Gratitude Challenge #1

I've been reading a  lot of "gratitude challenge" postings on Facebook lately - for three days at a time, a few friends of mine have been posting small lists of things for which they feel grateful. Some choices are obvious - family and friends, etc., but I was most surprised and delighted to hear the simplest pleasures that my friends treasure. I thought it was time to share a few of the things that I am most grateful for, and I wanted to do it on this blog as an ongoing series of posts. Like others I have to start with the most "cliche" selections, but will mix it up a bit more next time. ;)

Gratitude Challenge - Day 1

• SB - the person who knows me better than I know myself, who makes me laugh and who processes the tough stuff with me ever so patiently, whose knowledge is ridiculously extensive and blows me away, who loves British TV and speaks French with a terrible accent in the most endearing way possible, and who I can't wait to see every.single.day. when I leave work.
• My family - the people who made me who I am today, who loved me at my worst as much as at my best, who listen to me talk and talk and talk, and the reason I will never move out of this state because they will always be home to me. Not to mention that the new additions to the family have been the cutest and most fun yet!
• My two best friends, who have been my two best friends for nearly 20 years, who threw me the most thoughtful and memorable bachelorette party ever, who I am honored to call friends because they are such incredibly awesome human beings, who live far away but are always kindred no matter how long it has been since our last phone call or email exchange.
• My mentors - I've been incredibly fortunate to have so many mentors, from middle school teachers to college professors to bosses that became friends to formal mentors to kindred spirits that I've found in unexpected places. These people showed me kindness out of the goodness of their own hearts, out of their hope for the future, with no expectation of something in return.
• My senses - while I'm no super-taster and have "selective hearing" as my family likes to call it, I am so incredibly grateful to be able to see, hear, smell, taste, touch. I get so much pleasure from sensory experiences and associate so many memories with those experiences. I work in a building where several staff members are deaf and one is blind, and it prevents me from taking for granted how all of these senses are incredible connections to the world and to other people.
• Cricket - I have to admit that I'm not quite the animal lover that many are, but I so appreciate having a pet because it literally gives you another set of eyes from which to view the world. I love to watch Cricket experience her environment - what catches her eye, how she responds to different smells, where she likes to sit when she's hot or cold, what sounds from the alley send her running into the closet out of fear. Fascinating and so lovable.