Day 7: Book

 

What book are you grateful for?

I'm grateful for "The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories" by Ken Liu, for three reasons:  

First, it's a really good book!  It's well written, imaginative, tackles a variety of subjects in a variety of styles, makes you think, and is enjoyable throughout.

Second, it's a member of two groups that I didn't used to read a lot of:  1) speculative fiction (which includes fantasy, sci fi, and some of the more fantastical fiction / magical realism) and 2) short stories.  For the last several years, most of my fiction reading has been new literary fiction, and while these are still my favorite, it's fun to find new genres that you like - it really expands the world of books to explore and enjoy.  Especially during these pandemic years, it's been fun to escape into worlds that are way different than our current reality.

Third, this book was recommended by a friend.  It's so exciting when you discover that a friend is also a reader!  Who reads and recommends books that you really like!  And who you can also be recommending new books and talking about bookish things!  So this book helped grow a friendship, and I'm grateful for that.

Day 6: In Nature

What in nature are you grateful for?

I'm grateful for mountain lakes, and in this post I'm specifically grateful for those lakes that are off the beaten path.  We love Donner and Tahoe days with friends and are already eagerly longing for those fun summer days.  But there's something so exciting about a lake that not as many people know about, that you have to drive down a long, bumpy dirt road to find.  And then once you find a parking area, you hike in some more.  You might spend as much time getting to the lake as you do enjoying the lake, and that's part of the fun of it!  When you get there, it will be way less crowded, less trash, more pristine.  Even though we don't (yet) go to places that are truly way out in the back country, any extra effort to get to a lake makes it feel more special, more of an adventure, once you're there.  We are lucky to live close to tons of these kinds of lakes, we are only just starting to scratch the surface in discovering them, and I'm super grateful for them.   

Day 5: Item in my Home

What item in your home are you grateful for?

I think this prompt was pointing more towards inanimate objects, like a blender or washing machine, but there are no prompts on the master list about pets, and I can't let a whole month of gratitude go by without mentioning our dog, Bear!

I am grateful for Bear's unwavering love for his people.  If I go into the bathroom for 15 minutes to take a shower, he is waiting at the door when I come out, tail wagging, like it's the greatest moment of his life that we are reuniting.  When we sit down to watch TV, he's on the couch next to us seconds later, ready for a cuddle. 

I'm grateful that if someone is sad, he's by their side, ready to dole out a lifetime supply of licks.  

I'm grateful for his enthusiasm - When we say the word "walk", he starts doing circles near the leash and you can almost see the cartoon exclamation marks going off in his head.   Even though, in true pug fashion - if we go more than half a mile, he will need the rest of the day to recover from the exercise.  

I'm grateful for how he makes us laugh with his head tilts and the odd way he reacts to so many things.

Even the things that are more difficult are lovable in this dog.  For example:  he and Zoey's endless tug of war power struggle over the rope.

I'm grateful for the joy that pets bring to so many people, and I'm grateful that our dog Bear brings so much joy to our family.  

Day 4: Memory

 

What Memory Are You Grateful For?

I am grateful for the memory of hiking up Mt. Blanca.  There was a group of about 10 of, with various levels of hiking experience and physical fitness.  Mt. Blanca is a fifteenish mile (round trip) hike up a 14,000 foot mountain.  Most of the hike is climbing over rocks rather than a smooth dirt path.  Because it's so long, we carried backpacks with tents and food so that we could camp out at the lake on our way back down.  Since many of us (including me) were newbies to this whole endeavor, we got all of our gear - backpacks, sleeping bags, tents - at the local thrift store.  We did have a couple people in the group who knew how to do things like navigate the route, set up the tents, start a fire, and filter water (in case any of you reading this are experienced outdoors people and are starting to panic for us, haha).  

When you hike a fourteener, you leave your house in the middle of the night and hit the trail at the crack of dawn.  We started our hike on schedule, but with the wide variety in our group, it took longer than expected to get to the campsite, longer than expected to set up camp, and by the time we were preparing to do the last couple miles up to the summit, it was noon and clouds were starting to roll in.  The wise thing to do at that point would've been to heed the weather, stick around the campsite, and wait to try to summit until the next morning.  But we had already put in the hard work of rising early, struggling up the long road to the lake, pitching camp, and getting so close, and we all wanted to reach the summit that same day, so we decided to go ahead and keep going to the peak.  

At this point of the hike, the ridge was getting narrower, the boulders were getting bigger, there were ice patches, and the visibility was getting foggier and foggier.  And then, we started to see lightning.  In the cloud that we were right in the middle of, while climbing the narrow, icy ridge near the peak of a mountain.  We all understood that we were in serious danger and needed to turn around immediately, and we all started scrambling down as fast as we could.  There was no visibility in this thundercloud, there were tons of places where we could've taken calamitous falls, and there was the ever-present threat of the lightning.  I'd never been so scared in my whole life.  But somehow, we all made it back that mile and a half to camp alive and without so much as a sprained ankle.

Why am I grateful for this memory?  Because it felt to me like a powerful encounter with God.  I had been struggling with some faith questions and was kind of in a wandering / doubting phase, spiritually.  Being in the literal middle of a storm reminded me of the power of God, and seeing us all be completely delivered from that grave danger, against the odds, reminded me of the gift of salvation.  And it made the things I had been wondering about seem really minor and insignificant, in the face of those big things.  I'm grateful for this adventure, grateful that we all made it through, and grateful for the spiritual clarity that came from the experience.

Day 3: Food

 What food are you grateful for?

I am grateful for peanut butter sandwiches.  These are Josh's meal for almost every lunch and dinner.  At age 11, he is still quite impacted by the oral aversion that he developed from having a feeding tube in his early years, and sometimes it's tempting to get discouraged and frustrated about that.  But you know what?  Even though it's limited, this trusty sandwich (in combination with a variety of fruit and cheese or yogurt) has kept him healthy and has kept him growing and developing.  Some other things that are great about peanut butter sandwiches?  They're super affordable.  You can buy the ingredients anywhere.  They are easy to bring along in my purse and they travel well.  They don't need to be kept hot or cold.  They are quick and easy to prepare.  I'm grateful to this bread and peanut butter concoction for being such a faithful standby meal.

  

Day 2: Technology

 Day 2:  What technology are you grateful for?  

Not all heroes wear capes

I am grateful for E-cart groceries.  I really enjoy most parts of the feeding the family process.  I like reading through cookbooks and finding new recipes.  I like the rhythm of chopping vegetables, the smell of sautéing garlic and onions and spices, the magic that happens as raw food cooks into something more delicious.  But I *dread* the part where you have to go to the grocery store.  I don't like the fluorescent lights, getting the cart with the wheel that sticks, trying to find that one ingredient that is crucial for a whole meal but you have to check like five aisles to figure out where it is, or the delicate dance of maneuvering around the slower shopper, or being the slower shopper and not being in everyone else's way.  (I do like the grocery store music, and I like how since we all have to wear masks, it's easier to get away with singing along without it being awkward - but I digress.)  Enter online groceries!  Now I can "load" the cart on my computer at home, and then someone else does all the hard work and I just drive over and pick them up.  So much time and effort saved!  Thank you, online groceries, for taking one of my most dreaded chores and making it so much easier.

Gratitude 2022: Intro Post / Grateful for Something Today

I don't know about you, but to me, but to me, this time of year feels a little blah.  Despite super mild winter weather in Reno, and a fun new winter activity of skiing, and my birthday (all things that make the winter blues much better, and thank you to family members for fun birthday celebrations!), this stretch of January - February - March just feels kind of long and dark.  I'm feeling the need to push my mind in a more positive direction.  So I'm going to do a thing that I've done in the past in November, but the truth is that I have more time and more of a need to remember thankfulness in the doldrums of winter:  a daily thankfulness prompt.  

My goal is to do a short post every day in February about something I'm grateful for, following the chart above (more or less - I've done this a few times before and don't want to repeat, so I will modify some of them to allow freedom to write about something new).  If anyone wants to do this along with me - even just occasionally, using extremely brief answers - that would be so cool!  It will bring me so much joy if anyone messages or comments their own answer to these prompts.  I'm only going to post it on Facebook this first day and then keep the rest on the blog, but seriously, I would love it if anyone wants to join along for any of it.  Here we go with Day One:

Prompt #1 - Something You are Grateful for Today

Today, I'm grateful that I got to take Ivy to her preschool dance class.  Ivy loves to dance, and it's been fun to watch her in this activity that combines art and athleticism, Disney songs and friendship.  Ivy is our youngest and she will start kindergarten in the fall, so I'm increasingly aware that these days of shuttling kids to daytime activities and story times and park playdates is quickly drawing to a close.  Whatever next year looks like for me, there won't be Monday morning preschool princess dance class on the schedule.  There won't be a little kid in her car seat with her water bottle and stuffy riding along with me for each and every thing I do.  There's some excitement and freedom in thinking of all three kids being school age, but it's also the end of an era.  And while I won't particularly miss car seats and ziplock bags of Goldfish, I *will* miss the little kid cuddles and the not quite correctly pronounced words and wildly imaginative pretend play and boundless enthusiasm that comes with this age.  So I'm grateful that I still have a little more all day time with this sweet kid and everything that comes with the preschool age.