Gratitude

Sometimes I can't help but take a moment and really consider all things that I am so grateful for.  Life is so beautiful and luminous...
Here are a few things that I feel compelled to be very thankful for:

• My family, of course.  The most lovely children and the most loving spouse I could imagine.
• Elizabeth's smile and self confidence
• John's wisdom and fun
• Whole wheat products
• Ladybugs crawling up a long, thin leaf.
• People with specialized knowledge who can offer that knowledge to you
• The moment water runs out of your ear
• Cool nights for sleeping
• Dark sky moments
• Seeing birds soaring the high air currents
• Symbolic art
• GPS
• How Jerry will come and find me to talk and his eyes brighten as we talk.
• Small pictures, stuffed animals, origami, and other items of love given to be by a child
• Authors with that ability to touch and explore and lay bare
• People with respect
• Daffodils along the highways
• sawdust kisses from my husband
• An ice maker
• Post-it notes
• How sunshine sparkles on dirty windows
• How "old friends" can become new friends
• Sharpies
• How challenges make us stronger
• Authenticity and my absolute need to be so
• Spinach
• Wisdom that comes with age 
• Kid-made earrings
• reading piles of old letters
• the produce market
• a dusty car after driving on a country road
• Old Stone
• That my husband sleeps through my snoring
• The way water is funneled down a hosta leave, right to the roots
• Clip art
• Dark brownish-black soil, their smell and appearance
• Photoshop
• Libraries
• The internet and it's fullness and wisdom, and the people who created it
• Artisan tiles
• That person who stops to ask if you need help when you are on the side of the road
• When people clean up after themselves
• Those bathing puffs and soap in a bottle...no soap scum!
• When someone asks for my advice
• Automatic doors
• Those little freckles on noses and cheeks
• TEDtalks
• teaspoons
• Comments on my blog posts
• Smiling faces with or without dimples
• The ability to remember, create, organize:  Our amazing brains!
• Chapstick 
• the sun setting behind a weed tonight...the weed was covered with droplets of water
• The baggers at the grocery store
• Bird nests in the corner of our windows
• Ice cold water
• Mint growing in the yard, it's fragrance when cut or mowed
• The moment after a sneeze
• That walk across a college campus...such possibilities
• Free time spent with friends and good conversation and laughter
• Skype
• Those little trickles of water between yards
• Furniture on the front porch for lounging
• Phones with cameras in them
• The sound of the mourning dove
• Blogging 
• Ice cream
• Unexpected guests
• Being optimistic, open-minded, and caring
• Board games, dominoes, and family game night
• How everyone is so different
• Flossers
• Braces for crooked teech
• The 80s are OVER
• Self-respect and integrity
• Crocs
• Seeing Anya jump on the trampoline
• Vinca
• Music
• The power of positive thinking
• Sunscreen
• Those people who say what I can't say
• Online-only friends who, somehow, I feel close to and care for
• Saying that without feeling like a freak
• Clover
• Medical advances, research, and technology that make our lives so much healthier
• Netflix
• Living a dogma-free life 
• When people leave comments on my blog

What else???