Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for a good run on a nice fall day yesterday, the start of colors changing on the trees and vegetation, and for the other recovering people I know and what they bring to my life. I am also very appreciative of the time I spent with my husband Darcy and son Sam sitting on our back patio last evening enjoying the fire in our fire pit and sharing conversation and pizza.  Darcy and Sam were out there for a while before I was too, having the chance to talk, just the two of them. It was all a treat. I enjoy the relaxing nature of watching the fire burn and the flames dance around. It was a cloudy and cool evening, the best kind for a fire. Having the time together, the three of us, to talk about some current events and also to talk about our own lives, is something we do in snippets throughout our days. It was nice yesterday to have a chunk of time together, no hurry, phones out of sight for a time, and to just enjoy one another's company and the random topics th...

Today I am grateful for the food we have available and those who help bring it to us. I am also grateful that I have choices as I move through my day. One of my choices is how much news I will tune into. This is one area where my choices have shifted in recent years. A former social studies teacher, I always prided myself on having some handle on the important news of the day or week. It has become more difficult, however, to partake of what now is a news feed like none we have had before. "News feed" itself is a newer phrase, referring to continuous transmission of data. We can subscribe to many news feeds from many sources.  They can be interesting, disheartening, informative, downright discouraging. They can be all of these and more. And they also tend to be time suckers. I want factual and basic news, but that is harder and harder to come by. I must pick my news feeds carefully. American culture and society, along with other parts of the world, has become a differen...

Today I am grateful for time to sit outside this morning and for fresh perspective in the fresh first hours of a fresh new day. Special thoughts and prayers go out to my sister Mary Jo as she undergoes another round of chemotherapy today. In this digital age, pictures abound and photographers do too. We appreciate those hired to take pictures along our marathon routes. We look forward to seeing how and where we were captured. We like to pick out one photo from each marathon to keep and remind us of that particular event and day. It also serves as motivation to keep going, keep moving, keep physical health high on our priority list. We’ll get an email encouraging us to take a look and purchase, with a free download perhaps thrown in. Often we’ll critique a photo for capturing us at the wrong time, mid-stride, a little off kilter, not flattering. Yet, we usually get some we like, like these two from Sunday:   (Paul D Manke Photography) Darcy is nearing the finish and I...

Today I am grateful for spiritual connections and conversations, and for a head massage from my husband Darcy. I am also grateful for my sense of hearing and for two songs that helped me get the marathon off to a good start on Sunday. As hundreds of runners funneled through corrals and crossed the starting line, Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" was blasting out of large speakers. Some Journey for the journey ahead. There is something pretty special about the energy at the start of a race. We were running right into the sun as it came up as well. I felt pulled along by the collective energy, drawn to the light of the sun and also struck by the brightness of it. It was most fitting that right around mile 2, as we passed a church, a number of the congregation were at the curb, songbooks in hand, singing "How Great Thou Art" as we ran by. I had just been thinking about that hymn a few days earlier and had listened to it on YouTube. It is one of my favori...

Today I am grateful for rest and perspective only gained with some patience and an open mind and heart. Yesterday I was exhausted on several levels. Physically, from running 26.2 miles on Sunday. Mentally, for the same reason. Emotionally, because I was feeling a range of emotions from the experience itself and post-run. Spiritually, because grace and gratitude get tested by large questions like "why and why not?" Today, after more rest and time to let everything about this latest marathon soak in and settle, I am back to grace and gratitude. Deeply appreciating that Darcy and I made it to the start line together, and each of us finished on our own terms. Our health and our marriage are priorities in our lives and we honor them both with our shared marathon experiences. I went out too fast in the early miles and paid for it in the later miles. Experienced or not, it's easy to get caught up in the fresh air, the endorphins, the crowds of people. I never doubted I wou...

Today I am grateful for shelter from storms, literally and figuratively. I am also grateful for all the gifts and experiences running has brought to my life. I am thinking of my dear friend Sheila, her husband Dave, and their friends and family who will be doing the "Out of the Darkness" walk tomorrow morning for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They will be walking in memory of their daughter Carli who died by suicide on April 4, 2017. I am walking with you in spirit Sheila and carrying you in my heart as I do every day. Breast cancer is also part of the shared history and enduring friendship Sheila and I have. She is a BC survivor too; facing her diagnosis, surgeries, and treatment in 2011. When Darcy and I ran the Sioux Falls Marathon on 9/11/2011, emotions ran high. I was thinking of Sheila, of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, of running the streets of the city where Darcy and I got married and lived for two years. We also met our future daughter-in-law Al...

Today I am grateful for a good night's rest and a safe and comfortable home to have it in. I am also grateful for the writing process and the reflecting I am doing this week. In 2010, Darcy and I ran the Fargo Marathon, again finishing side by side. We started out in rain and finished in windy and warm conditions as we ran into the Fargo Dome. It was a spring marathon and we decided to take the fall off from marathoning that year. Unfortunately, cancer didn't take it off.   Mary Jo was diagnosed with a primary lung cancer in June and underwent surgery and chemotherapy. Part of her lower right lung was removed and doctors were optimistic. The chemo was added insurance. By the time 2012 rolled around, I was a little nervous. There had been cancer diagnoses among my sisters and I in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. A pattern was developing. Thankfully, 2012 came and went cancer-free, as did the next several years. Years of survivorship added up, as did ongoing gratitude. Darcy an...