April 5, 2023: I am grateful for friends that share food–taco salad–and watch good moves (Fantastic Mr. Fox) to help celebrate my 53rd year here.

April 6, 2023: I am grateful, so grateful, for Robert the laundry delivery person for the office below me. On my loneliest of days, he shows the face of God to my low spirit by stopping his work, sitting on his van step to give Pearl a treat and talk with me. I like to imagine God would do this very same thing, even on the busiest of days.

April 8, 2023: I am grateful for friends who encouraged me to keep going when I felt positive I could not.

April 10, 2023: I am grateful to have reached a point in my life at which I’m learning to leave cut flowers in the vase a little longer. . . even as the petals begin to collect on the table and dry. I’m finally learning there is beauty in aging and a certain grace in death.

April 13, 2023: I am grateful that I am getting better at recognizing grief when I see it, instead of mistaking it for anger or sadness. This does not remedy those feelings but helps me make sense of my internal landscape.

April 16, 2023: I am grateful for mornings because they bring me a chance to start over. . . to start again.

April 21, 2023: I am grateful for Nathaniel because he is a delightful little human and he can really make me laugh. He also gives lovely hugs.

April 23, 2023: I am grateful for Pearl. Almost every day she challenges me and keeps me on my toes.

April 25, 2023: I am grateful for this sweet clay whistle in the shape of a whale and which fits so perfectly in my palm. I love that I found it a second-hand shop near me and I love both of her flippers–the one that remains whole and the one that has broken off.

April 27, 2023: I am grateful that I can step out of my apartment and find more friends than threats on any given day.

April 28, 2023: I am grateful that I have no idea what surprise or delight is just around the corner. . . like this tiny, hand-knit frog in his sweater and holding a tiny Pearl-like dog.

April 29, 2023: I am grateful for the unusual set of stairs that lead up to my apartment. My friend recently told me that they may help me live longer. So far Pearl has been able to manage them also.