Friday's Blessings

Being that I missed Thursday again (how do I keep missing Thursday? what is happening to my Thursdays?), I've decided to share some of Friday's blessings.

1. a good night's sleep - I am enormously grateful that I don't have any trouble falling asleep or staying asleep thru the night

2. a loud alarm clock - electricity is an under-appreciated blessing. it keeps the clock going, turns on that blasted alarm, and keeps the air conditioning going thru the night. it does a few other things as well.

3. an upcoming visit to the beauty parlor - these locs need some loving from somebody who knows what they are doing.

4. aloe vera plants and their healing properties - all four of us have benefitted from the juice of the healing plant both internally and externally.

5. a fully functioning washing machine - and its partner, the dryer. I am grateful that I've never had to beat our clothes on a rock or against a wall or scrub them up and down an old-fashioned washing board.

6. books - not much makes me forget about life's challenges quite like an enthralling book.  I don't usually read novels. I don't usually read novels based on specific times in history, especially war time history. But this book has me by the throat at the moment, and it won't let me go. Check out The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

7. coffee with soy milk, sugar, and peppermint syrup - I know, sugar, sugar, sugar. And I love it, love it, love it.

8. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert - they make me laugh. they make me think. they make me want to scream. they make me want to vote!

9. readers who comment, who challenge me, who encourage me to keep writing.

10. several conversations and email exchanges with people as a follow-up to and continuation of my piece on "inner hierarchies." apparently, we all struggle with them. it has been an honor and a joy to discuss this topic with so many women (and men) who are asking a lot of the same questions and feeling a deep dissatisfaction with many of the answers we are recieving. it is a joy to hear their thoughts and to share mine. this life journey, this faith journey is not an easy one, and I am glad to have so many wise, willing, and wonder-filled women (and men) to walk it with.

11. my trusty ten-year-old minivan - with 141,600+ miles, it hums along, hauling me, my family, and our stuff from place to place. it has left me stranded only 2 times in all the years i've had it - once in 2004 with a flat tire and once last summer with "a throttle body that needed to be cleaned." I have no idea what that means, but after having to leave it at a garage next to the restaurant where I'd been eating dinner one night, I was terrified that they would call me in the morning and tell me it was a $1300 job. Nope - it cost less than $20 to fix, and we've had no problems since. (I know I've written about my minivan before, but I love this car. And true love must be declared publicly and often. This van has been more faithful and reliable in the ten years we have had it than the Jaguar we leased for only two years. That car, as beautiful as it was, as spectacular as the sound system was, as comfortable as it was, spent too much time in the repair shop. And the folks at Jaguar didn't seem the least bit surprised about the problems. No apologies. Just "Okay, bring it in." Or better yet, "You should bring it in as soon as possible." Gee, thanks, guys.)

12. having woken up this morning with most of my mind still in tact, with the roof still in place above us, with a strong and healthy body, with my husband and children still alive and well, and the blessed assurance that all is well, all is well, all manner of thing shall be well.

I am blessed indeed.
I am grateful.