Counting to 30: A Month of Gratitude At Once

I've noticed some people are doing a month of gratitude, posting on Facebook every day a thing that they are grateful for. And I'm not knocking that, if it works for you, but for me, the do-it-every-day method is a hard one, and I won't feel very grateful if I find myself lying in bed one night and realize that, oh crap, I didn't do it for that day, and is it worth getting up for? Not to mention, how many times I would have to ask myself, "Have I said this one already?"

So I decided that I could come up with 30 things I am grateful for, all at once, and while it won't have the same effect as sprinkling it through the month, it's still worth something.

In no particular order:

1. Having a roof over my head
2. That I can pay for 
3. And that I can pay my other bills (if I control myself)
4. That I have a job
5. And one that uses my innate skills
6. Working from home
7. A home with heat (and air conditioning, in summer)
8. Modern plumbing
9. Carlos the therapy cat
10. My family
11. A family of good and great friends, near and far
12. A working car
13. Sunshine, when it comes
14. And warmth, or at least lack of cold, when it comes
15. The ability to move to Florida (and that I want to be closer to my mother, and that she's happy about it, too)
16. More than enough possessions, enough that I can pass some on to others who need them more
17. Pictures on my walls that make me smile
18. All the lovely yarn in my stash, all that possibility
19. The display of straight knitting needles that I rarely use, but that remind me of the knitters who have come before me.
20. Knitting friends who understand why I'm so frustrated by this project, or pattern, or yarn, that is misbehaving
21. All the blogs I like to read (with a pang for the ones I loved that have stopped...I understand why it happens, but...)
22. The readers of my own blog (hi there)
23. Modern medicine. It is flawed, but where would I be without pain medicine, contact lenses, and so on?
24. Technology. Again, flawed, but I love having email, tablets, caller ID, and the internet.
25. Books. Old technology, in a way, but so different, and I get so much pleasure and entertainment, as well as knowledge, from them.
26. Having hockey to watch. The Bruins aren't always winning these days, sadly, but I still love watching them
27. The days when my hands don't hurt. I'm not quite at the point where I'm grateful to have arthritis, but it's true that if they never hurt, I wouldn't be aware of that and be grateful for it.
28. Today, I'm grateful that even when your Friday starts off feeling more like a Monday, at the end of it, you still get the weekend.
29. And I'm so glad that I can sleep in tomorrow!
30. Finally, I am grateful for my own, weird brain, for doing things like throwing me this earworm out of the blue today. No idea why!

Which took me down a rabbit hole of songs from that era, when I was really starting to get into music. One Night in Bangkok, Come On Eileen, 99 Luftballons, Rock Me Amadeus, Major Tom, Video Killed the Radio Star, and then Forever Young and others from Alphaville (I wore that cassette out; I was amazed how much I could still sing along with). Ah, memories!