One of our cancer team members is a positive attitude. And nothing says positive attitude like counting blessings. Not only do I keep a written list–constantly adding to it–but also a thanksgiving list rolls through my head. Like when I make a prescription pick-up. I find myself breathing thanks that the car starts. Whispering gratitude for the freedom to move about town, the hospice team, the availability of meds, the pharmacy that fills the scripts … you get the idea.

Despite hard things, there’s still so much to be grateful for (for which to be grateful?):

1. A generous package in yesterday’s mail that included the smell of Yuletide Cinnamon candles—it’s never too early to light a Christmas candle—and the reminder that, indeed, all is well with our souls

 

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2. Friends who re-planted our birdfeeder so Hubby could see the activity from his hospital bed

3. The Porch Fairy’s drive-by this morning

 

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4. Dark chocolate – a.k.a. Vitamin C

5. This fleecy, Ducky pillow case for Hubby, left in a gift bag on our front porch

 

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6. Chai tea … because one can never be too thankful for Chai tea

7. Fall colors brought indoors

 

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8. The anticipation of Denver beating San Francisco later today

9. The incredibly thoughtful, creative, helping-us-fight-cancer, kind, mischievous, would-do-anything-for-us people in our lives – like these two who took my vehicle to have a slow-leaking tire replaced

 

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10. This rich autumn-colored yarn left on my front porch, the card signed: “Much love from the Knitting Fairy.” I didn’t even know there was a Knitting Fairy

 

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11. One more day with Hubby; one more day in which he is able to propel himself out of bed on his own steam. Because this will not always be the case.

In her book, One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp writes:

It’s impossible to give thanks and simultaneously feel fear. This is the anti-anxiety medicine I try to lay in my wide-open palm every day.

Giving thanks. Counting blessings. Today. Still. And always.