Negatives emerged lately in my life, the events in the last two posts, two good friends with health issues and a lot of pain. Nevertheless, yesterday, I started thinking of so many things for which I feel grateful. Then I said to myself, I am going to work on a week of gratitude, a week where everyday I make a list of things for which I feel grateful. Out of years of habit, I make a mental gratitude list every night as I drift off to sleep. This is more formal, a list I write down.
Yesterday’s list includes these:
-pure water from a deep well
-healthy food I cook myself
-children who live good, productive lives
-my own good health
Today’s list includes:
-a job I really enjoy in spite of paper grading tasks
-students who make me laugh and tell me they love me–who knows whether they mean it and honestly it’s ok either way
-outside chores, e.g feeding horses morning and evening. I cannot imagine life without this even when it is cold and miserable
-singing–after I post this, I will head to my weekly chorale practice. Currently, we are singing all these touching songs, poems by Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda put to music.
-taxes–crazy, I know. I recall someone once telling me he was happy to pay taxes because it meant he was making decent money and was not poor.
I’ve been in the midst of moving for almost a year, yet am still not finished with that onerous task. My youngest son and family recently moved into the place I’ve called home since 1980. I bought a small house in the vicinity and have just settled in after spending four months painting, cleaning, and hauling box after box to my new dwelling. At the same time, I’ve been traveling back and forth to New Mexico busy with painting, cleaning, and remodeling my “retirement house.” 
writingontherim 