graced

Have so much to be thankful for. We could start with the way I felt when I woke from a nap on my parents' couch this evening. Drool drying on my cheek, afghan balled up at my feet. I had fallen asleep feeling ragged and feverish and when I woke my head had cleared. This is the magic of parents living twelve miles from me. Five days and I'm already a convert. I could keep going with gratitude. I could close my eyes and transpose myself into any number of warm, welcoming living rooms surrounded by friends and family. Could count the many ways I fit to the inch into the job I've had for three years. Could pat lovingly the new bike in the garage that is now mine. It has a horn on it shaped like a rhinoceros head. I could begin to tell you how thankful I am for my ears and eyes, for the music I absorb and the art I try to create. I could say, there's this hill and that tree, and the way the grass feels under bare feet in the summer. I am thankful for water. Bright colors. Strong arms. For the smell of a piano and the taste of a Sunday morning. I am so, so thankful for long distance love and friends and people in my blood who delight in me as much as I do them. And I'm thankful for this: this is not the first Thanksgiving I have loved, but it is the first Thanksgiving I have been in love. It is like the exhale after a long-held breath and I am complete. I am blessed.