#365Gratitude Day 232: Pause

Thursday was a busy day.  I had a meeting to go to about an hour and a half away from where I usually work. ​

My boss, who is very good to me, let me work from home that morning.  I got on my way mid-morning and found my way there. 

After twoish hours of mind-numbingly boring meetings I got back in my car and got ready to go home. 

That was when it struck me. I'm pretty fortunate.  All things being equal, life is working out pretty well for me.  

As often as crappy stuff pops up, more often than not, my day to day life is really enjoyable.  

I spent a few minutes sitting there in my sunlight warmed car, just enjoying being in no particular hurry, before I got on the road.  

#365Gratitude Day 231: On being alive

Every so often, I am once again grateful for this thing I'm sharing with you now.

It's a "song" sort of, a music piece created by the artist Dreaming in the Void, using elements of a spoken word lecture by Alan Watts, on what it means to be alive.

Every single time I listen to it, without fail, I feel bliss.  

Just last night on my way home from work, I was talking to my friend Andrea about the music.  So this morning I listened, and shared it, first with her, and now with you.

Andrea and I have a very special relationship.  We're friends, we love and care about one another, all that stuff.  

But we also are each other's spiritual sounding board.  She's the person whose spirituality most closely resembles my own.  We're both obsessed with mindfulness, eastern thought, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and how they apply philosophically, to modern, western lives.

On a fairly regular basis, we also call one another on our shit.  When I fee low, I call her up, and she gently, kindly, slaps me around a bit.  I do the same for her.  It's almost eerie how things I have going on in my own life mirror hers.  We're almost always in lockstep about the things we need from one another.  Something I've just focused on will turn out to be something she needs to discuss, and vice versa.

I'm grateful that through sharing our practice with one another, both our lives improve.

#365Gratitude Day 230: After a great date night

Yesterday I was grateful all day for what had happened Monday night.  It was the night of the mysterious date night Missy had told me about weeks before.

I got home, and we went out for dinner.  The mystery surprise is that it wasn't just dinner though!

We went to this special event where you get drinks, appetizers, and take a painting class as a couple!  

It.  Was.  Awesome.

What made this particularly special for me was that Missy picked this particular class on this particular night because we would be doing The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai!  It is my all time favorite painting.

What a super thoughtful, sweet, and romantic thing for my wife to give me.  I love her so much.

Want to see how our paintings turned out? 

Here's Missy with hers

I call mine "The Minor Shark Off Kanagawa".

What a great night.

#365Gratitude Day 229: Grownup Leftovers

Monday morning I was a little rough.  (Round tripping 900 miles in two days will do that to you.)  I was super pleased to see we still had a poppy seed roll left so I used it to make myself a very nice little breakfast sandwich. 

Then I packed my lunch for work.  That apple came from a rest stop somewhere in Connecticut.  That salad was leftover from one I had made on Friday.  I love leftovers.  They push a few buttons for me.  On the one hand, it's like found money, sort of.  On the other, they're sort of the Ghost of Good Meals Past or something.  

It's probably not very grown up that I thought I would enjoy that apple for my mid-morning snack just a little bit more because I got it on the way to see my friends.  

But you know what? It was absolutely true. 

#365Gratitude Day 228: Birthday Bagelry

Sunday after the Littles Invasion, we all got breakfast at a great diner.  The invasion was lots of fun - there were a ton of littles there.  I got to meet some folks in person who we've had on the podcast, bumped into old friends I hadn't seen in almost a decade, too.

But the very best part was surprising Maddy.  She had no idea we were going to be there.  We sauntered into the playspace and found her and Devin, and tapped her on the shoulder.  She sort of spontaneously combusted into a pile of affectionate melty goo.

This makes me very happy.  I'm total rubbish at surprises and secrets.  Not three days before this, she had messaged me saying how much she missed us, and wanted us to visit sometime.  I said, with as straight a face as I could manage (which was to say not at all) "Oh don't worry, Maddy, I'm sure we will see one another sooner or later."

Good thing it was a texting conversation.  I have like no poker face whatsoever.

Anyhow, as I was saying, the next morning, we went out for breakfast.  The diner was really, really good.  They had amazing challah french toast, and they had bagelry.    The item on the menu struck me so funny, I had to take a picture.

After breakfast, because I suck mightily at goodbyes we lingered in the parking lot for way too long, and took a happy, schmoopy picture with Devin and Maddy.

I love them so much.  Sure, this was a surprise for Maddy, but it was really a treat for me, too.

We'll have the schmoop to go, please.