Things I am grateful for -- not about food (okay maybe a little bit)

Today I am grateful.

I try to be grateful everyday. Sometimes my selfish, self-righteous, and entitled self wins and I don't feel nearly enough gratitude.

Sometimes I even give in to self-pity.

Erk.

Today, in no particular order, I feel grateful because:

1. I don't have to wonder where my next meal is coming from.  My child has never known hunger.

2. I have the ability to be gainfully employed in a profession that I am good at and that pays a decent wage.

3. I have a loving and supportive family. Thank you, family. I love you all. Even when you make me crazy.

4. I have a healthy wonderful child. I never knew it was possible to love so deeply, worry so hugely, and laugh so frequently.

5. I am a member of a union that fights for me when I can't fight on my own behalf.

6. I live in a country where I can speak out loud without fear of recrimination for voicing my opinion.

7. I live in a country where I can participate in the democratic process and have some control over who tells me what to do.

8. I have the right to own property.

9. I have the right and the ability to think for myself.

10. I have a warm place to live.

11. I have a pair of really comfortable jeans that make my butt look great.

12. I have the freedom to try and fail and try again.

13. I have peanut butter.

14. I am drinking a piping hot mug of vanilla tea out of a hand-made pottery mug that just gives me pleasure to use.

15. I have a beautiful garden.

16. My husband rarely snores.

17. I have friends. Some I've had for a long long time. Some are newer. I hope you know who you are and how very much I appreciate you, and how very grateful I am to know you. True friends don't come along everyday.

I'm sure if I thought for a few minutes I'd add to this list, but instead I'll just say I am also grateful that I get a chance to share my recipes with you, gentle reader. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them.

So, that's where I am at right now. Grateful. Feeling a little humble. My belly is full, and I'm a little sleepy. I came home chilled, in the dark, to a house softly glowing both with light and with love, into a hot bath and a hot bowl of soup, into the arms of some of my favourite people in the world.

I am grateful.