Back by popular demand! Or my mom! Read by tens of people all over the world.

If there is a time for gratitude, might it be now?

I have done a lot of work on gratitude. If you are in recovery, that is our jam. We get gratitude because we get to be alive for another day. And I’ll be honest with you, the uncertainty of this year has really made me percolate in the whole One Day at a Time thing. Right now, we are ALL living one day at a time.

Ok, I promise. I’m not going to say, “in these difficult times,” in this post. Besides, that’s kind of like saying, that the Hindenburg was “glitchy.”

In fact… I am going to promise you that my post will not refer anymore to The Awful Thing That Is Always On the News. And no, I don’t mean the Kardashians. I am super grateful that we are dealing with it, getting through it (uh I am now kinda referring to That Thing but I’m almost done) learning how to be stronger for it.. but I want this post to be about other stuff because I’m tired of thinking about The Thing.

I dunno if that makes me sound whiny or not but I don’t care it’s my blog.

But just really quick before I get started: I AM GRATEFUL FOR OUR MEDICAL COMMUNITY AND FIRST RESPONDERS. We love you. And we thank God for you. Really.

*small pause*

And now, on to my cats.

10. I am grateful for Steve and Bob. Because what would a blog post from me really mean if I didn’t mention them? Would the post even exist? Is it like a tree falling in forest thing? If a post goes up, but I never talk about Steve in it, did it happen???????

I mean, honestly, just look at him. He’s glorious. Here, he’s protecting my laundry from something on his right.

And here he is pretending to be Zolton from the planet Purrzon:

Oh and I almost forgot. Here’s Bob. AKA the Other One That Is Also Cute But Is Totally Eclipsed by Steve:

(child in background is practicing his mime?)

2. Ok, and here is this furry creature. Rey the Good Dog. AKA The Floofy Fluffernutter.

One the left: Pees everywhere. Cute.

On the right: Eats decorative pillows and the floor. Still cute. Bigger.

(And really, the floor. Not rugs or things ON the floor. The. Floor.)

3. The husband lost his wedding ring back in… oh I don’t know somewhere in the Junevember. I don’t do months anymore. And then, he FOUND it! (It was in his pocket. Kinda anti-climactic. But that’s marriage 🙂

SO THAT MEANS WE’RE STILL MARRIED!

4. I decided to go grey back in 2018, and I’m not even a millennial. And this year the “in between” transition from brown hair to silver hair finally ended, and I no longer get weird looks from people. Pitying looks, perhaps. Anyhow, my children have nicknamed me The Silver Fox because I told them to.

(Story behind the picture: Henry drew this for me for Mother’s Day after I took him out in the jeep and the Pina Colada song came on the radio and we sang along. And then he asked me to explain the song and I told him 70’s songs didn’t need explaining. 70’s songs just be.)

5. In June my son Charlie had an appendectomy. He was brave and in this picture he is kinda blitzed on drugs. Brian is laughing at him but the mask hides it, which is a great side benefit of the masks. I spent the night with Charlie in the hospital on a very comfortable chair and I remember thinking, “I am so grateful I am here with my boy, and if I wasn’t sober that might not be the case.” Recovery really rings some bells when you have to take your kid in for an emergency appendectomy.

6. My son Henry wanted to be The Thing I Promised I Wouldn’t Talk About for Halloween. We worked on the costume together. He is pictured here along with our really messy entryway, and a customary basket of dirty laundry because who cleans anymore? The moral of the story here is to keep your humor. It will save us.

7. On the day of the election, I ran away. I went to a spiritual retreat where they had lots of pictures like this where Jesus looks like someone just nicked his car but he has to forgive because, you know, he’s Jesus:

It was on purpose, to run away on election day. I am still super stressed about our nation and its division. But the retreat gave me some ideas and some hope. It changed me, and my faith, and I am so very very grateful I got to go.

Also, here is a picture of the zoom we did the night that I found out (while on the retreat) that the boys were being moved to remote learning due to THAT WHICH SHALL NOT BE NAMED IN THIS POST. Note the extremely freaked out look on my face, and the rather ominous crucifix. I take it as God was saying, “I’m here, Dana. Everyone will survive.” Meanwhile, I’m thinking Yea but Charlie can’t even figure out how to zoom properly.

9. Ok, a little self promotion here. I finally am ready to formally share this:

It’s not totally ready. I’m still working on the podcast but I am proud of it. 🙂 If you feel like it, go take a look? Please forgive me for future posts where I ask for you to like, subscribe, and follow. Those posts are coming. They just are. Acceptance is key, here, folks. I want to start a podcast for people in recovery and the only way it will help people is to promote it. I promise I will do my best to not be annoying about it. Also, I am grateful to you guys, my readers. Without you none of this would have been possible.

10. Mom, Dad, Jenni, Sherry, and Chris. I love you.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Melodie Beattie