Many Blessings

I'm at our favorite Wifi coffee shop counting the things that make me so happy I could burst:

I can reach across the table and hold hands with my DH.  After months of coming here to Skype with him, this is beyond awesome.

Right behind him, the girl is watching something on YouTube and she's laughing and smiling.  Seeing my child happy is amazing.  I love that.

Chocolate.  No explanation required.

I know what I want to do and how to do it.  I think even in this tough marketplace, I'll be able to help my family stay afloat.

Our family is tough, smart, clever, hard-working, and we have a lot of assets.  Our future may be uncertain, but it's not dire.  

 I'm completely, totally in love with my DH and cherish and love my children.  We have such a good life, and we stick together.  My extended family is wonderful too--I need to take more time to see them, because they're people I want to spend time with.  

The weather is incredible.  Sunshine, thunderstorms, and the scent of autumn perfumes the air, but it's warm and working outside is a real pleasure.  The earth is soft and yields up weeds easily without being mushy, and the breezes are so silky they're sensuous.

We have food--food in the refrigerator, a full freezer, and food out in the garden.  We also have emergency stores in the pantry.  We'd be okay for some time if something happened.

We have transportation and back-up transportation.  I admit this doesn't make me so happy I could burst, but I'm trying to appreciate that.  Yes, we lost the Corolla.  But we can still get around.  We're not stuck trying to get around on bicycles on dangerous roads.

I have the most fun working vacation ever coming up!  Three days at the coast with my DH and kids, and over two weeks on the coast where I'll be taking a master's writing class.  The writing class will be tough, but I'm already enjoying the heck out of it.  The reading assignments were good for me, and the writing assignments made me think (and I haven't even seen those through to the end yet.)  Did I mention three days at the coast with my DH and kids?  I love being at the coast with them.  I like swimming and hot tubbing in October with my DH, and clam chowder, and drinking tea and walking on the beach and chasing games and playing with bokken and beachcombing and did I already say chasing games? and tasting salt in the wind and looking at silly pirate stuff while window shopping and our favorite book stores and taking pictures and icky kissing stuff and chasing games.  And stuff.

Life is great.  I have to remember this for those times when life is tough.  Life gets tough at unexpected times, and some of my strength comes from these many good times and good things that build up reserves.  

I'm going to touch my DH from across the table some more.  I think I'll kick his foot under the table, just because I can.