More gratitude: the small things

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Of course, I'm grateful for my husband, my daughters, my friends, my animals, my community, our farmers, our teachers, and all our believers in a better future. I'm also grateful for some small things, though, and sometimes it's these small things that put a smile on my face in the middle of a humdrum day.

I'm grateful for the invention of Daiya, which is a better-than-cheese cheese substitute made mostly from tapioca. Unbelievable, right? Tapioca is gross, Daiya is NOT. It is truly fantastic and I think I would think so even if I weren't vegan. I'm also grateful for kimchi and saurkraut, and to our forefathers who decided to try letting vegetables sit in a pot and molder. Strange idea, great results!

I'm grateful for musicians. Every time I hear good live music, whether it's at my friend Katrina's house or at the Stringband Jamboree or out with Mr. Puddle Run on one of our rare date nights, I feel a renewed sense of gratitude for the great music-makers in our world and the abundance of good ones right here in the Northwest. In this iPod era it's too easy to forget the thrill of seeing a good local band. I'll add that to my to-do list: eat local, buy local, LISTEN local!

I'm grateful for graph paper. I love it! I got some in my Christmas stocking this year. It's terribly useful for making lists (one of my favorite activities), doodling dream houses and fantasy barns, making little Zentangles of the sort fancied by my dear mother-in-law, and generally keeping things square and plumb.

I'm grateful for my husband's hard work chopping and stacking wood and splitting kindling all summer. It's so nice to have a warm fire this January! This is NOT a small thing: it's a huge thing, and I owe him a huge thank you. He's a hard worker and I love that about him.

I could go on—and soon, I will—but I'm also grateful for my kitchen full of food. I hear it calling me now. . . . "Come cook! come cook!"

M