Day 15: Season

Day 15:  What season are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the Advent season.  I wrote about this more at length a few years ago, and this year it seems relevant in light of current events.  It can be hard to get excited for holly jolly Christmas when it feels like things in the world are particularly crazy - with children's hospitals being bombed in Syria, with U.S. politics in a state of chaos, etc.  Our family has had a good year with the addition of a new baby and relative calm in the other parts of our life, but I know many others have experienced loss, hardship, and difficult transition.  Here is why the hard things make me grateful for Advent (quoted from my old blog, linked above):

 "The good news is:  sad feelings are kind of perfect for Advent.  I think those who are feeling sadness this time of year have a much better vantage point from which to understand and appreciate and deeply long for a hope that comes from outside of this dark and broken world.  As I struggle with some of Joshua's stuff, that is beyond what I can help with and beyond what doctors can fix, I feel the need for something outside of this world to come in and bring healing.  I appreciate the hope that came into the world when Jesus was born, and I understand the urgency of the cry, "Come, Lord Jesus."  When everything is comfortable and good...when you don't feel the sadness in your own life or in the world at large...then it can be harder to remember the great hope we receive at Christmas.  So if you're struggling this month, I hope this is an encouragement.

Day 14: Sight

Day 14:  What sight are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the sight of mountains.  I have lived in two different places that have the high desert with mountain view:  Alamosa, CO (pictured above, home of the Great Sand Dunes National Park) and now Reno, NV.  There are lovely things about every region of America, but for me, it's hard to beat the view of mountains, especially right at dusk, as the shadow, light, and clouds produce these amazing views (check out Reno at sunset, below).

Day 13: Abilities

Day 13:  What abilities are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the ability to triple jump (which, let's be honest, is probably more of a former ability at this point).  Track and field was my favorite part of high school.  I loved warming up with sprint mechanics, measuring out my mark, putting on spikes, and going for it.  I loved the days where we had brutal sprint workouts or long runs through the rain, and I loved the days before a meet where we got to take it easy and stretch.  I loved the 20 year old school-issued sweatpants.  I loved the different personalities of the coaches.  I loved the thrill of a track meet, particularly the high stakes state track meet.  But most of all, I loved the friendships with my teammates and I am grateful for memories of building sand castles in the sand pit, rolling down big grassy hills, and cheering each other on (there is time to kill between events, and we clearly used it well).  I am grateful that triple jump gave me an extra boost at getting into my dream college, and I am grateful that I got to continue jumping for 4 more years and make some more good friendships and memories.  And I am grateful that my body has not completely given out on me after 8 years of pounding from this unique, absurd, lovely event.

Day 12: Texture

Day 12:  What texture are you grateful for?

As the weather turns colder, I am grateful for all the textures that remind me of warm weather:  warm sand between your toes, walking barefoot on freshly cut grass, and the sensation of pool water on your legs.  The cold weather / short daylight season is hard for me (thank goodness for the holidays and lots of winter birthdays to bring some winter cheer!), and especially when I'm living somewhere with a brutal winter (such as Nebraska or Rhode Island), I visualize these textures and try to feel warmer.  I'm grateful for the textures of summer.

Day 11: Holiday

Day 11:  What holiday are you grateful for?

I am grateful for St. Patrick's Day.  It's funny to choose this one in the middle of the winter holiday season (the Advent season and Christmas are far and away my favorite holiday times), but there's something to be grateful for in many of the holidays, and I take special joy in this more minor holiday.  My dad's mom is 100% Irish, and though I have a blend of other western European ancestry (German, Swedish, English), this is the one piece of my heritage that got heartily celebrated, and it always makes me remember my Grandma Eileen fondly.  Every year growing up, we celebrated by wearing green and eating a meal of corned beef hash, potatoes, and cabbage.  And as I got older, add in a Guinness or two :).  My name, Erin, is also a nod to our Irish heritage.  I'm grateful for this holiday because it's fun and it celebrates my Irish roots.

Day 10: Taste

Day 10:  What taste are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the taste of Sicilia's stuffed crust pizza.  Sicilia's is a restaurant in the Federal Hill (Little Italy) section of Providence, RI.  The first time I visited this restaurant was a couple months into my first semester of college, with my new college roommate Judy (who would continue to be my roommate through all 4 years of college and will continue to be a lifelong close friend, and who I am *extremely* grateful for, much more so than this pizza).  We had attended a concert downtown and were looking for some late night comfort food, and this place fit the bill.  The stuffed crust pies are ridiculous even by pizza standards - there's a solid inch of baked cheese underneath the tomato sauce, which tops a thick, buttery crust - but in college, you can get away with eating that kind of food and not feeling like you're going to die afterwards.  Sicilia's turned into a regular Friday night tradition (also with our good friend Claire, and sometimes others), one of our favorite getaways if we wanted a couple hours away from campus.  We had a favorite waitress who knew our regular order.  I am grateful for the pizza, the friendships of Judy and Claire, and the many good memories at Sicilia's.

Day 9: Place

Day 9:  What place are you grateful for?

I am grateful for the Oregon coast.  My family has a beach house there, near Depoe Bay.  Growing up, we would visit this beautiful beach area every couple years, and I have so many good memories of family time spent in Oregon.  When we were little, we would explore the caves, play a game called "Weenie Wave" where we dodged the waves, and collect seashells.  As we got older, we hiked over the rockier parts of the coastline, had triple jump contests in the sand, and read through stacks of library books while tanning on the beach.  In the evenings, we watched the sun set over the ocean and watched for a green flash, played blackjack with M&Ms as our betting currency, and took walks through a pitch black tree tunnel as my brothers jumped out and tried to scare us.  On rainy days, we went into town and explored the boardwalk stores selling saltwater taffy, souvenir snow globes, and Oregon hoodies.  Farther down the road, in Newport, there's a fantastic bookstore, a seafood restaurant that makes a mean clam chowder, and a respectable aquarium.  So many of my favorite childhood memories take place in Oregon, and I can't wait to take my own kids to this special place.