Last year on my birthday I listed forty things that I was grateful for (because it was my fortieth birthday). I am going to make this a tradition, so without further ado, forty-one things I am grateful for (in no particular order):
1. Such a great life so far!
2. My husband
3. My parents & the rest of my family
4. Warm cats to nap with me
5. Putnam is publishing my book & my great editor, Stacey Barney
6. The best literary agent a girl could hope to have!
7. Caramels
8. That I live in such a beautiful place
9. The zillions of friends I’ve made here
10. The Cubbies & Pat & Ron on internet radio
11. Hearing my niece’s voice on the telephone
12. Daffodils
13. Sunday Soup
14. Eileen Cook, Wanda Collins Johnson & Alix Barry – great writers, critiquers, & friends
15. Our dishwasher
16. My husband makes me tea every morning and brings it to me in bed
17. Elizabeth Gilbert & her wonderful book EAT, PRAY, LOVE
18. Audio books – who knew?
19. Hand knitted socks from Eileen
20. Guacamole
22. The Archers on BBC Radio 4
23. The Big Blue Chair & books
24. Boys Night Out on Wednesdays (which means I don’t have to cook dinner!)
25. All the free books I’ve been getting from authors, my editor, my agent, and especially Penny Mason – Penguin sales rep extraordinaire!
26. My husband’s wonderful photography
27. Meeting Sarah Tradewell and hearing her play fiddle
28. That my husband wasn’t hurt any worse than he was when he fell off his bike
29. All the live music in my life
30. Toasty fires in the woodstove
31. The beautiful deer in our yard and the fawns to come
32. The Neighbour
33. I will probably go to the Betsy-Tacy Convention this summer
34. I met Susan Juby this year
35. Days off – I’m taking weekends off now, something I learned from my brilliant agent
36. Snuggling into bed at night and one of us saying, “This is the best part of the day, except for all the other best parts.”
37. My husband is growing so much of our own food.
38. Finding one last pint of frozen blueberries from last summer in the freezer the other day.
39. I’ve learned to make butter, crackers, cheese, and lots of different soups this year
40. Knitting – the ultimate something from nothing
41. Sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
Interestingly, I looked at last year’s list and there are a lot of repeats. That means I’m doing something right! What are you grateful for?
