It’s the middle of the afternoon. Pippa is home from kindergarten. Julian is one week away from starting preschool.

The toys are beeping and whirring. Oh I wish I could burn all the electronic toys.

Julian is tired but won’t nap. My children are not nappers. They just get cranky and deranged and then, get their second (third/fourth) wind and rally and keep on playing and making messes.

But they are healthy and busy, so let me take a moment of gratitude while the storm rages around me.

I am incredibly grateful for:

1. My busy healthy children
2. All their messes, because the messes show they are curious and happy
3. My new backpack because hauling around a laptop in a tote bag is just no good.
4. The library. Free books! Free books!
5. My book club. Friends who read! Friends who read!
6. My parents taking Julian to the mall today so I could get a little break and time to walk and write.
7. This website, a place to explore and wander.
8. Julian’s ability to sit and play by himself for looooong stretches of time.
9. This moment.
10. And this moment.
11. The BLTs we are making for dinner tonight.
12. The fact that my husband and I both agree that the L part of BLT is unnecessary and detracts from the B and T.
13. The little song Julian is singing to himself right now as he plays on the floor.
14. The leather cushion beneath my tush.
15. The space I feel in my head just from taking a few moments to breathe and write and feel grateful.

p.s. I wrote this post on Monday afternoon at my parents’ house but then my laptop disconnected from the Wi-fi, so I’m publishing it almost a day after I wrote it. So let’s update the list to include: 16. For not losing my shit when the internet got cranky.