Gratitude

As I sip my coffee this morning, I am thinking about how grateful I am.  I am grateful our power never went off like others experienced during this iceageddon.  I'm grateful to be able to hear the birds out front yakking at each other wondering what the hell just happened in our front yard.  Big branches are still down and we plan to attempt to drag them to the curb later today.  Notice I said attempt.  Some of these are big honkin' limbs and I'm a little leery of getting underneath any branches still attached, but am willing to give it a shot.  (flexes muscles)

I'm grateful for social media and as much as I hate it sometimes, it was a great way to stay in touch and know what was happening with others and how they were faring.  I'm also grateful I was able to get out for awhile yesterday so I didn't have to pull my hair out.  I can only stay cooped up for so long before it gets ugly.

I am grateful for laughter and there's been lots of it over the last few days.  Nothing gets your juices flowing better than a good old belly laugh, which brings me to yesterday and my neighbor (Claire's mom).  In short, she thought there was wood or something burning in a front yard down the block, so she called 911.  I saw the fire truck stop at the end of the block and went outside to ask what was going on.  The firemen (OOO, la la) asked me if I was the one who called or if I knew of a problem.  I stalled as l-o-n-g as I could but said no.  Turns out it was a false alarm, my neighbor saw car exhaust, thought it was a fire, and has now been crowned Block Ding-a-ling....but I did get a rare firemen sighting and for that I am really grateful.  I love me some hot firemen.  She and I texted back and forth all afternoon, laughing.  I thanked her for the early Christmas gift and could we please do it again soon.  If I can find a hot firemen 2014 calendar I'm going to give it to her for Christmas.

Tonight is the holiday dinner over on mom's unit entitled An Affair to Remember.  Considering this is an Alzheimer's unit, I find that an especially ironic title.  My brother and I are going, and while it's painful and not exactly fun, I am grateful mom is still here.  Every year I think this is probably the last Christmas she'll be here and here she is still perking.  Just shows you how little I know.

Lastly, I am so grateful for close friends who are like family, that are there or would be, if I needed anything.  They are wise, calm, sensible, and just downright FUN.  Woo hoo.  It's going to be a wonderful day.