Gratitude Threesomes

Recently my dear friend Kris and I have taken to emailing each other daily gratitudes, or a list of 3-5 things that we're grateful for each day. This has really been a lifesaver for me. The idea is not a new one; I used to list off G3's [as I called them] on my other blog, but I saw the idea for emailing them between friends over at Farmgirl Susan's when digging through her archives about a month ago [and oh, what a fantastic, farm-filled, animal loving, food-induced drooling that was, those several days when I was glued to my computer reading her entire blogging life history, even the "early early days" from the newsletter she'd sent out. At a time of gloom and doom in my life, it was a true breath of fresh air.]

These lists have been a lifesaver. One, Kris is a really good friend from the high school days. I even dragged her off to the farm with me. Despite that week of Kris-ness, otherwise we've barely seen each other since college. She jumped a year ahead of us in undergrad, so what with her heading off to Germany for a Fulbright, and then me heading off to China for my Fulbright [inspired by hers, I cannot lie], then the insanity of working at CYC [the thing about working with teenagers is that you wind up working all the hours they're not in school - afternoons and nights and weekends, in other words bye bye social life not that I regret it, not a minute of it, it was, in many ways, the best thing that's ever happened to me, after China & Fulbright], then her moving down to UCLA for graduate school, then me moving off to Boston for graduate school [hehe, I'm noticing here that it really seemes like I've just spent my life copying her!], it's been really difficult to find days or even hours of overlap.

These lists have been a really welcome glimpse into the tiny details of her daily life, one of the most fantastic ways to keep in touch that I've ever come across.

But just as importantly, these lists have also served to remind me of all the amazing things that occur each and every day. I will not lie, late winter was hard, hard, HARD on me, and I've been rather hard on myself. But whenever I write my list off to Kris, it reminds me of all the funny moments, the peaceful moments, the quiet moments, the ones that may never be repeated again in this History of One, but which are memorialized and relived, just once, through pen and paper [or, more appropriately, through pixel and keypad].



Daily gratitudes [lifted from today's email to Kris]:

-For a day trip to New Hampshire and seeing small towns in New England! A different slice of life indeed.
-For unexpected letters from friends in the mail.
-For realizing that I may have a lot of personal acceptance to do. Awareness then acceptance. But that feels good.
-For the postcards that adorn my walls. I'm lucky to live in a space where i can decorate to my heart's content [I haven't, but there are little bits and blobs that have gone up]
-For water. man oh man, it is STILL my favorite drink in the whole wide world [hehe, and you thought you were going to get through a day of gratitudes that didn't involve food!]

[Also grateful for having these 2 silly ladies in my life. I really don't know where I'd be without fellow silliness conspirators.]