Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for sleeping in (my version anyway) and for the early morning light as it changes. Today my friend Sheila, her husband Dave, her two sisters, and many others will be doing an "Out of the Darkness" Walk for suicide prevention in Hammond, Indiana, near Chicago. They are supporting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention . Many other walks are taking place this month for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. They are walking in memory of their daughter and niece, Carli, who died by suicide on April 4. Today would have also been the birthday of Sheila's mom Nell. I believe Carli and her grandma will be present in their own way at the walk, especially in the hearts and minds of their loved ones. Across the miles, I will wear the same button today that those walking in Carli's memory will be wearing: These are words from Carli's obituary: "Despite the best efforts of her family, teachers, and professionals, Carli lost her ...

Today I am grateful for laughter shared with others and for a good breakfast of oatmeal and blueberries. There is always plenty of gratitude to be found around marathon time, and there are a couple of reasons this marathon is even weightier in the gratitude department.  The last time we registered to run the Twin Cities Marathon was in early 2008. We signed up in late winter, months before a curve ball came our way. That curve ball was my breast cancer diagnosis. I was undergoing chemotherapy and unable to run that October's event. I very much appreciated the few miles I could do between surgeries and treatments, but there would be no marathon that fall.   Nine years later, I am healthy, able-bodied, with NED (no evidence of disease). I have run more marathons post-cancer (9) than I did before my diagnosis (5). It is still strange for me to think that I ran at least one, and likely several marathons, with cancer in my right breast. I ran the Brookings Marathon in e...

Today I am grateful for a few minutes to pause and meditate this morning. I am also grateful for the values my parents instilled in my siblings and I as children. This will be the first time Darcy and I are running a marathon for the second time. The first time we ran the Twin Cities Marathon was in 2006, our third overall. We were 41 and had trained hard and set time goals faster than our previous ones. I was wondering if I had a sub-4:00 marathon time in me, and I did speed and tempo training (my version of them anyway) to better help me shoot for that goal. It was a warm day on October 1, 2006, though the first miles of the marathon were still cool. I came in under two hours for the first 13.1 and felt like my goal of a sub-four hour marathon was possible. Then I bonked. I had gone out too fast. I was probably dehydrated and I cramped up (which felt like chest pains really and scared me a bit). I walked a full mile between miles 20 and 21, then was able to resume running/walki...

Today I am grateful for my abilities to read and write and for those who first taught me to do both. As I consider heading to the starting line of the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, it helps to have the experience of 14 previous marathons behind me. It also helps to consider what can be done stride by stride, mile by mile. There have been tough stretches on training runs and in some of our previous marathons, but I have never been let down by the simple power of one step in front of the other, one footfall followed by another. Even if there may be pain or exhaustion or difficult emotions involved. Fortitude moves me forward. It is a life lesson well applied to all other areas of my life, day after day. (Though I also could work on stopping to rest more too.) One of my favorite websites for encouragement to live gratefully is gratefulness.org . In early 2013, they held a contest as follow-up to the release of Brother David Steindl-Rast's latest book 99 Blessings . Read abou...

Today I am grateful for cooler weather and some rain for our lawn and gardens. I am also grateful for the people who share their recovery wit and wisdom with me and others. This short quote says plenty in nine words: "The key to knowing joy is being easily pleased."    (Mark Nepo) We live in a society and culture that tells us we can buy things to please us. That we can find the perfect person to marry and please us. That we are entitled to a good life. Yet, if we spend all of our time looking outside ourselves for what pleases us, we will be frustrated at the least and addicted at the most. I think Mark Nepo is asking us to return to ourselves and the simple joys of just being, the joys in the present moment. We can appreciate others and how they help us know peace and contentment, but if we can't find that peace and contentment within, we are hard pressed to consistently find it elsewhere. This may sound contradictory, but for me to know peace within, and...

Today I am grateful for the truth spoken by my husband. I am also grateful for my sense of hearing and the music I am enjoying at this moment. We have arrived at our marathon week for this year. This Sunday, October 1, Darcy and I will head to the starting line with thousands of other runners for the Twin Cities Marathon. Each year, I get an excitement and anticipation as the marathon nears, and the last few days especially so. If I didn't get excited, I would have to consider why I am doing another 26.2 mile challenging trek. That hasn't happened yet. We have had a good training season and the weather was especially cooperative on most of our long training runs. That is very helpful. Really tough 20-milers aren't as motivational as less tough ones. We ran two organized half marathons and were pleased with both. We have done what we can to prepare our legs and the rest of our bodies for the physical aspects. Experience helps us prepare mentally, emotionally, and spi...

Today I am grateful for my husband Darcy, our marriage, and the time and effort we both give to keeping it healthy and happy.  I have also been really grateful for the comfort of air conditioning in recent days.  We have had unseasonably hot and humid conditions this last week, so I totally missed the fact that fall had officially arrived. I love the changing seasons overall, and appreciate that my life spent living in the upper Midwest has always come with a variety of weather.  There is something to look forward to for each season and something I am ready to say goodbye to for the current season. Fall would have to be my favorite. Cool, crisp air after heat and humidity. The variety of colors. Smells and sounds that herald the end of the growing season.  This picture was taken yesterday morning, a quick stop on our run. It is one of my favorite places to watch the changing seasons unfold. Near the Mississippi River and accessible only by trail, the...