Grateful Blog

Today I’m grateful that:

• Thirty-four years ago today, Rachel O’Malley was born. I literally cannot imagine my life without her.
• I have so many pictures from all phases of my life kept in albums and scanned onto my computer and put online to be able to shared and saved forever. There’s something very comforting, though sometimes bittersweet, about having a physical snap shot of certain moments and certain people, especially the ones who are no longer here to take any more pictures. I treasure them very much. This is one of my favorites, because it says a lot about who my Uncle Denny was…
• My sister Heath introduced me to Amy MacDonald. Which led me to a version she did, and then another version that Paolo Nutini did, of one of my favorite songs, “Caledonia.” This song still brings back a very vivid memory, yet at the same time has new meaning. It’s just a beautiful song.

Today I’m grateful for:

• Being able to spend time with my parents. I am more grateful for this today than I have been in a long time.
• Old videos from the college days. My friends were ridiculously hysterical! I wish I still spent that much time singing and dancing. I’m also glad I was BEHIND the camera for most of it.
• Having good friends who take care of each other.

Today I’m grateful for:

• MC Hammer. Yep, I said it. He was on Ellen today, and said some things that were really inspiring. The thing that struck me most was this, in response to Ellen’s question about what do you say to people who have lost everything: “They really haven’t lost everything, and if they even interpret it that way, then they’re in trouble. If you let the person who’s not in your shoes say you’ve lost everything, then you’ve truly lost everything.”
• Being able to learn something even in the hardest of moments. As someone pointed out to me today, “When you learn something, you learn it forever.”
• The weird things that make life interesting when you don’t have a full-time job. In this case, the “Booda” cat house/litter box thing that mysteriously showed up on my front lawn yesterday, was mysteriously gone this morning. I will now be checking my front lawn daily.

Today I’m grateful that:

• I finished my book for book club, just in time, as has become my pattern lately. I’m also glad I’ve never actually seen the movie version of “The Natural” … I generally tend to have issues with the major differences between books and movies, and I’m told the ending in the movie is far different than the ending in the book. I prefer book endings. Movie endings tend to wrap everything up with a big, pretty bow. I mean, I like pretty bows, but they just don’t fit around all gifts.
• I got to spend some quality time with my nephews during their visit this week. I’m sorry to see them go … oh, wait, that’s for my other blog.
• On this date next month, my sister Heather will be LIVING on the East Coast again!!!

Today I’m grateful that:

• We all made it out of Mohegan Sun in one piece, and without losing much money at all. I’m very grateful Liz introduced me to craps, as I seem to be able to make my money last longer there, even if I don’t actually win much, and I seem to be a lucky roller.
• I’m pretty sure my brother made it through the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Southie as a driver participant with no incidents. At least, I haven’t heard otherwise yet.
• Quality time with my nephews visiting from Toronto!!!

Today I’m grateful that:

• No curses on this Friday the 13th!
• Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, and Snuggies!
• Good friends … the ones who rally for some Bud Light even with a sick kid at home (I meant that as a good thing though now that I write it, it sounds kind of bad); the ones who come out with me again even though the last time was a shit show that she had to observe as the unintentional designated driver; and especially the one who is my most loyal blog reader! (Shout out, Rachael!)

Today I’m grateful that:

• I had a few nice, relaxing hours at the hair salon. I’m sure those girls are tired from standing on their feet all day, but they seem to have a really fun time at their jobs and seem to be such good friends. Steel Magnolias, Quincy-style. Maybe I should look into that as a new career … except that I have zero style when it comes to hair, so I suppose I’ll have to look elsewhere for a new career path.
• I’m accepting, and embracing, my dark. It is what it is.
• Today is a new day. I really lived it up at my pity party yesterday, but the cops came in and broke it up, and all of the mess has been cleared away already. No hangover, even!

Today I’m grateful that:

• I have friends who think they have no idea what to say, but end up saying exactly the right things.
• My grandmother has such a good group of supportive family. It was meet and greet day in the dementia ward, where families were invited for a little “party.” The Sullivans basically took over the whole place. This makes me feel sad for the other people living there, but grateful for my own family.
• That Boston is still and always will be a Hockey Town!
• I’m going with four today (I know, wow) … the weather is beautiful and the sun will be out an hour longer tonight!!! (Totally ignoring the fact that we’re getting snow overnight into tomorrow morning.)

Today I’m grateful that:

• Simone always sends me the most random e-mails. Two recent ones made me giggle. One that she meant to send to me but sent to Deb, about her weekend with Deb. Good thing it was all complimentary! The second was a link to this ridiculously giggly video with Ross (the former Leno intern) hanging out with a bunch of firefighters. Some priceless comments in there:
• You can find things in unexpected places that make your mind wander to other unexpected places.
• The stars really know how to align sometimes.

Today I’m grateful that:

• I have a great friend (Tracy!) who gifted me with a ticket to see “Dirty Dancing” live at the Opera House. Ok, so Johnny Castle had a bit of an Australian accent, which was a tad off-putting, but whatever. His body was a very fair representation of Patrick Swayze, so that made up for it.
• I also love that as I was running downstairs for memorabilia at intermission, I asked Tracy if she wants anything, and she yelled, “Get me an umbrella!” I didn’t hear her follow that with, “I’m just kidding!” so I bought her an umbrella.  Not just any umbrella. This umbrella: What I love is that I know she’ll use it someday. She already used it quite well as a walking stick on the way to the car!
• The power of the Internet to bring together people who probably otherwise never would have been found, and that really would have been a shame, to say the least.