So, it’s my 50th birthday today. Yeh, I can hardly believe it myself. I surprise myself every time I catch a glance in a passing window, wondering why my mom is tagging along. Oh wait…..
But, instead of focusing on some of the mournful aspects of turning officially 50 (body changes oh my…)…..I want to mark this day with my own personal list of 50 things for which I am grateful. I want to put up this list for me (to mark as my memory goes, sooner I fear rather than later); it is not anywhere close to all encompassing, it will not list every person because that list would probably be endless and my memory is going so I wouldn’t remember the names and then I’d get all stressed out and, well, you get the idea…..
It’s my birthday and I’ll list as I want to. No particular order or relevance or profundity – mundane and inane and momentous included. It’s barely a scratch of the surface of the goodness in my blessed life. Just as with people, impossible to list every thing to be thankful for. Comments will be closed because this post/list, really, it’s for me to officially recognize all the bounty of goodness and wonder in my life.
Now, today at 50, here we go….
50 for 50:
- My family: husband, each and all my kids.
- My mom and dad and sister and brothers; my nieces and nephews.
- My Godchildren.
- My faith and my church, the Catholic Church and all that comes with it: the saints, the smells the bells the big perpetual global prayer that unites us all, the eucharist and the simplicity and beauty of this mind blowing truest thing.
- my friends, old, new, virtual and in real life….don’t know what I’d do without them/you. close ones far ones near and dear and darn ones……
- raspberries and blackberries
- coffee, espresso, iced coffee
- Vanilla almond milk for my iced coffee
- the warm soft early summer air in the south before the air turns heavy dripping with humidity later
- the beach, any and all
- Carlsbad, perhaps my favorite place, anywhere
- novenas
- the rosary
- the Dominican Provence of St Joseph
- my bulldog sitting next to me as I read
- spending much of my childhood riding my horse all over
- horseback rides with my dad, both the long trail rides through the desert and the local walkabouts around the neighborhoods
- sitting out in the ocean, beyond the breakers waiting for the next set on the boogie board as a teen
- yakking in the sun with girlfriends who are (still) like sisters as we waited and teased each other (or they teased me) for being scared for the next set of waves
- figuring out, finally, how to make really good homemade bread/boule with a crunchy crust and a soft airy inside
- watching my kids, especially my big boys, devour the bread I make
- singing badly in the car to old songs just to aggravate the kids, as needed
- having run a few marathons, having loved running a few half marathons
- college. grad school. all of it.
- reading, forever my favorite thing
- electronics and our convenient world; the net, iphones, email
- e-readers, the kindle and ipad for the liberating ease of use and portability
- routines of stretching for helping my body age and transition
- girls night out, especially when it involves my sister
- wine and lemon drop martinis
- the “love letters” my son makes me: books and songs and pictures
- saturday night standing date night with my tom
- movies, especially going OUT to movies
- hearing my kids play music and sing
- listening to my kids play the music and sing downstairs in the living room as I lie above them drifting to sleep in bed
- late afternoons at the beach as the sun starts sinking lower and the crowds fade off and the sand starts to cool but the last bites of conversation or being are still being savored
- late afternoons at the pool watching my kids swim and reading as the heat of the day ebbs away
- prepping and making a sunday dinner as tom takes the kids out on boat and the house gets quiet and I can prepare a simple ‘feast’ to mark the best day of the week
- sundays
- my family still being connected despite all of us being different and in different places, we are and will be there for each other
- watching my nephews graduate from college with my sister
- a baby, especially my babies, falling asleep on my chest
- the difficult events in my life that have scared me, tested me, indeed darn near or indeed broken me…because I healed stronger.
- being able to give an assist, however small, to others who’ve found themselves struggling with the same or similar events or issues
- the Liturgy of the Hours
- telling my kids jokes that only their dad and I get, sharing the high fives with him
- making sure my kids know I’m a laugh riot
- the smell of tom’s neck and his arms around me
- bubbly water, bubbly anything
- waking up to face this next era, knowing that life is beautiful, challenging, and all gift.
