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Me being a softy for all manner of new beginnings, wrapping ups, looking back and facing forward, I’ve decided to participate in this lovely idea of a blog-to-blog blanket of gratitude, friendship, and community. Want to join? Read how here (also, thank you, Dale – for the idea).

The short of it? Set a timer for 15 minutes and let loose: write, detail, list, describe and put your gratitude into words. No edits needed. No wrong answers. No test at the end. Nothing to lose and everything to gain.

If you are so inclined, read my unedited, uncensored Gratitude Wrap Up — here I Go!

1. Family. A blessing even wordy-me hasn’t enough words for.
2. Friends. For all the gifts of laughter and joy.
3. Joy. Because life is so much richer with it.
4. Life. Without it, there would be nothing.
5. This planet. Without it there would be no life as we know it.
6. Oxygen. I adore the stuff. Can’t imagine living without it.
7. Water. The obvious stuff, but also in rivers and oceans. Especially the beach.
8. Waves. In the sea. In the ebb and flow of life. In the ups and downs of everything. In hellos and even in the sweet sorrow of goodbyes (for there had to have been a hello for there to be a goodbye).
9. Light and the gift of sight.
10. Colors. In nature. In emotion. In people. In energy. In food. In flowers.
11. Flowers. Not so much the cut ones in bouquets as the ones still living, blooming loudly without shame or apology.
12. Apologies. For making room for amends and for allowing humility, humanity, empathy, fallibility, and compassion.
13. Compassion. I’d put it first. But this is unedited and … it really fits everywhere. Any day. Any time.
14. Time. To live. To breathe. To be. To learn. To write.
15. Learning. For there is so much more to know!
16. Writing. Because, well, it is like breathing.
17. Breathing. It’s lovely. Also, see #6 …
18. Children. For everything they are and the hope they hold and the laughter they bring and the teachers they are.
19. Hope. The hope you feel. The hope you know. The hope you may be able to give someone, someday. The hope you might’ve forgotten but now remember.
20. Memories. So many of those. Some I might’ve wished to never know, but since they are part of me, I’d rather know than not, for they are all a part of me and made me into who I am today.
21. Today. Every day. There would be not past or present or future without it.
22. Tomorrow. For exemplifying hope by working on becoming a today and by that showing trust in what can be.
23. Trust. For the depth of connection it allows, especially as it is never something I take for granted, having known betrayal.
24. Connection. No person is truly an island. We need our shores to touch those of others, through waves and flow and ebb and sun and rain and heart and sound.
25. Sound. For the gifts of hearing, listening, and understanding.
26. Comprehension. For this world is complicated enough, and I am grateful to know some meaning.
27. Meaning. For life. For love. For connection. For work.
28. Work. Because to live is to work. Not just in what one defines as a job, but in what one can define their life’s work to be, and the glimpses of the plan.
29. Plans. Love them. Sometimes I am not sure I feel the love, but I know I do, someplace, or I’d have never made the plans …
30. Love.
31. Love.
32. Love.
33. Repetition. Some things get better the more you know them. The more you do them. The more time you spend in them. They improve with age.
34. Aging. Seriously. I’ve earned every wrinkle. I’ve labored in the sun for every freckle. I’ve stitched every bit of wisdom, sometimes from tatters of harder times to make a quilt of who I am.
35. Being me. Not because I’m so special, but because we each are. And I’m happy for the opportunity to be me. Just because (also, I’m a limited edition. They broke the mold after making me, so it’ll be a waste to not make the most of it even if just because I’m super curious to see how I’ll unfold).
36. Curiosity. Can’t help it. Don’t want to change it. Wonder where it’s all coming from.
37. Wonder. It keeps me on my toes. It keeps my ‘awwww’ and ‘wow’ and ‘whoa’ muscles working.
38. Muscles. I’ve got the skinny-Minnie edition of those, so I’m grateful for every fiber: they keep me upright, they keep my fingers typing (yeah!). They keep my heart pumping.
39. Heart. In all its manifestations. Even broken hearts are better than being heartless. I’m so so grateful to have heart and to know so many people who have golden ones.
40. Gold. Not the metal, but the color – in the sunrise, in the sunset, in the sparkle, in the light.
41. Sunrise and sunset. They never fail to quicken my heart and expand my soul.
42. Soul. It’s older than this body. It’s wiser than this life. It’s been hanging around this universe a while, and it’s been traveling in a little cluster with other souls, most of whom I totally adore.
43. The universe. Don’t understand it. Can’t grasp the size of it. Not sure I really ‘get’ how it went ‘bang’ and where it is expanding or collapsing into, but I sure am grateful for it. May even be grateful for extraterrestrials. Come to think of it, I bet I already know a few such travelers.
44. Travel. To new-to-me and known-to-me places. It expands my mind and nourishes my spirit.
45. Nourishment. In all its forms but especially in its most basic, which I know so many in this world still struggle to have access to, even as there should be more than enough for all of us. Having healthy food isn’t something to take for granted.
46. Health. This, too, in all its forms and in its most fundamental. I’ve been blessed to know both health and some of its challenges. It keeps me grateful. It keeps me aware.
47. Awareness. Being conscious is a good thing. Seriously. I know what I’m talking about.
48. Talking. I’m SO grateful for the gift of gab. I’d implode if I didn’t have words.
49. Words. Language. Communication. My elements. My calling. My profession. My path.
50. Journey. Especially that of life. With all of you who cross my path and join my path and whose path I am allowed to join. I’m so so grateful.

Want to make your own stream-of-consciousness gratitude list? Follow the link below.

For the 2018 Annual attitudes of gratitude list