What I am Grateful for this Year

(in no particular order)

1)   My nieces and nephews for joining us at Put-in-Bay this summer. Yeah, I know you’re all teenagers and still somewhat under control of your parents, but we appreciated your presence and the fact that you all seemed to enjoy yourselves, which made us happy as well. By us, I especially mean your grandparents whose idea the mini vacation (to celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary) was in the first place. I hope you all look back on the holiday fondly.

2)   Our gardener, Lolly for the very professional job she did whipping our garden into shape this summer and helping me with the leaf raking chore this autumn. My mom said our garden never looked better, and I was especially in awe of the way Lolly shaved our bushes giving them shape – a bit like those topiaries you see at the Deaf School Gardens in Columbus, or the ones in Disney Land/World. I told her that and she just blushed saying, “I wouldn’t go that far.”

3)   My friend Lisa for providing a sympathetic ear after Sunday mass recently. She literally sat down on the pew after mass and let me pour out my soul to her while she listened quietly with compassion. Though this wasn’t one of those cry-your-eyes out poor me pity-parties, it was nice to just talk. Also, back in the summer, Lisa was kind enough to share one of her very early childhood memories of the Apollo Moon Landing (which was published in my blog back in July).

 

4)    My sister, Karen and her very kind gesture when she recently brought Andrew and me a small pan of lasagna she had made. She knows I am solely in charge of all meals (and pretty much everything else) right now while Andrew convalesces, and certainly welcome anything that only needs reheating. It was delicious and the bread with the lovely butter on the side was also much appreciated. I am also lucky enough to have her so close by as we live less than 5 miles apart. I know my parents certainly appreciate that when they come down to visit. She’s also my drinking buddy whether it’s a cup of coffee and some conversation, or a glass of wine (and maybe a little whining sometimes).

5)    Our neighbor on Ridgewood, Amy, for loaning us a wheelchair for my in-laws visit last month. I know this doesn’t seem like a big favor, and it wasn’t at first since it was only meant to be an occasional aid, but when my mother-in-law broke her ankle, it quickly became a necessity for her mobility. As the situation was stressful enough, this was one less detail we needed to take care of, and for that, we are all eternally grateful to you for this kind gesture.

6)    My best friend, Leslie for always being there for me for the past 45 years or so that we’ve been friends. Leslie has just hit the half century mark that is looming for me next spring. We’ve been friends since about kindergarten – I guess? We’re both getting old, so it’s hard to remember back that far, but we have class photos that prove we were occasionally in the same class. We’ve had the occasional disagreement, and don't always see eye to eye on everything, but each respect our differences and remain friends to this day.

sorry Joe, it's the only photo I have (but look how young you are!)

7)   Our neighbor Joe for being the best neighbor we could ask for over the past 14 years. It’s the end of an era as our neighbor to the right of us has just moved out of the neighborhood. Joe was the best kind of neighbor to have – always quiet, took pride in his yard, always happy to have a brief, but friendly chat while out sweeping the driveway or some other chore, and never minded looking in on our cat or collecting our mail while we were away for the weekend. Joe, you will definitely be missed, but on to greener pastures!

8)  Our house – especially the den and guest bathroom. Yes, this might seem an odd thing to be grateful for, but if Marie Kondo can greet a house, I can certainly thank my house for its service. The den (aka our guest room) is definitely the most under-utilized room of our house as its only purpose is to serve as a guest room when we have guests, which is rare, except for when we host my parents and uncle over Christmas. This year the den, which has an adjacent full bath, has had more activity this autumn than it’s seen in the 14 years we’ve lived in our house. My in-laws were guests for 10 days back in October (and spent 75% of their time down there following my mother-in-law’s accident). Now my husband is convalescing there following surgery on his ankle. Though I still find the room a bit dark, as it’s now late autumn, it’s starting to feel a little cozy on these dark evenings.

9)   “Gilmore Girls” for bringing me 7 seasons and 2 of the best years of TV viewing. Though I had heard of “Gilmore Girls” back in 2000 when it premiered, it wasn’t that big in the UK where I was living at the time, so I never tuned in. Flash forward 5+ years to when we moved into our house on Wenwood and happened to be chatting to our neighbor, Dick over the back fence and had asked why their dog was called Rory since, in my mind (being a Dr. Who fan), that was a boy’s name. Dick, the father of 3 girls, told me they all enjoyed watching “Gilmore Girls” and found it strangely soothing, so they named their dog, Rory, after one of the main characters. Although I found the story touching, I still didn’t tune in until after I quit my long-time job back in 2017. Remembering what Dick had said about it being soothing and all that, I definitely needed as much comfort and sympathy while I went through that job transition. Turns out Dick and his girls were right. It definitely is soothing, quirky, and really enjoyable. Though I’m not necessarily a fan of small-town life, I would chuck it all in a second if I could live in Stars Hollow (and work in one of the two bookstores there). I finally finished watching the entire 7 seasons (and already read Lauren Graham’s book reminiscing about it), and look forward to viewing “A Year in the Life” next year.

10) Being able to work at home. Though it can be a little lonely, I am especially grateful now that we’ve had our first overnight snowfall and the street looked a little treacherous that morning. My coworkers were rejoicing about being able to work at home on days like that as well. It’s also been convenient for taking care of Andrew while he recovers as I was able to bring him all his meals and the occasional cup of tea and biscuit when on break (but he's back to working at his company office now).