typewriter art

My Type of Gratitude List, No. 8

September 2: I am grateful for melons and the ones who grow them.

September 4: I am so grateful for walks along the river with friends, both human and canine.

September 5: I am grateful for my landlord, David Livingston.

September 8: I am grateful for friends who walk with me when I really need their help. Friends who are also doing the work of speaking truth and who communicate well.

September 9: I am grateful I was not hit by the motorcycle that did not stop as I was crossing the street in the crosswalk.

September 11: I am grateful for these plums from a friend of a friend’s garden and also for this Oregon geode, cut and polished by a friend who is moving away.

I am grateful I know what to do when I see a dog in a dark vehicle on a hot summer day, with very little ventilation.

September 12: I am grateful to have found this professional french fry cutter second hand. Now I can make my own sweet potato fries in the oven.

September 18: I am grateful for this down comforter, King Size, for my Queen size bed.

September 19: I am grateful that when I took Pearl’s medicine accidentally this morning , I did not suffer ill effects (or start barking).

September 21: I am grateful to collaborate with Janet on her mural design at church. The opportunity to be a part of her art like this is a gift.

September 22: I am grateful for friends with gardens. I’m also grateful for handmade wooden drums and googly eyes.

September 26: I am grateful that I have been given the opportunity to work with and spend time with kids. They are the best version of humans.

September 29: I am grateful to live in a relatively quiet town, with relatively short rush hour spurts.

September 30: I am grateful for this brilliant Fall day.

My Type of Gratitude List, No. 3

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.