it's the small stuff

My Mum and Dad arrived earlier this week for a two and a half week visit.  (This is a good thing... I love 'em to bits.)  They both forgot their slippers.  Comfort is a high priority in a house with cold floors so we went out the first day to get them some.

I am thankful that my mother bought these socks for herself specifically because she knew her seven year old granddaughter would love them.

Sweetpea only gets to see her Nanny and Papa two or three times a year given that we live on opposite coasts.  The day they arrived I took them to pick her up from school where she ran across the playground, weaving in and out of people, to leap into their arms and immediately begin recounting every moment of her day and every day since the last time she saw them.  Three days later, she still hasn't stopped talking.

I am thankful that, really, you're never too old to be read a story.  In particular one called The Giant Strawberry written by your granddaughter.  And you give the story the same acclaim a Pulitzer-winning novel would receive. 

Although there was frost last night requiring flannel sheets to be wrapped around the lemon tree, and the days are painfully short meaning that a late afternoon walk now requires a flashlight, I am grateful. The smell of butternut squash soup fills the house.  Our often empty guest room is occupied by people I adore. Sweetpea embraces each day with a joy and vigor that English hubby and I strive to emulate. I am embracing my mosey, and exploring being compassionate with myself. I am surrounded physically by friends and family who love and accept me as I am. I have a wider community in the blogosphere of like-minded writers and bloggers and mothers and photographers I am blessed to know.

To my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving.
To my Canadian friends, don't worry I still know when the real Thanksgiving is.
And to the rest of you across the globe, I hope that in your neck of the woods you are also embracing the small moments that make it all worthwhile.

I'm off to crunch through some leaves...