Celebrating Ten Things

     Celebrating with Ruth Ayres and others today. Come visit to see how wonderful it is to celebrate the good things in one's life! 

      Life fills up before I know it, with good things, and then not so good. I am sad for the children of our world who hear news like the deaths this week, and those not long ago, and those from hurricanes. I know I'm supposed to be celebrating, yet on one level, I feel the stress of news and wonder how it will affect the children. One former student, now a teacher, lamented the challenge of having lockdown practice with her class, and the hard conversations necessary to help them answer worried questions. 

      And I do find much beauty too, in the people in my life, in nature, in words. Thus, I celebrate. . .

1. the smiles of children Halloween night, holding sacks up to be delighted with one more piece of candy
2. the expertise of workers helping me assess a water heater and change my car's headlight
3. the friendliness of checkers at my grocery who act as if we're old friends, ask how I've been, how everything is
4. my granddaughters' happiness when I arrive to pick them up at school, saying things like "Hurrah, it's Grandma day!"
5. customers at the bookstore needing help to find books "just right" for travel
6. co-workers at the store sharing their enthusiasm for new donations
7. beautiful books with stories of resilience, like Ruth's and others  
8. nature's beauty, every day a new discovery
9. a new group of support formed from my recent Highlights poetry retreat
10. the love and support given by my brother to his good friend when others stayed away

       "We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." ~Thornton Wilder