Gratitude

Last weekend I visited my daughter, her partner and my adult grandsons in a nearby state. They recently moved into a lovely house with substantially more room. It was a very relaxed and connected visit. We ate good food, played a game, talked. I’m not one who loves to be away from home, but it was such a positive couple of days. The house was beautiful, I was an honored guest. My grandsons were very present.

It was hard to leave. A good feeling.

They live in a small city where I lived for almost 20 years.

I still have a couple friends there, and the night before I was to leave, a friend invited me for a morning swim. It had been quite hot and humid …and I hadn’t seen her for a while, so instead of heading home at 6:30 am, I met her and we headed for a 10-minute hike into a beautiful pristine body of water. Nobody was in sight.

We sat and talked on the large rocks as mist moved across the water, and birds called occasionally for maybe an hour. Trees surrounded the lake. The sun rose higher.

We dove into the water and swam about aimlessly for a good half hour, still talking, diving under here and there. The water was mild, and it felt like silk on my skin. It has been a very long time since I had a swim in nature.

I swam quite often in my youth – up until about 10 years ago. I guess it’s just a lot of effort at my advanced age, but I probably need to rethink this.

Eventually the day called us, and we dried off, dressed, and headed back through the woods to our cars.

By the time I hit the highway it was 9:30.

The next morning, home again, I stepped outside after a rain before the sun rose over the hill …into the beautiful dampness of my back yard which holds our chickens, our gardens, and some lovely trees.

My heart was so full of all the blessings of this Summer, specifically the wonderful visits …and the beautiful swim with my friend …and I just started singing a short song of gratitude that I learned many years ago.

I decided to record this gem for you. I hope you enjoy it. [I can’t seem to make it smaller.]

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