Gratitude Monday: Vacation : Black Tortoise Press

Sunsets on Lake Michigan Ah the bliss of a vacation: no routine, no kitchen, no electronics beeping, talking, demanding. Just the beach, the bike trail, and the campfire. Ice cream every night. These this fill me gratitude because: a) I love the outdoors, b) I love that my family loves what I love, c) I am physically and financially fit enough to enjoy all of this.

Now back to reality. My gratitude list this week, in no particular order:

Vacations (you already know that.)
Roller coasters and grandchildren: I normally don’t like the “scary” rides, but when an almost 4-year old says, “G-mom please,” and his 7-year old brother promises to ride with me, how can I say no? Oh the screams, whoops, and Topsy-turvy tummies. Yay! I loved it.
Duckie, who makes me laugh until I almost wet my pants with her story about the Blueberry Store: I went into the store with these glasses on. (shows me her glasses with the stars and stripes all over the pin-holed lenses.) This man asks me, ‘can you see out of those?’ I say, ‘I don’t know, they’re not mine, I just borrowed them.’
Renee Woods, my genius with the barber scissors. She gave me a free trim so I can just tossle my hair and go. She also admonished me with, “Don’t touch it. Don’t touch it at all. Not all day long. Don’t touch it.” I guess all my scrunching made my waves turn into wild curls.
Customer service. More about that in a post later this week. Suffice it to say, it’s alive and well, and I am sooooo thankful.
Getting back into a routine. Monday morning, I almost forgot my gratitude; but here I am. What a great way to start the week.
Text alerts from the local newspaper. The last day of camping, I see this headline: “Power Plant proposed for [my back yard.]” Yikes! Time for some data collection. How could someone who lives here, has grandchildren here, plan something bad for us?
Weeds: Okay, I don’t really like weeds, but they do tell me that there was enough rain while I was gone to keep my flowers and vegetables going.
Green beans and cherry tomatoes from the garden. Ahhh…. I believe I’m in heaven.