A Grateful Gratitude List

What’s in a number? So much and simultaneously so little. When my girlfriend and I were eight, her mother told her that she could invite as many friends to her birthday party as she was old. We immediately thought ahead and realized that meant she could have 21 friends at her twenty-first birthday. We never imagined birthdays without parties or days where we didn’t rely on our mother’s to provide them. Yet, here I stand on the cusp of another birthday and I know my mother would approve that I would invite more friends than my age and they would all provide me with the gifts that keep me celebrating life: loving kindness.

I am humbled at times for all the good I have been given and in what has become my tradition, I offer my annual gratitudes – all 50 of them.

1. Good health
2. Dear Friends
3. An adventurous spirit
4. A belief in the good in people
5. Brother John
6. Michiko and Misa, my continual touchstones
7. Yoga
8. Yoga teachers who have made me a better person: Heather, Alice, Debbie and so many others
9. Running
10. Kara, Chris, and Lillie and my own house key
11. Tate Street Coffee and my java suppliers: Becky, Austin, and Rachel
12. Poetry
13. The journals that published my work
14. The journals that did not publish my work
15. Farmers Markets
16. The loving acceptance of the Vipianas
17. My vulnerable and open heart
18. Bryan YMCA & the 6am Yoga Dawgs and all their incredible dedication and love
19. Laughter
20. The beautiful place of Sitka, Alaska
21. The people of the 49th State: Lisa, Davey, Cindy, Brant, Bridget, Grace, Corrie, Erin, Gary, Beth, Dawn, Ella, and so many more.
22. Travel
23. Cribbage with John
24. Feet that ground me and a core and arms that lift me upside down
25. Matt, my great biz partner and true friend
26. Pie and Coffee and more pie and coffee
27. Visitors who venture to the left coast
28. Tara who will say YES! to adventure and has the scars to prove it
29. Yoga Mamas: Heather, Angie, Shiela, and Jennifer
30. Patient Coach Vip who taught me how to really ride a bike
31. Pedicures with Kara
32. My Mistakes
33. The supportive folks who reach out to pull me up
34. Sistah Cindy Bea for strength and softness
35. We are Writers: Heather, Gaye, and Sarah
36. Letter writing pal and fellow rambler, Angie
37. The beautiful students of Tina’s Yoga Loft
38. Sunrise
39. Sweet Mama Donna who watches over me
40. Tina, Dick, and Kristen who keep me in their tribe
41. Ryan for gratitudes and intentions and whose spirit is called with each Yummo
42. Elliot, who touched my life too briefly but gratefully deeply
43. Full Moons
44. Greg, a wise friend and financial confidant who believes in my dreams
45. Lucky Lindy and Sweet Adeline
46. Mountains to climb and oceans to sit beside
47. Believing in myself
48. The written word
49. Sweet John who holds my hand and shares his heart
50. The comfort of memories and the moment that is NOW