Grateful Blog

Today I’m grateful that:

• The weather was perfect for a boat ride into the city to celebrate Chad’s birthday.
• We arrived at the bar for a pre-dinner drink at the exact perfect moment to watch the Sox game. We strolled in just as Papi was stepping up to bat in the bottom of the 9th, having apparently saved his swing to provide the ultimate drama by knocking in three runs for the come-from-behind win.
• Despite a long wait for a table and a waitress who completely forgot our order, we somehow made it back to the dock in plenty of time to catch the last boat home to Quincy. We had alternatives for getting back to the Q, but sharing a crowded Red Line train is far less appealing than making our way back home while having a last drink, breathing in some fresh ocean air, and taking in a beautiful view from the boat.

Today I’m grateful that:

• We found the most delicious — albeit entirely unhealthy and fattening — breakfast place in Houston, Le Peep, thanks to foursquare.
• This baby arrived safely in his mother’s arms after being enthusiastically abducted for the purposes of dancing by an “uncle” during the baraat at the wedding of our friends Alex and Eakta.

Today I’m grateful that:

• While walking around Meredith’s neighborhood looking for a nail salon, we stumbled onto a street performance by an amazing band of young kids from Alameda. The pure joy those kids got from playing music was truly inspiring. If anyone wonders whether it’s worth it to have the arts in schools, five minutes watching these kids will certainly answer the question.
• Enjoyed a delicous home-made Italian dinner with some of Meredith’s friends in Redwood City. Great, fun, welcoming group of people. And, of course, Manhattans in juice glasses — you can’t go wrong with that!
• Remembering my grandfather, who always made Manhattans with cherries for the adults before dinner, and as part of that routine would yell, “Cherry time!” and all of us grandkids would line up for him to feed us each a cherry.

Today I’m grateful that:

• The medication worked quickly, and I had my first real meal tonight for the first time in more than a week. Haddock with linguine and asparagus may not sound that exciting, but trust me, it was heavenly!
• We have such great neighbors. We ran into our next-door neighbor, Artie, while we were out to dinner, and he not only offered to drive Chad to/from his new job whenever needed, but told us his garage is usually open and that we can help ourselves to his snow-blower if he’s not around, AND said we can have his current snow-blower as soon as he talks his wife into buying a new one. Woo hoo!

Today I’m grateful that:

• I had enough food and drink for what turned out to be about double the number of people I was expecting at our Super Bowl party. Guess I should have checked the evite more than once. Grateful that lots of people brought food!
• The stadium bundt cake finally worked! Thanks to my sister, Heather, for giving this to me as a gift and being patient while I tried to get it to actually work.
• I was not watching the Super Bowl in Tuscon, where some viewers saw the game interrupted by a 30-second porn clip with three minutes left in the game.  That would have been an awkward moment I would never have wanted to share with 20 or so random friends and family members, including my parents.

Today I’m grateful for:

• My willpower when it comes to Weight Watchers, so that not only did I not want to eat the entire batch of Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookies that I made as a thank you to my neighbor for all of his snow-blowing help, but I controlled myself enough during the week that I could actually have a couple of cookies and it didn’t even put much of a dent in my points totals for the week. It’s the little things.
• Scrubs knowing how to handle a relationship. Watched our DVR’ed version of the J.D./Elliott/Will they/Won’t they? episode. It was perfect. See what I mean (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it!)
• Some silly “sideline reporter” at the SAG Awards red carpet show (yes, I have a lot of free time), asked Kyra Sedgewick and Kevin Bacon how they’ve managed to stay married for 20 years. Kevin Bacon replied: “You have to keep the fights clean and the sex dirty.” I’m sure he stole it from someone, but I liked it anyway.

Today I’m grateful that:

• The Thai dish Singapore fried noodles is somehow, miraculously, (and hopefully not erroneously) listed as only 6-7 points on Weight Watchers. I fully expected to get home from lunch at my friend Tracy’s place, calculate the points, and curse myself. Yay!
• Chad and Chip made it home safe and sound from the inauguration celebration in D.C.
• I now have a cool Obama t-shirt and an Obama bobblehead. What more could one want in life?

Today I’m grateful that:

• Even after horrific violence like that perpetrated against Matthew Shepard in 1998, a group of mostly gay people were still brave enough to go to Laramie, Wyoming, and talk to people from all walks of life in an attempt to understand the root of such hate, and produce such a moving, thought-provoking play as “The Laramie Project.”
• We stumbled onto a great Indian restaurant in Harvard Square before the play.
• I didn’t have anything to eat at John Harvard’s after the play. Because I really would have regretted it when we saw that mouse scurrying around.

Today I’m gratefulfor:

• Gift cards!
• The escape of a good book, even if it’s escaping to a kind of f-ed up world.
• The most chocolate-y brownie mix ever.

Today I’m grateful for:

• Seeing the sun and some blue sky, even if it was brief!
• Homemade Nuts and Bolts/Chex Mix/Nibble Mix, which makes eating buttery cereal acceptable at any time of the day! (even if my diet would disagree)
• People who work with Alzheimer’s/dementia patients.  What an unbelievably challenging thing to do every day. To do it with such kindness and cheer really amazes me. The peace of mind that it gives family members cannot be measured.