Gratitude

This morning we drove home from the turkey trot, which has become a Thanksgiving staple for our family despite Charlie insisting that he hates it. And during this drive, I told Scarlett that today we will talk about what we're thankful for.  My list is long, but here's the short of it.

1. I'm most thankful of all for these two faces.  In the car, Scarlett told me "I'm thankful that I love you" then "and, for my steamer".  I guess I'm thankful for coffee so she can be thankful for a steamer if she wants.  Her world is so much smaller, she doesn't yet know to be thankful for health or having a job or an intact family.  I'm glad that right now, her life is easy and happy and she doesn't have to worry.  I'm thankful I get to see her face every morning when she's first waking up, when she's sitting on her bed, squeezing Arnie, and her hair is all messy. 

2. I'm thankful that our friends on the opposite coast have finally gotten to take their baby home from the hospital for good, after eight months of fits & starts.  Scarlett likes to see pictures of Max and say 'And his belly is fixed!'.  The months of reading about it and worrying have led me to hug my baby even more as a byproduct of the whole situation. 

3. This morning I ran 4 miles with my superawesome sister-in-law.  I'm so so grateful to the sport of running for keeping me sane and healthy, and for Sally who really nurtured my interest when I first got started, when every run was hard and I was always heaving for breath.  She told me that it was okay to walk.  She talked me through the hardest miles of my marathon.  And now our kids are doing the kid running events, so we must be setting a good example for them.  Here they are, in this morning's running gear, enjoying animal crackers and oranges post-race.  Scarlett thinks she ran a marathon, so if anyone asks, let's just say she did. 

4. When I started this blog post, two pot pies were in my oven (I'm very thankful for crust, it would make the list if this list were my top 20) and I had a fridge full of chocolate mousse.  I feel blessed to have family here in Portland, and people who are family of my family but who have become my family, if that makes any sense.  Scarlett has real cousins and pseudo cousins to play and eat chocolate mousse with, which she did tonight, very happily, and I'm grateful for all of them.