#365Gratitude Day 279: Recollection

My wife Missy is a photographer.  She takes her fancy SLR camera with her most places, has some sophisticated photo editing tools on her phone, and always is on the lookout for a good shot.  She particularly likes nature photographs, like cherry blossoms, sunrises, and sunsets.  

She's really, really quite good.

It's a passion for her.  She's the sort of person who loves a good souvenir, and likes to collect things.  I think that's great.

I'm a fan of people having passions, having several of my own.  One of these is her passions.  (I know, that's a little meta.)

I love seeing Missy's passions get sparked.  Often, when I'm with her on one of her photography jaunts, I'll sneak a picture of her taking a picture.  

Just like this:

She was sure digging that sunset.  And I was digging her digging it.

#365Gratitude Day 278: A landmark decision

On Monday, I went out for a good long walk/run.  I intended to do several miles.  I was listening to a good book, Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, and was bopping along at a good clip.  Everything was going great.  There was some rain from time to time, but I didn't mind, because it was really, really hot out.

Then my bluetooth headphones died a sudden, and permanent death, and I decided it was time to go home.

Now I have a really, really terrible sense of direction.  I often joke that if I was stuck inside a wet paper bag, naked, with my butt touching the back of the bag, I wouldn't be able to find my way out.  

I didn't want to keep my phone out, for fear I'd rainwater-fry it just like I did my headphones.

Luckily, I had some landmarks to help me find my way.  Like this one.  

Yup.  Sharky's Restaurant.  Complete with giant shark statue bursting out of the wall of the restaurant.

I followed the landmarks, and ducked under awnings and various shelters to check the map on my phone from time to time.

Without too much struggle, I did make it home okay.

I was grateful for that!  (And grateful there was a place not too far away where I could pick up some new headphones the next day.)

#365Gratitude Day 277: Yoi tomodachi (良い友達), "Good Friends"

A while back my nephew married a sweet, lovely girl from Japan.  He moved there, and eventually they had a baby.  (He's adorable.)  Now they're back in the United States.  I've known my niece-by-marriage for a while now, having met her when they were first dating.  She's hysterically funny, often hyperkinetic in the best way, and very loving.  She's phenomenal.

Her side of the family came to the US for their wedding, where I got to meet them.  They wanted immediately to connect with us, and help grow the family.  This shows in countless little ways.

For example, when Marybeth (my sister in law) visited them in Japan earlier this year, they tromped all over Kyoto looking for a painted fan for me with a copy of Hokusai's Great Wave Off Kanagawa on it, as a present for me.  (It's my favorite painting.)

I love that these sweet, gentle, kind people are family to me.

Nowhere does this show more than the relationship between Marybeth and Y., my niece's mother.  They're best buddies, co-grandma's together, and thick as thieves.  She came back to the US with my niece and the baby.  We're on vacation down in Florida visiting with them all. 

I snipped this little picture of them out walking together this morning as I was out on my run, and it filled me with all sorts of joy.

#365Gratitude Day 276: Flying into fish

Yesterday we flew down to Florida.

I was worried it might not go well.  Hurricane Joaquin was due to make landfall right around when we'd be getting in the air.  Thankfully, the storm turned east, and didn't get in our way.

We got through some fairly stressful airport hassle and hubbub, did some convenient ingressing, made our plane with plenty of time to spare, watched a little Big Hero 6 on the plane, and after dealing with some really annoying rental car nonsense, eventually made our way to the house we rented, where Marybeth and her fellow grandma-to-the-newest-member-of-the-family were waiting up for us, with, among other things, some very delicious sushi.

All in all, it was a day that worked out pretty well.

#365Gratitude Day 275: Pause

Friday was going to be a busy day.  I had to get into work quick, make short work of a long day of technically difficult things, then jet home to work out, and pack for our vacation.

I drove to work in a heated up frenzy of anticipatory impatience, not helped by the torrential rain coming down from Hurricane Joaquin.

Once I parked though, the sound of the traffic and the falling rain just fell away from me.

I got out of the car, looked across the parking lot to the highway and just...

...paused.

And for a few minutes, my mind was empty.

It felt good.

It wasn't too much later my brain was full again, and I rushed around like a maniac.  But that doesn't mean that the pause wasn't worthwhile.  It's always good to have.