Thankful.

For the "little" things

Photo by Patrick Connor Klopf on Unsplash

I’ve been feeling really grateful lately. Maybe it’s the season, or maybe it’s just where I am in my life at the moment. I had dinner with my dear friend Alissa a few weeks ago, and she commented to me that that ever since my meditation retreat, she’s felt a sense of “lightness” from me, despite some more challenging things going on. It’s been powerful to reflect on that and to realize that yes, I do feel pretty light these days. I feel connected to what matters to me, I feel fulfilled in the ways that are significant to me right now, and maybe most importantly, I don’t feel caught up in the stuff that doesn’t matter and that is all too easy to get caught up in. It’s nice to be here, in this place of lightness and gratitude, for however long it lasts.

With that in mind, here’s a short list of things I’m thankful for right now:

• Our Christmas tree. I have never once in my life had a Christmas tree up by December 1st, but this year we do. Jamie is having shoulder surgery on December 5th, so it was important to get this thing in the door while he’s still capable of doing so. We picked ours out yesterday afternoon, and it’s such a cheerful addition to our living room.

• Our neighbour Clark. He helped Jamie haul our tree up the stairs, his dog Chappie came along for a visit and delighted Ava by licking her hands and trying to steal ‘Special Bear’, and he’s always so happy to see us and give Ava a high five.

• Feeling rooted in San Francisco. It’s hard living so far from home and family, but we really do have such a full life here, and some very deep relationships. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Alissa and her brother and some more of their family and friends this year, and it was lovely. There’s something very special about being welcomed into someone else’s family on such a signifiant holiday, and the gift of that is not lost on me.

• People living in unconventional ways. Alissa’s brother lives in an ‘intentional community’ in Oakland, with about 20 other people, including a few families with young children, and this is where we celebrated Thanksgiving this year. It’s so inspiring to see people living their lives in their own unique ways, and for all of the talk about the value of community, these people are living it!

• Our own little community here on our street. We live on a tiny one block street, and over the years we’ve become friends with the majority of our neighbors. The other night I was coming home from the grocery store with Ava in her stroller, and a few of them were sitting out on the sidewalk having a glass of wine and chatting. Ava and I stopped by to say hi and pat all their dogs, and we spent probably 20 minutes visiting. I kept telling her we needed to get home so I could start the rice for dinner, but she said “I want to stay at this party”, and frankly I did too. It’s the kind of little thing, having a small friendly interaction with a neighbour or even sometimes a stranger, that I have come to realize is often a highlight of my day. I thought this to myself as I crossed the street in the dark the other night, this is important, this matters more than dinner being perfectly on time, and it really was. A while later, as Ava and I played in the living room and the rice was boiling away on the stove, I heard Jamie’s laugh across the street and realized he too had stopped by to chat on his way home, and it made me smile.

• Sweater (and blanket) season. I don’t think I’ll ever stop being grateful for these mild Northern California winters, but I do love the chill in the air right now, and how right it feels to curl up under a blanket on the couch. We’re doing as much story time right now as Ava can tolerate, and when she’s napping, you can find me here as well, in the corner of our L-shaped couch, drinking a tea and reading a book.

• Good books. I picked up an old waterlogged copy of ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ last week from the little library box a few blocks from our place. It’s missing both front and back covers, and the pages are wavy with water damage, but it’s otherwise intact, and I’m already fully engrossed in Chiyo’s story. I read a few pages before falling asleep every night, and have been curling up with it on the couch during Ava’s naps as much as I can.

• Little Free Library Boxes. I’ve written about this before, but the existence of these little libraries just makes my life. I can’t resist checking out the books any time I come across one, and have found (and shared) so many great reads this way. I’ve also donated literally hundreds of books to the one closest to our place over the years, and I love knowing that something I am no longer making use of will become a source of joy or learning or inspiration to someone else who I’ll never even meet. San Francisco has an incredible public library system, it must be said, but in my current state of never enough time / energy / brain space, thinking about or trying to seek out which books to read is daunting. If someone recommends a book to me, I’ll borrow it from the library, but otherwise, I trust in the wisdom of the Little Free Library, and make my selections from a very condensed collection. I’ve rarely been disappointed.

• Family bike rides. We haven’t done too many of these, but yesterday we did a ride with Ava in her shotgun seat on the front of Jamie’s mountain bike, and as we peddled side by side up a hill in the Presidio, Ava looked over at me from her perch and said “Mommy, I’m happy”. This, after a rather difficult morning involving a lot of whining and some very big feelings about being forced to wear a sweatshirt. It felt great to get out and be active, so we decided to bike to the birthday party we’d been invited to in Golden Gate Park this morning as well. I am the world’s biggest wimp about biking uphill, but I do very much enjoy going downhill, and the views around here are hard to beat, including what I’ve come to refer to as Ava’s “biking smile”, which is about as big as it gets.

• The beauty of where we live. San Francisco is an almost shockingly beautiful city, and the natural landscape around here is equally staggering. I’m sure I take this for granted at times, because it is so familiar to me now, but being on a bike has a way of putting the natural beauty right in your face. Biking uphill through the lush trees of the Presidio this morning, the air thick with the scent of eucalyptus and the sunbeams seeming to sparkle in the midmorning air, below us the sweep of old red brick officer’s homes nestled in a green valley, I was once again in awe of this remarkable place where we have decided to make a life.

I think I’ll leave it at that, although this list could truly go on and on. I hope you find yourself cozy and warm as we move into this winter season,

K