What are you grateful for?

I'm as guilty as the next person of occasionally becoming bogged down by the sometimes irritating minutiae of daily life.  On the whole I can make long lists of things I'm grateful for, and if you asked me, I would describe myself as happy.  But still ... those minutiae ... I have been known to moan about things that will not be important in a year, or a week, or maybe even tomorrow.  (As those people I'm grateful for will no doubt attest!)

And occasionally, some heartbreaking insight into someone else's life will jerk me right out of that state of being less than grateful, and remind me how damn lucky I am.  It is easy - and understandable - to succumb to worry.  About your health, the health of those you love, your weight, your job, your looks, the state of your finances.  And sometimes we (I) get so focused on those things, we might forget to rejoice in what we have.  So here are the things I'm truly grateful for.

I have my health.  That's not to say that like many I don't have some health issues teetering on the horizon, but I am generally healthy.  I can get up and go outside and look at the sky.  I can see the sky.  The spectre of cancer - and many other illnesses - looms over us all.  There is no telling if it will one day (soon or not so soon) strike me - or worse, my loved ones - down.  But today I am healthy.  I could do with being a bit thinner (something I'm working on!), but my body is a miracle - like everyone else's.

I have people I love, who love me back.  Without being sappy, this is the most important thing in the world.  With all the pain, suffering and evil out there, love is the thing that redeems humanity.  I still have all my parents (I say all, because I am even more fortunate than most, in that I have 'extra' (step) ones).  I have a husband I've been with for 24 years, and married to for very nearly 12.  To use one of my Dad's favourite expressions, I wouldn't swap him for a gold pig. ;)

I have very good friends, who've seen me at my worst, and are still here.  I may be a bit hopeless at staying in touch (sorry), but I never undervalue them.

For the first time in my life, I'm doing a job I love.  On the 12th October I'll have been doing it full-time for a year.  I don't know what the future holds, or whether I will still be lucky enough to be doing it in a year - or five - but today it's awesome.

I can go outside and touch a tree if I want to, walk barefoot in the grass, paddle in the sea anywhere on our beautiful coast.  Maybe the latter not as often as I'd like, but some people have never seen the sea.  Imagine that.

So today I'm full of gratitude for this rich, imperfect life I lead.  Or perhaps it leads me.  Life can be beautiful, rewarding, cruel and downright unfair.  But it's life.  And I'm happy to be alive.

What are you grateful for?