As you may know, once a month I blog about gratitude. I make a list of some of the things that make me happy, and the list’s number always matches the date.
Today is the 25th, and here is my list.
I would love to hear your list. Can you share?
Respectfully submitted, –Nathaniel
See below.
- Calabacitas con queso. This is one of my favorite Mexican dishes, little squashes with cheese. Also with corn and onion and garlic. I made it for my daughter Dorah today. At first she said she wasn’t hungry, but she ate it all—and with a smile.
- Eating it all.
- Smiles.
- Facebook likes. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am grateful for those little thumbs-up.
- The text message I just received, telling me that my friend is “out of surgery and doing well.”
- Text messages, medicine and courage.
- The Father’s Day gifts I received.
- The setting of the sun.
- And the rising of the same.
- Knowing the right thing to say at the right moment. And also recognizing when I do not.
- Facebook “friend requests” from my kids. They’re getting so big and so savvy. And they want me to be their “friend.”
- Wondering how many English words have two-v’s in a row, like in “savvy.”
- Friends.
- The part of my daily run where I jump down the steps and then duck under the palm tree in my way. It makes me feel alive.
- Feeling alive.
- The gratitude I feel for the realities of mobility, freedom and security that enable me to run. I have lived in places—and I know people who live in places—where this is not the reality.
- Not taking things for granted.
- When a random sound triggers a common-memory in uncommon ways. For example, this afternoon, Dorah and I both heard a car pass my apartment. The car had a glass-pack, and without skipping a beat, we both said, “Uncle Tom?” recalling his car and its noisy approach.
- The common and uncommon.
- A phone call from a friend who is calling to say: “I’m just checking in.”
- Being “present” with the fact that the “present” is only temporary, and learning to embrace its magic without being trapped within its temporal nature.
- Knowing that it’s okay to be sad.
- Knowing that it’s okay to be happy.
- The notions of blessing and of glory and of honor.
- My kids.