Day 8: A Coworker

 Today, I'm grateful that I have a supportive boss and helpful assistants at work.  There are some stressful days and weeks in the life of a lawyer, some times where you need someone to have your back (whether that's helping you work through what to do next, or helping you file something that you submit at the very last minute).  I am lucky to have very competent, kind, supportive people as my co-workers.

Day 7: Social Media Platform

 

Today, I'm grateful for Instagram.  I chose Instagram in part because I've already written extensively about Facebook :).  But I do appreciate things about Insta.  I appreciate how it has photo editing capabilities, so you can show up with your shadowy, weirdly angled picture and edit it into a keeper.  I like how they make it at least a little more difficult for people to take and re-share your information.  I'm grateful for how easily you can add music to pictures and videos.  I'm grateful for funny pug videos.

But most of all, I like their focus on the visual.  I like how this encourages people to share moments of their day, rather than sharing political rants and articles of dubious truth and other things that aren't actually shares about them and their experience in this world.  

Day 6: Someone You're Grateful For

 

A person I'm grateful for is my sister-in-law, Naomi.  When you date your spouse, you don't necessarily spend a lot of time thinking about all the people that are going to come along with that choice when you get married.  Which is funny, because over the course of a lifetime, you spend a lot of time with this extended family.  I have been really, really blessed across the board with my fantastic in-laws, but have never done a focused post on Naomi.  We joined the Ching family at nearly the same time, marrying the Ching brothers just 2 weeks apart in the spring of 2006, and barely knowing each other as we lived on opposite sides of the country.  

Once I relocated to Reno, I learned that I had hit the sister-in-law jackpot.  Naomi is warm and friendly, interesting and interested, loyal, fun, so smart, and just an overall terrific human being.  We share a love of mountains and reading, we share a common faith, we had kids around the same time, and she's been a super helpful mentor for me in the world of homeschooling.  She's incredibly organized and has a spreadsheet for all occasions, which we like to tease her about, but actually makes everything run much more smoothly.  And for the last four years, she's been the pastor's wife at a church plant that we attend together, and has worked so hard to keep things going behind the scenes.  I'm so grateful for Naomi.  

Day 5: A TV Show / Movie

 

A movie I'm grateful for is The Princess Bride.  The kids are finally old enough, as a group, that we can start watching some of the movies that were my favorites as a kid.  Some of them hold up better than others.  This one is a great blend of comedy, adventure, fairy tale, and lots of quotable lines.  ("Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" is another banger in this same category.)  This gratitude series seems to be taking on a nostalgic theme - we'll see if it continues :).  I'm grateful for movies that bring back good memories for me, and that I can enjoy all over again with my family.  

Day 4: A Type of Food

 

Today, I'm grateful for luxurious breakfast foods.  The kind that someone took the time to cook up hot, and that usually people sit around a table together and eat.  The kind that usually means weekends, holidays, special occasions, or camping.  (At least for us - weekdays are throw together something easy, like toast or oatmeal.)  The kind that would usually be called dessert, if you weren't eating it before 10 am.  

My absolute number one pick for luxurious breakfast would be banana chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs with spinach and goat cheese mixed in.  But I'm also grateful for anything else in this delicious category.  

Day 3: An Album

 

An album I'm grateful for is "Jagged Little Pill" by Alanis Morissette.  This album came out in 1995 and stayed influential through the late 90s - right when I was in high school.

This album is packed with emotion - anger, wistfulness, love, sadness, a whole gamut.  And like with all the best music, you can really feel these emotions through her words and melodies.  It helped me work out the big feelings that come with the teenage years, and to see that music is a great place to turn when you want to work through the ups and downs of emotion.  

Another thing I love about this album is that it's quality songs from start to finish - a rarity always, but more so now than ever in the age of streaming music.  It was so great to put on a CD and listen to and enjoy the whole thing from start to finish.  

A Place

Today's prompt is:  think about a place you're grateful for.  I'm grateful for trails.  I love the feeling of discovery around every bend.  I love getting to see crazy rocks formations coming out of the top of a mountain and thinking about what geological event happened to make that formation.  I love walking through a desert landscape and seeing a flower appear to break up the brown and sagebrush.  I love waterfalls, big and small.  I love the sounds of birds, wind rustling through trees, babbling brooks.  I love the combination of nature, sunshine, and movement.  I love the type of easy conversation that comes when you hike as a group.  I love the silence of hiking alone.  I love running a trail that you've done a hundred times before and knowing the trees and canyons along the way like friends.  I love nature trails that tell you a new fact every quarter mile or so.  Cheers to trails!