A very normal list of things I am so very grateful for

Or, I'm living

The beginning is a very good place to start–a line for which I believe I owe Julie Andrews credit– but since I agree, let’s do just that. 

Every morning I wake up between 5:00-6:00am, mostly to the sound of a very cute 3-year-old coming up the stairs and into bed with us. It’s precious, really. He’s the best snuggler around. But for, I don’t know, the last year or so, about that same time I notice that the joints of my fingers and ankles feel, not quite stuck in place, but very, very stiff. 

I am 37-years-old and cannot fully explain this. I mean, maybe my ankles, that does make a little sense. I played an extremely ankle injury-heavy sport for 17 years and the amount of scar tissue that settled in to heal and protect those poor joints from the slide tackles and kicks and relentless bruising is significant. But my fingers? Why are my fingers stiff? The writing? A decade of non-stop diaper changes? I feel that the fine motor use of my hands is pretty average, but–oh my gosh–it just occurred to me, it’s the phone! Holding, scrolling, texting, using the phone is breaking my hands, isn’t it? I need to research this more. But the point is, I have been putting a scoop of collagen in my coffee for the last month or so and, call me crazy, but I think it’s helping? I mean, the placebo effect could be strong here, but my fingers have felt less stiff in the morning and my very smart friend, Aubree, once said “Katie, if you think something is working, then it’s working” and dang if she isn’t exactly right about humanity so #1 on my list is collagen in my coffee.

Once I get the kids dropped off at school, that’s when I grab my phone and get caught up on Voxer. My mastermind group talks every single day, and so it’s my habit to put my phone in the cup holder and start listening to messages as I am pulling away from Cannon’s therapy. 

I cannot tell you how much this connection means to me. Good days, crappy days, kids are sick days, work is awesome days, I’m terrible at everything days, talking with my people is the life preserver God threw out to me early in 2020 and I’m still clutching that thing–those women–for dear life. They let me swear to them and still believe me when I say my only real goal in life is to really know Jesus and those are the kind of friends I want to lock arms with. No list of everyday gratitude would be complete without #2 my friends, #3 Voxer and #4 a new addition of $6.99 wireless bluetooth headphones from Target which work just fine thankyouverymuch, because listening to messages on speaker was getting ridiculous. My hearing might be going the way of my joints and now I just need something that I can put in my coffee for that.

When the baby goes down for a nap around noon, that’s when I put a show on for the toddlers– and that show is almost always Bluey which is just going to go ahead and earn a spot at #5, I’m thankful for Bluey and the brilliant writers behind Bandit’s character, but I digress– After I put Bluey on the basement tv, I get on what most certainly makes my gratitude list, #6 the Peloton bike. We purchased the Peloton in April of 2021, but it wasn’t until December of that same year that I really caught the bug, or it caught me, or it was simply cheaper than therapy and I needed a whole lot of therapy but whatever it was, I rode and I rode and I think its ok to say out loud when we are proud of ourselves for showing up for something and friends, I am really proud of showing up to take care of my body on that bike. I am also thankful for #7 Tunde Oyeneyin’s boot camp classes because I don’t work as hard for anyone as I’ll work for Tunde. (Maybe Alex Toussaint because he swears at me and swears get me going.)

I am also forever and ever amen grateful for #8 carpool, because after I do my part and get 8 children where they need to be every morning, my children then get delivered to my doorstep every day after school at 3:15pm and it’s truly lovely. The bus brings Cannon home from his school around 3:45pm and it goes without saying that #9 Special Needs Bus Drivers are just the best kind of people. 

A few months ago someone told me about Half Baked Harvest because I live under a rock and wasn’t following Tieghan, but I have since remedied that situation and become obsessed and have shamelessly made her Cookie Dough Cups maybe seven times? But we do eat some real food in this house, and we have been making our way through what is next on my list, #10 The Half Baked Harvest Everyday Cookbook. I am finally making dinner again after a two-year-stretch of quesadillas, thanks to this cookbook. Going to go ahead and highly recommend the Zuppa Toscana with Gnocchi (but it was a bit too spicy for the kids so I went back to quesadillas for them. Still saying we broke the stretch).

To round out this very normal day of gratitude, I would be remiss not to mention how grateful I am for #11 Frownies (see above about my joints and hearing and apply to my forehead), which have become such a normal look for me after 7pm now the kids never even mention that I’m walking around with paper mache on my face. Oh and #12 my real pajamas from Target. Never underestimate the power of putting real pajamas on. 

Of course, of course I am also so thankful to be a mom, to have kids that still (mostly) seem to like hanging out with me, to have a job I love and parents who live close. I’m thankful for my husband and his fight for sobriety, for my dog because she’s awesome, for Instacart, and teachers–oh may God be gracious to you and bless and make his face shine upon you teachers who watch my children for six hours a day! I’m thankful for my Bible study group and that Precepts has an In & Out version that’s only two pages per lesson now. I’m endlessly thankful for my camera and the moments I have captured for my family and others this year. And mercy–every minute of every day, I’m thankful for mercy. I’m thankful that even though I’m getting older, I’m getting older, and that means I’m living.

I recently read about a man in a wheelchair who, when someone said to him apologetically, “Gosh, it must be so limiting to be in that wheelchair,” he responded, “Oh no, my wheelchair is what liberates me, I couldn’t do anything without it!” and I just thought my goodness, if that isn’t exactly what a life of gratitude looks like. 

I’m thankful, lastly, that I always have the choice to see it that way.