Unconventional Gratitude Month

This November on Facebook, many people posted one thing every day that they were grateful for. Here is a copy of all my posts:

Okay, I'm jumping on the November gratitude bandwagon. I, too, will be listing one thing every day that I'm grateful for. I'm pretty good about being grateful for the big things, so my self-challenge is to make my list more unexpected. Here goes...I am grateful:
-Day 1: that Barnes & Noble is always packed full of people reading books on a Sunday afternoon
-Day 2: that my brother is marrying someone I have so much in common with (cooking, yoga, little girls!). xoxo Marra

-Day 3: that no matter how often I call her, Joie Hauschild always takes my call when she's at work
-Day 4: that I married a man awesome enough to ask me for my ring size on our first date
-Day 5: that my oldest daughter is the type who says things like, "Mommy, is it okay that I think rainbows are alive?"
-Day 6: that even though I was unfortunate enough to be born with the thinnest, ugliest hair ever, at least as was I fortunate enough to be born with the ability to rock short hair.

-Day 7: I am grateful that Chris & I love the same beverages. Sounds silly, I know, but there are so many couples where one likes coffee & the other doesn't; one likes beer &; the other doesn't. So I am grateful for all the shared pots of coffee while reading the newspaper, shared flutes of champagne while celebrating, and shared pitchers of beer while eating pizza & wings. Cheers!

-Day 8: 2 days ago I was recognized by a complete stranger who had seen Mr. and Mrs. Smith the night before. So, on the most superficial of gratitude levels, I am grateful that 10 years and 2 kids have not altered my physical appearance as much as I thought they most assuredly had.

-Day 9: I am grateful for my husband's terrible memory. Picture it: Huntey's Subaru on one of our first dates...
me: What song is this?
Huntley: 'Round Midnight...Miles Davis.
Two weeks later in Huntley's Subaru:
me: This is 'Round Midnight, right?
Huntley in shock: Yes!
And I realize that he has completely forgotten the conversation from 2 wks earlier and that he now thinks I'm the coolest girl ever b/c I know a 1950's Miles Davis cover of a Thelonius Monk song. I did not 'fess up. Deceitful? Perhaps... :)

-Day 10: I am grateful that a version of this conversation between Kurt Hauschild and Chelsey Crisp happened almost 10 years ago:
Chels: How are rehearsals going?
Kurt: Great. But that new girl Rachael is in the play. She's pretty annoying. Such a know-it-all.
Chels: Rachael Huntley? She's awesome. Everybody I know loves Rachael. Give her another chance.
Kurt: If you say so...

I am now godmother to Kurt's daughter. He is one of my best friends and my life would be significantly different without him in it. Thank you for sticking up for me, Chelsey! (And for the record, we all know Kurt wasn't incorrect in his assessment of me...he just had to be patient to get to some of my more redeeming qualities!)

-Day 11: Grateful for that beautiful combination of things that is a glass of wine while making dinner in a warm kitchen on a cold night
-Day 12: Grateful for someone I've never met. Thank you Johnny Manziell! That game sparked so many texts, phonecalls, and facebook posts...we are the Aggies, the Aggies are we!!!
-Day 13: I'm grateful nobody was with me in Target on Sunday when I realized that I can no longer shop for Delilah in the toddler section and had to go to the big girl section. At least my silent tears of nostalgia could roll down my cheeks in peace.

-Day 15: I am having a rough day, so I am going to be unconventionally conventional with my gratitude today. I am grateful for these three precious souls. I snapped this pic at the zoo while they were watching happy seals playing with the falling leaves. I've never seen the inside of my heart, but I'm pretty sure it looks like this:

-Day 16: I am grateful that I was having so much fun on Day 14 that I forgot to make a post. :) My dear friend Laura flew in from Texas for 2 days with her daughter and we had a blast!
-The lost Day 14: I am grateful that my 4 year old knows her way around a Nikon. She took this pic of me & Laura in Times Square...perhaps this is the start of a new era where I am actually IN some of the photos of my life!

-Day 17: I am soooo grateful that my fiercely independent, going-on-sixteen, how-can-a-2-yr-old-know-her-own-mind-this-well?!, precious Noelle still comes up to me at least 3 times a day with a blankie in her hand, blinking her big blue eyes and asking, "Cuddle?" We snuggle on the couch and if it's just the right time of day, this happens:

-Day 18: I am grateful for white noise machines. Both Noelle & I would be awake all night without them. I think it means I need to live by the ocean. :)
-Day 19: I am grateful for movies that can be watched over & over. Many fall into this category for me, but there are three that make me stop every time I notice they're on tv: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Almost Famous, & Good Will Hunting.

-Day 20: I am grateful my dad always assumed I could be as good at math & science as my brothers, and he treated me as such. Because of him, I have never walked into a classroom thinking that something might be too hard to learn. Because of him, I was never the quiet girl who always let the boys answer the hard questions.

-Day 21: I am grateful for balloons!!! Ordinary ones make all children so happy, and giant ones make me happy! Spent all day at the Natural History Museum, then walked along the streets where they are inflating all the balloons for tomorrow's parade. Here we are in front of a giant candycane being inflated. The look on Delilah's face is pure joy.

-Day 22: I am grateful for all of it! Picture perfect weather days in NYC. A little blonde and a little redhead who like to kick up leaves as they walk across Central Park. Friends and family who celebrate with me via text & phone & FB since we can't be together in person. People who take pics of my family in front of the spiderman balloon at the parade. All of it...I am grateful!

 

-Day 23: I am grateful for lazy days that don't make you feel guilty b/c you were so active the previous days!
-Day 24: I am grateful for a babysitter so awesome that my girls want to wait in the lobby for her.
-Day 25: Every Sunday I lead the the junior high youth group at church. Today I had the middle schoolers instead. I am grateful I normally have the junior high kids...those middle-schoolers were a hot mess!

-Day 26: I am grateful for the dozen or so times every day that I catch Delilah teaching Noelle something new. Good Lord, those two love each other.
-Day 27: I am grateful for Noelle's ability to play on her own. I just spent two hours this morning doing school work while she played with her trains, worked on puzzles, and colored. Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to join a tea party that I wasn't even invited to...I've gone from grateful to feeling ignored. :)

-Day 28: I think I must have missed this day...oops!

-Day 29: I am so very grateful that Cheryl Dye Clifton has ALWAYS referred to me as her daughter. I still remember the first time she did it, almost 25 years ago. We were in a store and while talking to a saleperson, she called me her daughter. She quickly looked at me, and I just smiled. And you can see how wild Delilah is about her...this look of adoration speaks for itself:

 

-Day 30: I am grateful that it was never a struggle to come up with something to be thankful for. And I'm grateful that so many of you seemed to be entertained by my more unconventional posts. :)