways, starting with a pause of acknowledgement. I am grateful for recent family connections that took place in person, on the phone, in a Zoom meeting.  Times have been unsettling and challenging for us all in recent months. I have been emotional, reactive, exhausted, and anxious alternating with resilient, faithful, grateful, and flexible. You can make your own list, but I bet we have some crossover between our lists. I have been judgmental, put on a few pounds, procrastinated. I have isolated -- by choice, not just because of restrictions. Harsh words have come out of my mouth, usually directed at those closest to me. Selfishness looks and feels a little different in the middle of a pandemic, but throw some of that on my pile too.  It has not been a likable and inviting set of circumstances that we find our families, communities, states, nations, and world in these days. And I have not felt very likable at t...

Living gratefully today, I am seeing Thanksgiving in a new light, in a new time.  It is not an easy time, or one anyone invited or sought. Yet, there is light and plenty of it. There is gratefulness to be found and multiplied.  In the United States, tomorrow is our Thanksgiving holiday. Canada celebrates the holiday on the second Monday in October. Brazil joins the U.S. in honoring the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.  COVID-19 doesn't care who is celebrating what on any given day. It is, as Dr. Michael Osterholm says, simply looking for more wood to burn. It doesn't stop at borders or avoid certain populations.  I like to think of our efforts at prevention and mitigation as little fire breaks, helping put out a hot spot before it jumps and joins another one. Can we each do our part?  I seem to have sidetracked from my STOP. LOOK. GO. theme. Not really.  STOP: Cultivate presence. LOOK: Cultivate perspective. GO: Cultivate possibility. (Read more ...

Today I am grateful for our son Sam's safe arrival home from college. That arrival is about more than a smooth drive over the two-hundred mile stretch last evening. Semester one of freshman year is almost in the books, pardon the pun. After pausing to STOP , now I need to take a moment to LOOK. Look at what is really there in front of me that I may usually just walk right by. Look at what is within me emotionally and cognitively at this time. Lean into an emotion instead of denying it. Let a thought go instead of spinning it into a knot.  To look with fresh eyes and full attention is the key to shifting perspective. I don't need a perspective shift when I am reasonable, rational, and pleasantly immersed in the task or experience at hand. I need a perspective shift when denial and knots have shut me off, when the lightness of a moment has been buried in expectations and ego. So I paused and looked at our new Christmas tree and the mellow lights throughout. We downsized to a smal...

Today I am grateful for quiet meditation time to begin the day, and for genuine and acknowledged emotions.  Undoubtedly, this week of Thanksgiving feels different this year, and will be different in many ways. If I were to focus on what I can't do or have because of the pandemic, or how abnormal some things are right now, I would feel pretty deflated.  Yet, I have so much to look forward to this week, today, this moment. Maybe I should rephrase that. I have so much to fully experience moment-by-moment. Sure, I have things I am anticipating with excitement, but I also have my healthy breathing and clean air right here, right now.  This article,  Cultivating a Practice: Grateful Living as a Way of Life  by Kristi Nelson, Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living, lays out the simple, yet profound, practice of "Stop, Look, Go" shared by Brother David Steindl-Rast. I will use the next three posts leading up to Thanksgiving to focus on each of these three w...

Today I am grateful for timing . . . when it comes to things like a new mattress delivery and the hard work of healing. I continue to applaud the many frontline workers who go back day after day to jobs that must be so very draining and emotional, and yet you continue to offer heartfelt care and comfort to the people you are all helping.  Words that have been floating around in my head in recent weeks are ones like dire and bleak. The COVID-19 pandemic is raging, worse than ever, and the runaway train it has become will not come to a screeching halt for a long time. People will suffer and die. The holidays will come and go. What will early 2021 look like?  We don't know.  We can somewhat safely say what today will look like. It will look like how I choose to frame it. Doom and gloom, or a day that can be appreciated in ways big and small? Darcy and I went for a bike ride yesterday, a treat for late November. With no snow on the ground, the landscape is also bleak, muted w...

Today I am grateful for the life-saving and life-giving force that writing has been in my life.  For over forty years, I have put many pens to many pages, many keyboard taps to many screens. Some of it has been nothing but drivel needing release. Some of it has been pure flow from heart and soul. Most of it has been somewhere in between.  All of it has brought me here today, deeply grateful to be a writer.  A poet at heart, collaborating with my dear friend Jenny as we both recovered physically and emotionally from our breast cancer surgeries and treatment, opened doors to longer writings like the essays that mark these blog posts.  That collaboration with Jenny led to opinion pieces in newspapers, a local newspaper column, and starting this blog, among other endeavors. I have hit "publish" hundreds and hundreds of times here.  Continuing to dream of publishing a book, I have started many ideas and several working drafts. It is so very fitting that it was anothe...

Living gratefully today, I am noticing some achy muscles and appreciating the walking and running I am able to do. In the last week a couple of my posts here, one a guest post from my blogging friend Nancy, mentioned how I don't pressure others to be grateful. I hope that is how others see me. There is someone I pressure quite a bit in a variety of ways though. Me. What matters most is how I see myself.  It's not so much that I pressure myself to be grateful. I have practiced enough that I acknowledge the ebbs and flows of living gratefully. I lean into what the present is offering more readily than I ever have before. Sometimes that is a warm and peaceful feeling, and sometimes it is a painful, uncomfortable one. Often, it is somewhere between the two. Gratitude ebbs and flows. Life's ups and downs come and go. I often accept circumstances beyond my control more readily than I accept the person I do have some control over. Me again. My thoughts and actions. My talents and ...

Today I am grateful for a chuckle at my own mistake. I forgot to put in the coffee for our first pot of coffee and ended up with a pot of hot water. Little things.  I opened my sock drawer yesterday morning and noticed this pair:  I usually keep it pretty basic... but when I saw this pair the thought that popped into my head was “what the world needs now is love, sweet love.” The song is found  here if you want to listen to Jackie DeShannon sing it. It just so happens that the song is from 1965, a good year in my book.  I showed Darcy my socks, and a couple of coworkers too. It warmed my heart a little. Much of the time, though, I forgot about my socks in the busy pace of the day. I don't think my socks forgot me though. There was a little more patience. A couple more pauses. Some active listening. Maybe it’s a trite little ditty some of the time, but not right now. It's a necessary song in a dire time. We are really in need of love. For larger causes, for common co...

Living gratefully today, I appreciate the warm glow of winter and holiday lights throughout our home. My sister Aileen used the term "winter lights" to describe what many Alaskans put out this time of year to lend some brightness to the darkest months. I see many others doing that in the lower 48 this year too.  I decided to revisit an old post today instead of composing a brand new one. It is from three years ago and titled  Flat, But Not Flatlined  I got the idea from a Cure  magazine cover story titled "Flat, But Not Flattened." Here are a couple paragraphs from the post:  I have several ways to refer to my new chest terrain following bilateral mastectomy. "The area formerly known as my breasts." and "strange vacancy" are two of them. Flat and free. Flat, but not flat affect. And as I read this most recent cover story, I thought about "flat, but not flatlined." I am alive. I have not flatlined. I am not remaining static, nor is my le...

Today I am grateful for my husband Darcy and the ways we understand one another and communicate.  I also appreciate these words from my friend Nancy in her guest post on Thursday: "Lisa never pressures. Never judges. Rather Lisa leads  writes by example.  She encourages while accepting the fact that gratitude ebbs and flow."  Many who know me know of my belief in and commitment to living gratefully. I blog about it. I host gratefulness gatherings. At work, I encourage sharing gratitude on Thankful Thursdays. If that is all you know about me, you may think I am one of those pollyanna sorts always looking on the bright side. Bleh!  That's not me, and that's also not good for one's mental and overall health, in my opinion. Living gratefully is not about denying and glossing over the sometimes grim realities of life as a human. Living gratefully is about pausing to breathe and feel grounded.  It is about acknowledging that this is tough right now, but that I ha...

Today I am grateful for life's simple pleasures like toast and a warm blanket.  What we all probably think of these days when we hear the word surge is what is happening with the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a scary surge. Very scary.  It is unsettling to hear “humanitarian disaster” in reference to what lies ahead in the coming weeks and months. The mounting crisis and death toll is real. Pandemic fatigue is real. The complexities and simplicities of human nature are showing themselves.  I am worried about tomorrow, short term and long term, but I can’t spend too much time there. Today is a better place to use my energy and take helpful and responsible actions.  I am sentimental about yesterday. The pre-pandemic times when my biggest worries were personal, not global. I can’t spend too much time there either. But as I considered the word surge, it brought to mind growing up on dairy farm. A company with the name of Surge manufactured milkers and other equipment.  Pl...

I discovered Nancy Stordahl's blog,  Nancy's Point , several years ago and really appreciate her writing and insights on breast cancer and grief. She has the courage to call BS when she sees it, and also to delve into sensitive and emotional topics. Her perspective is refreshing because she writes her truth, and it is a truth we can all relate to in one way or another. I also encourage you to read her memoir titled  Cancer Was Not a Gift & It Didn't Make Me a Better Person . I have had the honor of writing two guest posts for her blog and am now honored to have her write one for mine. Nancy and I have never met in person, but we are blogging friends who share mutual respect for one another's work. She really hits the mark with this piece,  just two weeks out from Thanksgiving.  Thanks Nancy!  Sometimes It’s Hard to Feel Grateful (and that’s okay) When Lisa asked me to write a guest post for her wonderful blog, right away,  I knew I wanted to write about...

Today I am grateful for steady feet on icy walkways. I am also grateful for the excitement of new experiences.  Today is Veteran's Day in the United States. We have over 17.4 million veterans in our country now, and over 360,000 veterans in Minnesota.  Thanks to my co-worker Erin, a veteran herself, for providing us these statistics and more on the history of this special day: * Armistice Day (now Veteran's Day) was celebrated to remember World War One on the anniversary of signing the peace agreement. *The world had never before seen such a dramatic loss of life and widespread violence. *Memorials became common in almost every country in the world to remember the people lost in the conflict. *Poppies are a common symbol of Veterans Day and were popularized in the poem, “In Flanders Field.” Thank you Erin, Keegan, Alex, and all who have served or are currently serving to protect our country and the democracy and freedoms that have become so strikingly apparent and important in...

Living gratefully today, I appreciate family time over the weekend and Sam's safe travels back to college.  On my run yesterday morning, I sent a few squirrels and other critters scurrying for cover as I neared them. Plenty of foliage has died back, leaves have fallen. There is less cover to be found.  They were safe from me, but I made them anxious and they weren't going to wait and see what my motives were.  It struck me then and there that COVID-19 has sent us scurrying. Or at least it should.  We do know its motives. It is a virus looking for hosts. It is highly contagious and it is deadly to some.  We are at a critical juncture as cases and deaths are growing very quickly and dangerously in many places. Maybe we don't need to scurry, or run, but we best grab our masks, keep the hand sanitizer nearby, and follow this guidance as much as we can with anyone who doesn't live with us: I can do my part to be responsible and safe. It may not prevent the virus from...

Living gratefully today, I give thanks for our home, the rooms in it, and the opportunity to change things up in a few of those rooms.  We moved around some furniture, downsized a few things, got some new ideas as we went along, and now we are happy with the results. You know what? A new perspective in a room is fun. A new arrangement changes the energy flow as we head into the winter months and plenty of time indoors.  You know what . . . ?  It's a good question to ask, to reflect on, throughout the day.  You know what brings me belief in humanity? Saying hello and greeting others out walking or running on the trails of our community. I don't know them or their political views, and it doesn't matter because we are just sharing common courtesy and an appreciation for being out there.  You know what I don't get to do very often? Complain about the humidity in November. I wasn't really complaining, but it is true that it was freakishly warm and humid. You know wha...