Thanks

Today is the day after our national holiday set aside for giving thanks - and is a wonderfully quiet day. Perfect for reflecting upon the purpose of the shopping, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, and, did I mention cleaning?

This morning I am looking at piles of table linens to be washed. Tables and chairs to be returned to their natural habitats, carcasses that need to be turned into soups, and two dogs which need baths since one is sticky from the treats discovered in the garbage can during an exploritory dig. And I'm thankful for it. It is what remains of a day filled with the joy of being with family and sharing conversations, laughs and the wonderful meal that all to which all contributed and shared, but also that I have the health needed to put the house back to order.

My health. Something I have started to appreciate more and more, as Paul and I spend a cup of coffee together talking about the following days until Monday brings us back to the normal quest for the dollar. What would we like to fill these days with? Saturday is looking like a sunny day and the forest is calling us both to spend a couple hours there. I'm thankful my health allows for many such activities and I don't suffer the chronic limitations I'd otherwise have.

I'm thankful, like Foo, for the people in my life. My husband, my life partner, my soulmate, my teammate. Who takes good care of himself so I don't have to worry. Who is honest so I don't have to doubt and wonder. Who is wise so I don't have to look far for support and grounding, who is incredibly lovable, and loves me even when I think I'm not.

Three blessings for which I am thankful are my children. I am thankful for their health, because I see what burdens that parents of children with health problems carry, and that looks very heavy to me. I am thankful for their love and forgiveness. I am thankful for all their time that they choose to spend with me, and try never to take that for granted. I am hugely grateful for the addition of M to my brood, and family, and her love for us in return.

Foo's wonderful poem puts into words my own feelings. I'm thankful for all the wonderful friends that salt my life today, the ones no longer with me except in my heart, and the ones waiting for me. Of all my friends, Foo is the only one with whom I seem to share a supernatural connection. I feel as if Foo and I have shared this bond for many lifetimes, as if we were two particals split from the same molecule. I am thankful that she is here with me today.

Thankfully, a scary time for PT & N seems to have passed, bringing a joyful addition to their family. That makes me thankful, for with all the other burdens PT carries with her, I'd fear that would be too much. I'm thankful that a mischevious and loving bundle of fur found her way into their lives.

I am thankful for the twelve step program that keeps V in tune with realities and support, and that she has the wisdom to turn to this program and see it as the tool it is meant to be to keep her alive and humming.

Having a little bit of land on this great big earth makes me thankful, too. A little piece of dirt that I can fuss over, and dig up and smell. That grows trees that makes oxygen for me to breathe, and tells me stories when I am listening, that give shelter to many of the critters that share my world.

And believe it or not, I am thankful to be gainfully employed. Even when I complain. Even when I groan silently thinking of Monday to come.

There are an abundance of things I am grateful for. Too many to mention here, today. Little things, easily overlooked, but try imagining our lives without - toilet paper. Windows. Shoes. Dishes. Roads & bridges. It feels good to be thankful, and perhaps that is the special thing about setting one day aside each year for the purpose of giving thanks. In our often crisis filled daily lives it is so easy to forget to do that, at least for me.

Peace and Thanks today,

from the Elf.