How Life Is Good

In the midst of all the news of weather storms assailing our coast and news of political storms battling our country, I wanted to write of thankfulness in a season.  Nothing deep.  Nothing earth-shattering.  But the little things that brought me joy today.

1.  Cold weather.  I know that Houston cold is relative, but I do get to put us all in sweaters and little bit even asked me to buy her boots.  I love the cool snap in the air and the pumpkins on the doorsteps and the fact that Thanksgiving isn't even a month away. 

2.  Glasses.  As in eye wear, not drinking.  Little bit poured my contacts out in her midnight runnings, and yesterday morning I didn't have it in me to pull out new ones, so I donned spectacles.  New glasses that I love but rarely wear because the kids will destroy them.  Everywhere people told me how pretty I looked.  I know it was the glasses because I didn't have time to shower.

3.  Homecoming.  The boys are all home!  You may have read yesterday about the girls weekend being fun but a little bit lonely.  So my whole crew was home last night and eating the very complex crockpot recipe I made for dinner that I pulled together yesterday morning that made me late and ended up in the aforementioned showerless-condition wearing glasses.  The Moroccan turkey stew was too spicy for the kids and I yelled when they spilled milk and "helped" by smearing it all over the kitchen in an attempt to clean it up, but still everyone was home and the chaos was back. 

4.  Power. This morning, millions of Americans are waking up without an electricity and may not have it for days. I remember being in the same situation in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. This morning I used lights, heat, a microwave, a coffee pot, a hair dryer, a phone charger, a radio, and more that all required power to keep it functioning. What an efficiency gift. 

5.  Kisses.  I am a kissy girl.  I smother all my kids in kisses, and they yell "ONE kiss mommy," and I yell back, "no, LOTS of kisses."  But my favorite kisses are from my husband, and I got to kiss him a lot last night and that makes me happy.