365 Days of Gratitude

What I'm Grateful For: What Goes Down, Goes Back Up So I'm no longer a "spring chicken" - which is a nice way of saying I'm kinda old. I don't FEEL old, not one bit. But I am noticing a few things that are markedly different now from my "younger days." Yeah, there's the bits and bobs that are not quite as perky or bouncy or resilient. There's my darn trick knee, a torn ACL

What I’m Grateful For: Horses (aka, “Hard Work”) Right now I’m sitting in my car, on my laptop, hooked up to my hotspot, writing this while I watch my youngest warming up her new horse, Theo (short for Prometheus – yes, she IS her mother’s daughter.) It’s hot and dusty but the sun just sank beneath the ridge and a slightly cooler breeze is just now rolling off the dry hillside. In short, it’s

What I’m Grateful For: The Grind Some days are harder than others to feel grateful. Today is like that for me. Everything feels like a grind – from leadership to client communication, to parenting, to taking care of home and hearth. It doesn’t feel good, I don’t feel inspired and nothing holds much appeal. This is the grind. It’s where you put your head down and do what you said you’d do regardless of the

Last week’s post on solitude got a lot of response… ironically, as I wrote about solitude I heard back from so many people that I felt very connected! Which made me think about how grateful I am to be connected to so many amazing people. I also deeply appreciate the way that technology allows us to be more connected across greater distances. I know that technology has also made it easier for us

What I’m Grateful For: Solitude I’m not an extrovert, but if you met me, you’d probably think I was. I’m not shy in the least and I’m a good conversationalist and it’s pretty easy for me to get others to open up and share. But what I love most is solitude… I love the vast emptiness of the room when I’m the only one in it (ok, me and the dog, possibly the cat,

What I’m Grateful For: Sisters This morning I had a call from my sister (my only sibling). We had a rambling conversation that managed to cover everything from global warming, the future of our planet, social leveling tools in modern society, and odd fragments from our childhood that only the two of us would recognize. We have not always gotten along. In fact, there are many periods in our history that we were actively not

What I’m Grateful For: Food (Part 1 of 3) Part 1: Fasting As I write this, I’m simmering a batch of bone broth (made from bones from my sister’s grass fed lambs and my dad’s turnip-fed pigs). I’m taking a day off of eating (fasting) but am sipping bone broth throughout the day. I have been thinking a lot of about food the last year – what we eat, why we eat it,

What I’m Grateful For: Editing The process of editing your work (or someone else’s) is a critical and necessary part of creating a finished product. It’s also a task I dread and procrastinate on before I start, but one I absolutely love and have a hard time making myself take a break from once I begin. Why is this so? I don’t have a definitive answer, but a few possibilities come to mind. First,

What I’m Grateful For: Yardwork There’s nothing more fun than getting out in the yard, especially in spring, and launching into the process of getting everything raked, clipped, pruned, mowed and tilled. It’s not work at all – it feels like the best kind of play, enjoying the fresh air, the dog bouncing around like Tigger, birds at all the feeders – it’s funny that the word for it calls it “work!” I

What I’m Grateful For: Books Books. They are straight-up, always,100% something I’m perpetually grateful for. I have loved books as long as I can remember, having been a rather awkward, clumsy child with large glasses and an argumentative attitude. Books were my constant companions and they never failed me. Adventures, fantasy, learning, exploration, magic, history, science fiction – I read it all. Today, I still love reading. Books are quiet, constant companions. I always