Thankful Tuesday

My heart is so full of gratitude today that I couldn't wait until Thursday to be thankful.
Today I'm grateful for -

* the mellow sounds of a hammered dulcimer wafting between the trees of a friend's backyard

* walking into my kitchen, seeing my son's best friend grabbing a bowl from the cupboard, preparing to serve himself pasta for dinner

* sharing two sandwiches and asparagus fries by the water with one of my dearest friends

* sharing the simple, profound beauty of walking a labyrinth with the same wonder-filled woman

* preparing to teach another Bible study at a local senior community's devotion time tomorrow morning

* being invited to return there to teach again and again

* tearing magazine pages and gluing favorite images into a recently handmade journal with recently acquired friends

* pumpkin spice coffee in the morning

* eating Barack Obama's face... wishing his gorgeous teeth could have been reproduced on the cookie

* rediscovering my sponsor child's mailing address (she lives in Swaziland) and sending her an envelope full of goodies

* that newborn baby smell I breathe in every time I hold little baby Graeme Murphy, my newest crush

* an unexpected evening phone call, laughter, stories, stumbling over one another's questions and answers, wanting to say it all at once

* the powerful new sound system that goes along with the new car smell

* a small cup of Trader Joe's tawny port, which sells for a meager $5.99 per bottle: the perfect way to end the day

* dinner with ridiculously generous friends in a fabulous restaurant before seeing Tosca

* the love of a loyal dog, even though said dog is loyal only to my husband and not to me

* cozy sweaters on cool autumn nights

* being greeted warmly, smiled at broadly, and welcomed graciously every time I show up at the church we now attend... not that we attend every week, but we are treated like first time guests every time we do show up

* blueberry pancakes, coffee and orange juice, especially when all I had to do was make the coffee

* the scent of sandalwood candles

* lying quietly on my yoga mat after a challenging session of pilates

* brand new thick red bath towels and wash cloths - discovered on the clearance table at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I paid $5.99 for towels that were originally priced at $19.99 and 99 cents for wash cloths originally priced at $12.99. (Do people really pay more than $10 for wash cloths???)

* the sound of the washing machine hard at work on a load I didn't start

* realizing that the only other person in the house is my 16 year old son

* a little while later, having him ask me if he should hang up his tennis clothes to dry on the drying racks in the laundry room...
me: yes, you should hang them up. do you need any help?
him: nope.
me: smiling broadly and silently in the next room, thinking to myself: "that boy is gonna have one very happy wife!"

* realizing again, for the first time and also for the umpteenth time, that I am abundantly blessed

***** Thanks be to God.