It’s a great start to the day when you get out of your vehicle at work and notice a little duck in the parking space next to you. It’s the everyday clothes kind of grateful, but it is also the unexpected grins gratefuls, too.

I was grateful when I opened my computer to a sweet message from boss who wanted to appreciate her employees today.

I will be grateful when lunch arrives, courtesy of bosses.

I am grateful my grandson is feeling better today.

I am grateful for the life of my high school close friend, Kris. She impacted many lives, including mine, and her influence will live on for generations. I can sense her complete joy today as she experiences Heaven and sees Jesus…

I am grateful for all my husband is doing to get our home ready for my dad’s arrival.

I am grateful I only have one assignment due tonight.

I am grateful for the dread panic I feel about big projects due in both classes on Sunday – dread panic is MOTIVATION, ALL CAPS.

I am grateful for the reminder this morning on the way to work from Crowder, who reminded me that God really loves me.

And I am grateful for people who pronounce days with dees.

It’s Wensdy, but Frahdy’s just around the corner.

I was talking to my boss a few days ago. We were having girl talk at the end of a work day. I don’t remember the details, but I do remember telling her about my makeup. Four things total, and I buy them from the pharmacy chain down the street, not the makeup counter at the nice department stores, not the high end stores that make a major dent in my bank account.

Mascara, eye shadow, blush, and a lipstick. That’s it.

Simple.

She told me about her closet full of really nice dressy clothes that she never wears. She prefers to wear the comfortable every day kind of clothes now.

I have taken a long break from counting every last thing. I have allowed my life to become caught up in…life. It affects my attitude and my outlook, and I must do better. I need to take time to notice the simple things. I need to rediscover that I am surrounded by a limitless hope in the ordinary that is overlooked and ignored and taken for granted.

As I walk this morning in the perfect Kansas City spring day, I am grateful for:

• Tree shadows that create art on the parking lot
• The flit of a squirrel tail
• Birds that sing God’s praise
• Dandelion beauty
• The ability to walk and take a break from my work inside
• The contrast between the sky blue, puffy white clouds, and bright spring green of the tree’s everyday clothes
• Rustling in the bushes, evidence of some creature that was startled by my presence
• Helicopter seeds that are scattered like rose petals in a bridal aisle
• Smiles
• Cool air hitting my nostrils as I walk
• The last remaining daffodil holding on to the spotlight of the stage
• Moments to surround myself with limitless hope and notice every last thing

I am also grateful that my Dad had minor surgery. That sounds horrible, I know. However, because he had this surgery, he needs some assistance with wound care, and that gives me the opportunity to see him every day, even if just for a few minutes.

I am grateful that he doesn’t live very far away, and in three more days, we will live under the same roof, which makes me doubly grateful.

I am grateful for a comfortable office chair.

I am grateful for a light at the end of the tunnel and feeling educated in technical writing and the psychology of aging, and I guess I am grateful that I am a Jayhawk.

I am grateful for ice cubes in my drinking water.

These may not be what some would consider high-end gratefuls – nothing earth-shattering, shout-it-from-the-mountaintops.

But they are awe-inspiring.

Comfortable, everyday clothes kinds of gratefuls that I have been taking for granted. Simple, usually ignored “cosmetic aisle” kinds of gratefuls. Gratefuls that should be acknowledged, worn, and applied. I will do better.

I am grateful for quiet majesty and worship when I look at the vast sky in this picture and remember the sound of the sunset breeze.

*****

I don’t know what it is about Chinese food and French fries when it comes to my stomach. It is a bottomless pit. I do not have a “full stop” button inside and that is not a good thing.

I am grateful when I eat a piece of chicken in my Chinese that doesn’t taste quite right, because that is the only reason I stop eating. Fries are good every which way – cold, hot, limp, crisp, burnt, raw…and I need a governor.

I am grateful for the beauty of a Flint Hills Cattle Pens winter.

*****

The IT guy from our office has a challenging job, keeping a small group of 50+ year-olds in tune with their computers and all the equipment that goes along with technology. He is often not on our “nice list” and is the topic of much grumbling. He has this attitude, and we all feel it. We may be aging, we may be technologically on the lower end of things, but we aren’t STUPID, and yet, we all feel very STUPID when he enters the picture and tries to explain processes to us. All that to say,

Thanks A LOT, J.

I like my microwaved eggs just so, every morning. JUST SO.

J called this morning when I was the only one here, right when I pushed start on the microwave, and my OCD-ness HAD to answer the ring that was on the other side of the kitchen.

I am grateful for rubber eggs. They are slightly better than no eggs at all.

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I am grateful for a very funny line in the show, “Will Trent” that I heard this morning as I walked and watched. You should watch the show. It is smart sarcasm funny cops and robbers and one of my favorites these days. Anyway, Will blew his nose into a handkerchief, and the guy standing next to him was stunned. “You blow your nose in that thing and then keep it in your pocket all day?” I laughed out loud.

I am grateful for funny lines, “Will Trent,” and throw away tissues, as long as tissues get thrown away.

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I am grateful for the completion of Personal Finance, for the perseverance to conquer Psychology of Aging and Technical Writing, for graded projects, and for moments of momentum.

I am grateful for the realization that comes with depression as I read my Psychology of Aging text and read about myself, in and amongst these 19 and 20-somethings who only know what they read. I read what I KNOW, and it is enlightening and depressing all in one chapter at a time.

I am grateful to be going back to school, even if it is KU. I will walk across that stage someday…

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I am grateful for my family – 2023 must be the year of family. My calendar is full, and that is a good thing.

I am grateful for life that continues its twists and turns. Who knew 2023 would provide so much excitement and change…