Small Success Thursday: Gushing Gratitude

I might not be known for being overly public with gratitude. I blame my English heritage, which is known for being reserved, critical, having dry humour, and drinking tea. All things considered, I can always use a push to do better than what I’ve been doing. When I saw Sherry Antonetti’s post about gratitude on Catholic Mom’s ‘Small Success Thursday’ I felt the call and am responding: 3 things I’m grateful for and 1 act of kindness in the past 24 hours.

Homeschooling. We’ve just started Kindergarten with my oldest child and at this point, it’s going swimmingly. I don’t expect it to always go so well, but I’m super grateful for this positive start to this journey. He and I are working well together so far, which I was unsure about to start with, and still to some degree am wary will take a nosedive. But I’m grateful that we’ve been enjoying each other’s company and creating some great memories as we journey.
Dishwasher. We installed our new dishwasher two days before the kids and I left for B.C. for the month of August. We had been without one for over a year, when the stand-alone broke beyond repair. Ever since that time, life felt like it was in shambles. Our counters were always full and brimming with dishes. There was never a place to do food prep, so healthy eating slowly gave way to easier convenience foods that didn’t require counter-space to put food on the table. And then, even as this was happening life just started to feel overwhelming. I remember getting to a point where I found I actually could meal plan! But those plans just stayed as ink on a sheet and never found reality because I couldn’t handle the kitchen. I missed eating well. I missed making things from scratch. I missed experimenting with Pinterest finds and other recipes. This dishwasher has completely changed everything. While the counters aren’t completely clear, I always have enough room to do food prep. And I’m loving finding new recipes that our family loves! I am so ever grateful that we have this dishwasher, cause it’s helped me find a groove again.
My husband. I really did find a good guy, and I’m so thankful that he agreed (after a time) that he liked me too. He pulls me out of my workaholic attitude and makes me do things I wouldn’t normally consider doing on my own. Like playing StarCraft (often with our friend Fr. Darryl). And he’s gotten into making wines again and doing beer from scratch, thanks to a book Fr. Darryl brought back from the Catholic New Media Conference where he was visiting with it’s author, Sarah Vabulas, the resident Catholic Drinkie. I wouldn’t normally do cool things like this, and I’m super grateful for these opportunities to join him and learn and have fun.

And the act of kindness that I’ve done in the last 24 hours? I chose to take Spencer to Andy’s evening meeting so that he could have an evening with his Daddy rather than upset him and keep him home because I’m too lazy to drive him across town. It turned out nice as I managed to throw all our leftovers in a bag and we shared supper together at his work first. I know Spencer appreciates that time (and also because he then gets to watch shows), so it really would have been more self-serving to have kept him home.

There. And it didn’t even feel too hard! I should keep practicing this public gratitude thing. Maybe my perspective will be transformed 🙂 What are you grateful for today?