also, happy 100th birthday, pop shackelford

[jazzfish]

Let the fall leaves fall
And the cold snow snow
And the rain rain rain 'til April.
Our coats are warm
And the pantry's full
And there's cake upon the table.

--Clyde Watson, from "Father Fox's Pennyrhymes"

If you asked, I'd tell you that I've been extremely lucky, much of it in ways that aren't directly traceable to any action on my part at all. To take a random example from this past year: I bought a nice carbon-fibre viola dyed dark green. When it arrived, the colour turned out to be pretty unpleasant... but the viola had been irreparably damaged in shipping. The company had to make & send another one, and I was able to get the replacement in basic black *and* get my money back for the colour upgrade.

Or, you know, being here at all. Sitting on my favorite childhood couch, with a healthy fourteen-year-old kitten sniffing my toes while the ill-but-manageable sixteen-year-old cat snores in the far bedroom. Listening to the thumping of my partner mangling the turkey left over from yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner, at which we had a few good friends and a really good time. Watching the rain on the river from the 31st floor, in an apartment that's big enough to hold all our stuff while still being reasonably affordable and not too far from the city. Living in Canada as a permanent resident, with health care and Employment Insurance and all that social-safety-net jazz. Employed, relatively quickly, at a job that isn't killing me. Still being alive.

Sometimes things just work out, and today I'm very thankful that they have.

Comments

[okrablossom]

I have been working so hard to put gratitude lists into my own journal and I find it a pleasure to read other's. Thank you for posting this. And also for reminding me that still being alive is a fantastic thing.