Day 42: Your Favorite Possession

I am grateful for our dog, Bear. I'm grateful for his enthusiasm about walks. I'm grateful for how zealously he tries to guard our house, even with zero capability to execute. I'm grateful for his sweet cuddles. I'm grateful for his eyes that convey so much intense emotion. Dogs are the best and I'm very grateful for this guy.

Day 41: Hobbies

 

I am grateful for my hobby of running. I've posted about this so many times that I'm not sure I have anything new or original to say about it today, but this mess that necklaces are in gives a good illustration of one of my favorite aspects of running. When I go out, my mind often feels like it's in a big knotted tangle, whether it's an emotional issue or a work question or just overwhelm from the many demands of adult life. Somehow, over the course of a run, the knot loosens up. Sometimes new ideas pop in your head, sometimes the extra negative feelings burn away - usually the situation has not changed by the end of the run, but a measure of perspective (or dopamine?) helps relativize my feelings. The messy knot is gone. Now if only it worked so well on my real life necklaces :).

Day 39: Your Heritage

 

When I think about my heritage, I usually think about being Irish, as my Irish grandparent was the one who was most vocal about and celebratory of her ancestry. Also, the Irish are the ones who have their own American holiday.

But at this prompt, I did just a tiny bit of research into the less discussed parts of my heritage: German, Scottish, and Swedish. I think it's fascinating to find out about other people that some of their personality traits are as much cultural norms passed down from a certain line of ancestry as they are genetic.

And as I look at many of the norms that AI sums up about Swedish culture - reserved and private; egalitarian; value social harmony; loyal friends - I realize that a lot of who I am (and who that branch of my family has been) relates to the Swedish ancestry. That's pretty cool, I'm grateful for that new piece of knowledge gathered from this challenge, and it definitely makes me want to dive deeper into learning about Swedish and Scandinavian culutre as a means of learning more about myself and my family. 

Day 38: Music You Love

 The song I'm most grateful for right now is "Salt and Light" by Lauren Daigle. This is one of those songs that helps me answer the questions, "Why am I here and what do I want my life to be about?" It's so easy to get caught up in the rush of the day and let your mind primarily be overtaken by work tasks and meal planning and driving to kid activities and calling doctors and homeschool planning, that the deeper questions of life are so easily crowded out. 

That's why I'm so grateful for songs that give a central message that helps me think about, in the midst of life's hustle bustle, what should be the north star, and this chorus says it so beautifully:

"Let my eyes see Your kingdom shine all around
Let my heart overflow with passion for Your name
Let my life be a song, revealing who You are
For You are salt and light."

This is it! The North Star to aim for in all my different roles, tasks, and priorities - going for this in all of it. 

(Also - this must be at least the 4th or 5th time I've blogged about a Lauren Daigle song - I am profoundly grateful for her whole catalogue of music and the way it helps me to see and connect with God.)

Day 37: Something You Created

I'm grateful for this blog! At this point, it's been going for 12 years and it's got a little over 500 posts. I'm grateful for the time capsule that this creates for me as far as what I was going through and thinking about for much of my adult life. I'm grateful for the connection that it's created with friends and relatives. I'm grateful for how writing helps me process and organize an idea that's tumbling around my head like clothes in a dryer. I'm grateful that these gratitude series are always a helpful reset towards remembering the good. And I'm grateful for those of you who read my posts!

Day 36: Your Home

 

I'm grateful for the layout of our house. When we first moved in, this picture to the left is how the main area looked. Not the walls, curtains, flooring, or light fixtures I would've chosen. But those things can all be changed, and over time we have changed much of it. Meanwhile, from day one, we had a big common open space with lots of light in the front for hanging out; bedrooms separated and upstairs; a somewhat separated kitchen (to hide a mess while cooking) and family room (to allow for some separation of noise); and a loop the kids could run through all the rooms in the downstairs to get out some energy. Everything about this layout has worked out exactly how I hoped and I'm grateful for it. 

Day 35: Your Neighborhood

 

This picture doesn't capture it the best, but one thing I'm grateful for about our neighborhood is that all our immediate neighbors have embraced the string lights phenomenon. It makes our chunk of the neighborhood backyards feel more festive and more like a continuation of the living space rather than a hassle that needs to be water, weeded, and otherwise ignored. I'm grateful that it's so relatively simple and affordable to brighten up the space, and that so many in our neighborhood have jumped on board.