THANKFUL FRIDAY
Cindy Maddera
"Unfurl"
I have thought long and hard about what to write for today's Thankful Friday. I always feel an urge to write something deeper and more meaningful than just the simplicity of gratitude. Today, I am full even though my stomach constantly grumbles with hunger. This is what happens when I start riding my bike. I want to eat the whole world. I am not a snacker, but now find myself searching and scrambling for snacks. The other day I ate a stale granola bar with raisins in it. RAISINS. I couldn't even be bothered to pick those awful things out. I just closed my eyes and pretended they weren't there. I am thankful for that granola bar though, as stale and full of raisins as it was, but that's not where I had intended to take today's entry.
No. The real story here is that my belly may feel empty, but my soul is full. I mean, I guess it's my soul that is full. My days are for sure full. They have been so full that I have left here every evening with the intention of at the very least vacuuming the house when I get home only to be so physically exhausted that it is all I can do to cook dinner. I walk into the house and I am greeted with the most excited to see you puppy and I look longingly at the bed while Josephine hops all around my feet. I resist the urge to lay down for just a minute because I know that if sat down at that moment, that would be it for the night. Dinner would not get made. Eggs would not be collected and chickens would not get fed. So I don't sit down until it's time to eat. But when I say my days have been full, I do not mean that they have been full of just exhausting things. They have been full of great things.
I have started every morning on my yoga mat, with the exception of Wednesday which is reserved for an evening yoga class. It has been so glorious that I think this may be my new thing. The rest of my day has been filled up with learning new stuff and performing tasks that I used to do on a regular basis when I worked with Margaret. Some of it is tedious, but the end results have been exciting and thrilling and I am having the best time. I rode my bicycle home yesterday and it was such a pleasant ride home even though my allergies made it look like I was crying. I was not crying. My eyes were just leaking and so was my nose. And even though I know that some of my exhaustion has been caused by other things including the time change, I am thankful for it. The days have expanded with our illusion of the extra hour of daylight. I am thankful for the fullness of these days and I am thankful for that illusion.
March came in around here like a lamb, but today has decided to roar. It snowed here this morning and the weekend high is in the high forties. I am thankful for the moments this week where the weather was bright and sunny. I am thankful for the moments this week where I was outside, enjoying that bright sunny warmth. I am thankful for puppies who hop around my feet with excitement when I come home. I am thankful for Nutella filled hippo cookies. I am thankful giant hills to coast down. I am thankful for stale granola bars. And I am ever so thankful for you.
Here's to a lovely weekend and a super Thankful Friday!