I am grateful for sound sleeping, the breathing in a steady rhythm just behind me .

I am grateful to be home, even if it is late and late night work is in front of me.

I am grateful for moments of joy in the past four days – especially surprising grandchildren.

I am grateful for family members who are supportive and loving when we are stressed beyond what we think we can handle.

I am grateful for a quiet drive home, for the beauty of the Flint Hills, for a clear blue sky that stretched from the driver’s window and beyond to the passenger window and beyond.

I am grateful for purring kittens who are glad we are home, even if they crawl all over the desk and keyboard and make me have to re-do.

I am grateful for doctors who prescribe meds over the phone in emergency situations.

I am grateful when fever is broken and sleep finally settles.

I am grateful for a great friend who stepped in as a substitute mom nurse – thank you, Brigitte.

I am grateful for boss friends who took us in, gave us an over-the-top bed & breakfast, and better be disinfecting every surface we touched.

I am grateful for Tamiflu and Lysol.

I am grateful for the gift of sunshine glare on Waconda Lake glass water, geese in formation above the beauty.

I am grateful for a heartbreaking moment at the end of last night – evidence that life change is hard, and Sam is so very sensitive. His heart is so big and soft, and so very fragile…

I am grateful for a few minutes to myself tonight under the stars in the brisk cold air, to have a private conversation, to ask God to give me strength.

And I am grateful that even though it seems like a big valley, it really isn’t in the grand scheme. Life is too short to dwell on the whole journey – just take it one pit stop at a time.