gratitude week

 I was tagged to list three things for which I'm grateful, each day for seven days.

Day 1...
I'm grateful that I found my soul-mate, and that I had the opportunity to spend 12 years with him. Bob Sloan you taught me so much, not least you taught me to know myself. I will always miss you.
I'm grateful for my upbringing. My dad was in the USArmy and my mom was German, so I saw much of the US and Europe before I was ten years old. It gives one a different perspective, though I did --for many years-- waste a lot of time wishing I had an answer to "where are you from; where did you grow up?"
I'm grateful for where I live now. Now I can say I'm from Morehead Kentucky. I've lived here almost 14 years --six years longer than I lived in any other locality-- and I've been in this house twice as long as any other house previously. This is my home.

Day 2...
I am grateful for my family: my birth family, my inlaw outlaw family, and my adopted family ( the ones that took me on when Bob was dying and includes me in all family events )
I'm grateful for my animal family - the cats especially, but also the chickens, the guineas and bees, and the seasonal animals that visit me -- old mr. possum, the flock of turkeys, the deer and hummingbirds and all the other strays that let me feed them
and I'm grateful to have a job that I'd literally do for free.

Day 3...
I am grateful for books. If you get it, no explanation is needed. If you don't get it, no explanation would be sufficient. I've learned spelling and logic from books. Books have distracted me when I could find no comfort and have inspired me when I had no ideas.
I am grateful for water. My sign is an air sign, but water is my element. I love the ocean and the rain. I can watch a creek or river all day long. If my water heater was large enough I'd happily stay in the shower for hours. Nothing is as refreshing as a glass of cool water. Water nourishes.
I am grateful for the internet, one of my favorite "new technologies." On the internet I've made more and closer friendships than I ever had before, because I express myself better in writing than in spoken words. Without the internet I'd have never seen the picture that initially brought me here - Sapphire and Ruby as kittens, eating cat food on Bob's kitchen table.

Day 4...
I am grateful for earth - I _am_ a dirt dauber and never feel quite right till winter's over and I can get my fingers in soil.
I am grateful for people; friends and acquaintances. Lately I'm around a lot younger people than I'm used to - a lot of twenty-somethings - and it's really been fun; I never know quite what to expect. I'm looking forward to going to the nursing home for clinicals and being around the older folks too. And I even have some new friends that are my own age. I love my facebook friends; the ones I've never met yet hold a special place in my heart. I'd like to gather you all together here on the farm.
I am grateful for wine, red wine, even though thanks to one of the fosterkitties it's now all over my keyboard.

Day five...
I am grateful for my appliances. The washer and dryer run daily. The fridge never quits. I hope I'm not jinxing them like I apparently did my shoes, because I've had 2 good pair fall apart this past week, and two more that I'd like to return where I got them.
I am grateful for wind and clouds and air in general. I love a breeze and one really good memory is sitting on the back porch with Bob while he pointed out that sometimes you can hear the wind roaring thru the trees up on the ridge, while down here in the holler the windchimes hang perfectly still and silent.
I'm grateful for memories.

Day six...
I'm grateful for fire. Heat and electricity and the lightning I could watch all night. I love a bonfire --even tiny ones-- and candle flame.
I'm grateful for weekends, days like today that I spent in bed with books (studying for two tests) and a sick kitty, just drowsing and cuddling all day. Days without outside responsibility. Days off.
I'm grateful for tears, such a release, and emotions in general.

Day seven:
I am grateful for karma, my belief in it, without which some of the injustices in this world would be just too much to bear.
I am grateful to the moon for controlling the tides, for lighting the sky and for giving us a calendar.
I am grateful for colors, the many many infinite colors in nature. The trees alone hold every color in the spectrum as the year turns.
and one bonus gratitude:

I'm grateful for life; not just my own and the people I love, but the tiniest insects and plants that together make this earth a complete and independent organism.