Grateful Friday

So much discussion around infertility is about what we’ve lost, about pain and grief.  But we don’t have a monopoly on that.  No, this isn’t another Pain Olympics discussion.  This is simply a fact of life.  Yesterday my husband heard that a friend of his, who we knew has been battling the return of melanoma, is to be given no further treatment against this very aggressive (and sadly very prevalent) cancer.  She said “it’s a case of each day as it comes, sorting my stuff out, and setting up X (her son) for the future.”  And so last night, as I was frying onions and revelling in that delicious aroma, I knew she was figuring out how to tell her son.  And I thought that I owed it to her to do as she is doing – to take each day as it comes, and to be grateful for what I have.

So today, on this autumn Friday, I am grateful for :

1. My husband
2. Frying onions
3. This lovely autumn we are having
4. The tui chattering away in the trees outside my window
5. The morepork I heard in the trees last night
6. The fact I can see and hear our native birds
7. Our slightly wacky, in-need-of-maintenance, but interesting house
8. The sun streaming through the windows, warming the house
9. The beautiful views from my house (check out the header image on A Separate Life)
10. Friends – in real life and virtual
11. The fact that my last post resonated with so many people
12. That after a few years of hard work and investment, the company I used to Chair is on the verge of a big contract
13. My health – because I’m feeling okay right now, and I will not under-estimate the importance of this, not now
14. The fact I could – if I chose - buy whatever I wanted at the supermarket today
15. The good quality, reasonably-priced, delicious Sauvignon Blanc that I plan on drinking tonight ...

... and much, much more ...