grateful

I’m grateful:

1.  For a little girl with hair that spouts like a whale’s sneeze.

2.  For a pastured turkey that glazed succulent and delicious after 12 hours in a low oven.

3.  We ate it ate after 13 hours.  We can thank the extra hour for the toughened, slightly dry texture.  But that bird looked great at 12.

4.  For being woken by a crying toddler at 12:30 am, one hour of sleep tucked away into my bottomless pit of need, to see two arms stretched hopeful in the dark, needing to be picked up.

5.  She needed her daddy to pick her up.  I am grateful.

6.  For a Thanksgiving sunset that wrapped its arms halfway around the horizon and squeezed an orange, purple, and red bruise out of the sky.

7.  For 24-hours of Christmas music on the radio.

8.  For doors open, breezes trapped, and sun poured liberally across the surface of the day.

9.  For moments like this.

10.  For four grandparents who join together for a feast with a little girl in their midst who carries a carefully blended recipe of four DNAs in her single body.  For this, we all give thanks.

11.  For readers, like you, who pause in your day to share in our small slice of life.

Happy Thanksgiving to you for the blessings big and small in life!

And I can’t forget to express gratitude for The Gypsy Mama’s always inspiring 5-minute writing prompt on Friday mornings.  If no other posts get wrung out of the week, I always look forward to Lisa-Jo’s inspiration and reading fellow writers’ thoughts!