gratitude

i'm thankful for a neighbor who will come catch the big spiders that my hands shake trying to capture on my own.

grateful for the neighbors who sit on the porch with me to talk out our thoughts, our stories.

grateful there are people who love me despite my imperfections. who help me to grow and support the directions i've wandered on my path.

grateful for my voice, this divine instrument, that has gotten rusty but still works and would improve with a little practice.

grateful for the shelter that protects me from more things that crawl. and for the cats who catch things sometimes while i'm sleeping.

grateful for my job, and the team of folks who work with me to help people who otherwise would drown in the margins where few safety precautions have been provided.

grateful for my hair, whose weight always feels more useful as the weather begins to cool, whose curls compliment the complexity of my idenitity.

grateful for the sounds of nature that tweet and chirp and trill and squawk and yip as the sun sets and the sky becomes darker.

grateful for the food in my cupboards. the mostly potable water i have access to.

grateful for the friends who come by to see me because i can't afford to drive places outside of work.

grateful for the coffee rich and invigorating both on my days off and days i go to work.

grateful for my education, and the people who teach me.

grateful for access to information, and for the caution i use before believing something is "true."

grateful for words and how sometimes i can combine them just right to say what i feel or think.

grateful for my little cottage by the creek, in a town that is simultaneously quaint and in need of progress.

grateful for the community i have worked for many years to be a part of.

grateful for the people who seek help, and for my heart's tendency toward compassion over fear.

grateful for the parents that raised me.

grateful for the body that carries me.

grateful for the chance i have each day to do it again, to try harder, to get better.

grateful for the love in my heart and the light in my soul.

grateful for the desire to create, and the ability to express myself.

grateful for the connections i feel toward people and the planet.

grateful for being witness to life in all its terrible glory.