Saturday, March 22, 2008

Gratitudes III

It seems appropriate, on the eve of tomorrow, to resurrect the idea of thankfulness. (Also of idiotic humor.) There's a lot to feel happy about, even if the economy is tanking in a spectacularly frightening way; especially the idea of a second chance. There's always another one of those, isn't there?
Here are just a few of the things I'm grateful for.


  • black jelly beans
  • the rainbow of variety of dogs (as seen, say, by the hundreds in Prospect Park), the way nature persists in making her works of art with living beings, each mutt a one-off the likes of which will never exist again
  • green heads of daffodils emerging from the cold mud
  • the nice sheets on comfy beds offered with hospitality by dear friends
  • chocolate Easter bunnies (shared by a child)
  • a glass of pinot noir at the end of the day, with the newspaper
  • hope, and its gorgeous persistence
  • any day I don't have to pick either ticks or burrs off Nelly (or both)
  • e-mail (I admit it)
  • Netflix (ditto)
  • the Magic 8 ball, when it tells me exactly what I want to hear
  • mothers, the kind who still want to take care of you even though you're grown
  • a new season
  • karma--as exists in this lifetime, because that's enough
  • nostalgia: it brings me back to places and people I then find I don't have to leave behind
  • plastic eggs dotting a field, waiting for excited children to find

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

May I dare add motorcycles to your list?

Bill J. - Loveland, Colo.

Melissa Holbrook Pierson said...

Jeez, Bill, how could I have forgot?? Of course, motorcycles. The other day, as I was moping deeply about the fact that I want to keep living out in the country, and maybe even move farther out from "civilization" ha-ha, but gas is going sky high and besides I feel like the worst sort of criminal hypocrite for driving my big polluter (even though relative to most it's a pretty small polluter), I suddenly thought: Yeah! A bike! I'll get one, this time for purely practical reasons, just as they used to do in the old days! Fifty miles to the gallon. Sounds good. Do my errands on one. Still got my panniers--they fit a lot of groceries.

So I'll be taking votes on what kind of bike I should get for that.

Anonymous said...

A motorcycle for purely practical reasons? You're breaking my heart! You should read this great book, "The Perfect Vehicle." No shelter, no past, no future hopes.

Thank you, Ms. Pierson.

Bill J. - Loveland, Colo.

Melissa Holbrook Pierson said...

Now, Bill, it's you who is breaking my heart. Memories. And thanks.