Gratitude #23

23. Today I am grateful to receive good customer service. It really does happen sometime, and (as a piece of advice to any business) it really does engender a sense of loyalty to the store that provides it. One of the kids' Hanukkah presents was not in the Fat Brain Toys box even though the packing slip said it was. I called with little hope. They sent out the item the same day. We already loved Fat Brain and now will be sure to use them and recommend them to everyone we know.

Gratitude #22

22. Today I am grateful for naps. I don't know how 10-20 minutes of sleep during the day can make a person feel like they got an extra 1, 2 or even 3 hours' sleep the night before - the math doesn't seem to compute properly. And yet, it works.

Gratitude #21

21. Today I am grateful for the DS customer service guy I spoke with yesterday. I have been diligently calling to check my clearance status every 2 weeks since September, only to be told every time that it's "under investigation" and not one word more. The target completion date has passed. Finally, today, the guy I spoke with said that he wasn't seeing what he expected to see for how long my case has been in the works and "not for me" (he was very clear about that) but for his own curiosity he's getting in touch with my case manager to see if something's up. He promised to call me within 24 hours with any information that he can tell me. It may be nothing but at least someone is actually looking into it!

Gratitude #20

20. Today I am grateful for the neighbor's teenage daughter who came by last night to offer her babysitting services at a totally reasonable rate. Do I hear "date night" calling?

Wordless Wednesday

Gratitude #19

19. Today I am thankful for second chances.

Gratitude #18

18. Today I am thankful for portable electronics. The 4-5 hour trip each way to the cabin is made much easier with my pre-readers due to the existence of portable electronics. It's a treat for them, and I get to read my book :-)  Win-win.

Gratitude #17

17. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to travel and live in other countries. There is an excitement I feel just going into an airport no matter where or why. Although Mark Twain was wrong, there are plenty of closed-minded bigots in the international hotels of the world, when properly embraced travel is a huge mind-opener and lesson-teacher. I am fully aware of how fortunate I am/have been to have the time/money/fortitude to engage in all this travel.

And it looks like I am raising a couple of nomads too. Alex has on many occasions expressed her displeasure that we've told her we won't get on a plane for at least a year. She was also somewhat shocked when I told her half a year has already passed.

Gratitude #16

16. I can't believe I waited this long but today I am thankful for the CABIN!!! You are the reason we had to buy a fixer-upper house (darn mortgage!) but you are still so necessary for my emotional health. I sometimes have a hard time giving up my connectivity but when I'm with you I don't even miss the internet. I can hike through our woods much longer than the kids' attention spans permit. I love the traditions we're building (Grotto's and trips to the local library ... I think we are about to add trips to Rickett's Glen too), the trees we're planting, and roots we're giving our mobile children. I love deciding at 7:45pm to build a fire and make s'mores and look at the stars. Alex is already a champion kindling and marshmallow stick finder. Zoltan complains that he doesn't like the "quiet woods" but when we're in the quiet woods he's pretty content.

I am also thankful for this (hopefully) 2 year period when we are here in the USA and with any luck will get to the cabin every month. We already missed October but I have decided that going up on November 1 plus another November trip makes up for it.

Gratitude #15

15. Today I am thankful for my good health. Especially in the last year, every member of my immediate family suffered or even still suffers from various mild-to-serious problems with their health. Even my blood is cleaner than it should be for my eating habits and level of activity (just had my first real "checkup" in 7 years - it always got pushed to the side while we were overseas).