Sunday Gratitude

This has been a good week - busy and full, but good. Let me tell you what fills my heart with gratitude.

The best certainly was that Kaefer got more sleep this week and had less homework than usually. This resulted in her being more relaxed and so much nicer and sweeter than she often is when she doesn't get enough sleep and is slammed with homework. It's the only thing about her high school that I truly don't like - that they give way too much homework. IMHO teenagers should also have the opportunity to have a social life and do teenage things like hanging out in the mall or going to the movies together. Kaefer almost never does that. Every now and then she goes shopping with a friend of hers or two, sometimes they make it to the movies together. I wish she had more opportunity for this. Since she is stressed with the amount of work for the school, she often is very short, gets into teenage attitude and we sometimes fight with each other. While I know that all of this is quite normal for a girl her age, I rather have her around when she is more relaxed. So this was a wonderful week when she laughed often and was her funny, chatty self.

I saw two of my good friends that I hadn't seen for quite a while.

K. and I just sat on her deck, enjoying fruit and veggies while talking and catching up on each other's news. Their new dog occupied some of our time as well - you know how much I love dogs and enjoy every opportunity I can spend with them.

Seeing Jo in the spring usually means we visit nurseries together while catching up. We are both passionate gardeners and quite crazy about birds. It's simply beautiful to share this love with someone. We also both enjoy knitting, so after the nursery we also visited a yarn store where we had a lovely chat with the lady who works there. I love this kind of connection.

At the end of the week I got an unexpected custom order from a Girl Scout leader for one of the girls in her troop who is moving away. It reminded me so much of my own years as a troop leader for a Brownie and then Junior group of Girl Scouts. I enjoyed working on this custom order very much and I am thankful to be able to do what I love.

While walking the neighborhood I came across a yard sale held by an man whom I often meet when he is walking his dog. We just sat at the side of the road, chatting for a while. This is what I will always love - connecting with the people in our neighborhood, sitting for a short while and chatting. It's a small thing, but so beautiful. It makes life a little bit brighter. Again, it's the connection.

While Kaefer goes to German School, I often hang out in the public library until she's done. Often I take a few dvd's home with movies that we want to watch. While I usually look for movies that one of us "knows" (= wants to see), every now and then a completely unknown movie (at least to me) grabs my attention and I take it home just out of curiosity. This happened last week when I chose "An Unfinished Life" with Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman, both actors I like a lot. Please don't roll your eyes that I didn't know this movie! I loved it!! This is the kind of film I like to watch, especially when it ends well like this one does. It is satisfying I guess.

A few weeks ago I told you about the Varied Thrush that suddenly appeared in my garden. Well, he has brought his extended family, and they hop around in my garden joyfully. It's a pleasure to watch them, they are such beautiful birds. However, it is almost impossible to capture them on camera. They seem to sense it and fly away - darn!

I hope you had a pleasant week as well with many opportunities to be grateful. Have a wonderful week!