It’s been a pretty damned nice day. Really.
I have a friend who once astounded me by keeping a Gratitude Journal. She’s that kind of person, glass half full and all, and kept whole scribbling book just to write down those things that happened to go well. She sees the lovely in everything, and I’m a little envious.
Not that I’m some old crank screaming at kids to get out of my yard or anything. Not yet, anyway. I’m like everyone else – smooth mornings, trying afternoons, exhausted evenings – sometimes too busy with the minutia of the everyday to stop and say, hey, that was a delightful moment.
Well, I’m doing it right now.
There was a time this morning when I looked at my 11:00 Intro to College Writing class and saw My Reason. The one I get up for every single morning. There they were, two fresh weeks into the semester, terror and self-consciousness gone. My students were writing and talking about their writing in little clatches here and there. I floated from group to group listening, smiling, nodding. One group helped a friend with his essay’s opening. The ideas flew. Another group laughed about a piece one of them had just read aloud, and as they remarked and responded, the writer scribbled furiously in the margins of his own paper.
At 11:00 I had a classroom of students who owned the writing. There was no need for me to stand at the podium and pontificate about audience and structure. Something clicked in that room today, and my students collectively and independently became writers. Not students in some composition class with an assignment – writers.
My gratitude is in being there to witness it.
At 2:30 I rode with Em to pick up The Perfect Grandson at pre-school. This was my first time to visit his school, to see his new life outside of our little house. Em led me down a hall and into a room filled with two year-olds chatting and resting and playing – a whole rainbow-coalition nest of other people’s perfect grandchildren. It’s such a tremendous responsibility taking care of other people’s beloveds, and those women whose names I don’t yet know who nurture these delightful fat-cheeked toddlers are angels. I’ve made a mental note to tell them them this, because they need to know.
Then The Perfect Grandson came careening from across the room with his crazy hair and big light-up Spiderman shoes.
“Meee-Meee!” and buried his little face in my skirt. That knee-hug was a moment so fine I want to weave 2:30 today into a scarf I wear around my neck until I die.
I am indeed the luckiest woman on the planet.
No Telling 
Such wonderful moments!
They're all around us, too. We just need to pause and appreciate.
I love precious moments! Lucky you to have had one.
awww, thats the cutest.
I really enjoy reading your blog. I love how the best part of your day is with the perfect grandson and Em. Thanks for sharing…
We live for days like that… thanks for sharing.
Thanks, y'all. Sometimes I'm truly sappy.
I worked with a girl who kept a gratitude journal for a year… it transformed her…. she up and quit her job and disappeared into a whole new life…. wonder where she is?? think I should go find myself a notebook!
and think that is part of what blogging is- waking us up in our own lives… thanks..
I've always kept a journal, since high school, but the last two years I have been doing a “picture a day” — I find something big or small, beautiful or maybe not so much, and take a picture. Then I record the good things that went on that day. Already it has come back 10-fold. 🙂 M
“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them”. So just keep your eyes mind open even amidst a hectic day. You'll be amazed at the beauty of this world around you.
I can't wait to have my own perfect grandchild. If I can remember, I will call him/her that.
Sweet.
I LOVED “a moment so fine I want to weave 2:30 today into a scarf I wear around my neck until I die”!
Oh, Monda! All of it, every last second, sounded like total awesomeness!! That post totally made me smile.
Sally! What on earth became of her? It's like Gratitude Journal Zen took her away.
I love that idea, Amuse Me. Once upon a time I had a similar plan that involved Polaroid pictures. They stopped making the film and broke my heart.
Ekan, you're a philosopher. I became calm just reading that.
Not Quite, when you have your own perfect one you'll be a ridiculous mess just like I am.
I realize you're in the throes of tween/teendom just now, but there is a nice rainbow at the end. Way, WAY on the other end, Candace.
I love the idea of a gratitude journal and I agree with your sentiment about people who look after other peoples' perfect children/grandchildren. They are gem-like human beings and are there to be appreciated. Have another great day tomorrow!
As a teacher myself, I know exactly how good it feels to see that kind of success in a classroom. How great for all of those students who “got it” and now have felt the joy of writing.
By the way, I thought MY grandson was the perfect grandson. HA!
You have a good one too, Countrymummy.
Janie, it was miraculous. Especially on a Friday before a three-day weekend. So you have one of those grandsons, too – perfection everywhere we look!
“That knee-hug was a moment so fine I want to weave 2:30 today into a scarf I wear around my neck until I die.”
Love, love, love that sentence. Did I say love? That is one of the prettiest, sentences I have ever had the pleasure of reading!
I wish I'd written it…
That is so sweet.
Thanks, y'all. That boy is my inspiration and my sunshine.
I'm not a big Oprah fan (just because I don't watch her), but at one time she talked about something similar to the Gratitude Journal. They even sold a hardback covered book with a each day of the year in it, with an inspirational saying on the top of each page. I wrote in it every day for a few months. I did feel better, but it was a hard time in our life with my sister-in-law dying of cancer. That consumed my life and I put the journal aside. Now it's packed away in storage since I'm on the road. But what's stopping me from writing in a plain white notebook, right? Thanks for the nudge.
Oh, yeah. And this line?
That knee-hug was a moment so fine I want to weave 2:30 today into a scarf I wear around my neck until I die.
Exquisite.
Lovely.
I must have three or four journals going all the time, Pat, and not one of them is devoted to gratitude. I suspect it would improve my general demeanor to focus on the good, so it's worth a try.
Moments like these are what I would call my “warm fuzzies.” Thank you for sharing them with us!