I drove to the big city yesterday for a dermatology exam, and was grateful to get only two spots frozen off my face. But mostly I was grateful to make the drive there and back safely: Anything can happen, any time. I wanted to live to see this morning. I’m uncomfortable driving behind trucks with heavy loads, and successfully passed this one after about twenty miles. It hurts my heart to see any kind of log truck, but I know it’s part of forest management to remove some trees, and that’s a complicated logic I won’t get into here. Maybe these were all standing dead trees like those that end up in my wood pile. Anyway, I’m cautious about the potential for lethal objects to fly off of big loads, so I was glad to finally get around it.

I took little Wren with me, so we stopped at a park before my appointment to stretch our legs. We were both curious about these comestibles set at the base of a light pole. She sniffed but neither of us touched them, so I don’t know if they were empty litter, or full offerings. Across the park an apparently unhoused person sat on the grass with his bundles but we didn’t walk that far. It was a provocative combination that stirred compassion, and an interesting juxtaposition with the tons of food and other donations coming into various relief organizations for the climate catastrophe unfolding in Los Angeles.

After our drive home and a brief rest, I finally got around to making healthy granola, with protein oats, pecans, olive oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and dried apricots, and found the perfect jar to hold the exact recipe: a simple pleasure.

This morning I awoke filled with joy and gratitude. After dabbling for awhile with a practice designed to cultivate lucid dreaming, I finally experienced my first intentional lucid dream. I used the trick of noticing something in the dream that could never happen in waking life, which caused me to recognize the opportunity to wake up inside the dream, and then choose my actions in the dream without waking my body. It was empowering, especially since I was able to save humanity from the aliens who had occupied the bodies of some of my friends; but really, it was empowering because lucid dreaming gives one access to agency within the subconscious, and opens more opportunities for PG&D (personal growth and development).

I was also joyful when I woke because today was my birthday: I’m grateful to have been on this beautiful earth for sixty-six years. My brother called for our annual combined birthday call (his was last week, two years older). As we talked, I watched out the window while this handsome buck browsed the patio. I’m grateful for a finally-peaceful relationship with my brother.

Later, after some work, I got to eat again! Leftover flat chicken, havarti, mayo, mustard, and lettuce on a slice of homemade bread for lunch. I savored every bite of it. Partly I love flat chicken because it’s delicious, and partly because my friend taught me how to make it so I think of her while I’m cooking, and while I’m eating. Everything can be meaningful from a certain perspective. Later in the afternoon I fully enjoyed teaching a mindfulness class, and finding a surprise on my doorstep afterward: a delightful cookbook I can hardly wait to explore.

And then later, I got to eat again! It is never lost on me that having food is very fortunate. I was just heating up some dinner when FedEx arrived with a birthday package, which was filled with tiny cupcakes! Not only are they adorable, they’re delicious. Today, I fully lived my intention to be grateful every living moment of the day: grateful for the many birthday wishes I received via emails, texts, phone calls, and even a couple of zooms, all reflecting meaningful and cherished relationships; grateful for natural beauty and the peace of a quiet home; grateful for good work, good food, good pets, good friends, good neighbors, so much good in this one precious day that will never come again. Grateful for all the days, the lessons, the joys and sorrows, fun and trials, that preceded this day; and grateful now to be able to climb stairs like a grownup and tumble into a comfortable bed. Grateful for the wisdom to not take any of this for granted.