I am grateful for the owl who who who patrols our neighborhood from his perch in the old pine tree outside my bedroom window. I like his steadiness in the predawn hours.
“Whoooo. I am here.”
“Whooo. I am listening.”
“Whooooo. You are not wrong to worry but you will feel so much better when the sun comes up.”
“Whoooo. I got you.”
Whoooo. I got that mouse outside your basement window too.”
Whoo-oosh!
I am thankful that every sunrise feels like a gift and every sunset a promise.
I am grateful for medical research, doctors who harness it and patients who are willing to give it a go.
I feel lucky to be a member of my big ole family and for the universal way we define it.
I am grateful for thick mugs of hot tea and the time to savor them.
I appreciate my patient, funny, thoughtful friends – those who have known me for decades and those, who knows? I may meet tomorrow.
I’m thankful for poetry and my daughters who write it.
I love my hometown.
I’m grateful for music in almost every form (working on my rap love but it feels so raw. Looking for an artist who’s less shock, more awe. The industry itself still sounds quite misogynistic. Could we tidy up the language or is that unrealistic?)
I am thankful for shadows and silhouettes and the light they require.
The City Park Christmas tree makes me smile every time I pass it.
I am grateful for comingled recycling, online banking, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, smartphones and canned soup.
I am thankful for seasons. All of them. The hope of spring, joy of summer, beauty of fall, peace of winter, magic of Christmas, gratitude of Thanksgiving, baseball season, basketball season, football season, which reminds me. ..
You made me mad this week, Green Bay Packers, but I love you anyway and I’m grateful to be a fan of the coolest team in the NFL.
I am grateful for public art – even in forms that freak me out. (What is that rusty mask sculpture on the west side of the College Avenue Bridge? That’s a lot of angry eyes staring at me!)
I’m grateful every time I press my garage door opener and that fickle, heavy door slides up. Because we have a difficult relationship, I feel that way about all my appliances. I am grateful every single time I press the power button and they turn on.
I am grateful for my strong, sweet sons and the intelligent women who share their lives.
My camera brings me joy and I am grateful for the images we make.
I am grateful for my smart co-workers and the way they all lean in.
I appreciate a good book and the authors who write them.
I feel lucky every day to be married to the guy I met in college 34 years ago.
I am thankful for November and the million small gifts of gratitude it reminds us all to ponder.
I am grateful to God and I am grateful for you.
Here’s our majestic friend doing its thing:
