Sunday Gratitude – 21.I.2024

The temperatures have risen a bit; it’s still cold, but I’m thankful that it’s not nearly as bitterly cold as before, and that it looks like the snow may be melting this week. 

I’m grateful to finally have a pair of winter boots. Some of you must be thinking that it’s crazy that I’ve lived so long so far north without them, but at some point, one often just kind of gets used to it. I remember the spring of ’97, which was so long in coming that I was out in shorts as soon as the temperature was coming up to freezing – but I lived in Minnesota, and I’m a descendant of Scandinavians who settled in Minnesota, so why should I have so much winter gear when the cold generally doesn’t bother me? But the boots do an excellent job of giving me grip on the snow and keeping my feet from freezing. 

I am grateful that I was able to meet up with a friend whom I hadn’t seen since this summer. More than that, I’m glad he’s still around to still meet up with. These last couple years, I have felt, intensely, this notion of shared struggle and bearing each other’s burdens. I feel more able to get through things because I’m bound to others who are going through tough things. Should one of us fall, there’s not just the pain of losing a friend, but of losing some of that “webbing” that makes it possible to keep going myself. 

I’m thankful that Oxy-clean takes out most washable marker marks on clothes, as my youngest decided to draw all over her white, knit dress today. 

I’m grateful that some missing things have turned up due to cleaning. 

I’m thankful to be exchanging messages with friends far and near. I’m thankful I saw the one clerk that I chat with the most at the local gas station today; it had been so long since I’d seen her that I thought maybe she stopped working there. 

I’m thankful for the little child who sometimes thanks me for the most mundane things. (“Mommy, you washed my shirt? THANK YOU MOMMY!”)

I’m grateful for God’s Love which is around me all the time.

I’m grateful for the patience so many people have had with me.

As always, I am thankful for you.

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