August 19

I am so proud of this kid. :)

He has been saving his allowance and lawn-mowing money for nearly four months and it hasn't been an easy task. Today, he finally got to take the money out of his wallet and buy his first "grown-up" bike. I'm grateful he stuck to his plan and also grateful that our neighbor Brandon was able to broker such a great deal at the bike store!

August 18

I'm grateful my neighbor is not fond of roses. She had two buckets of darling little climbing roses bequeathed to her and handed them down to us a week or so ago. Hart planted them and trimmed them back and tonight I noticed they were producing two fresh little blooms and also sporting that dark red color of new growth.

August 17

I think I may have stumbled upon an everlasting bouquet. I bought these flowers from Albertsons three weeks ago to add a bit of color to the table for my Lia Sophia party. A couple of the blooms have closed up, but overall it still looks fresh. I'm grateful for the sweet surprise of long-lasting bouquets.

August 16

I'm grateful that our truck, which has been parked in an unworking condition at the back of our house for the last year, is finally working again. I missed driving it. I think Lilu missed riding in it as well.

August 15

It has been six days since I was last home in time for dinner. I'm grateful that tonight I actually got to go home and the meal included corn-on-the-cob from the garden AND our juicy tomatoes. I love this time of year.

August 14

Sometimes I feel like Scotty from Star Trek at my job. But I should have followed Scott's example and incorporated a fudge factor years ago:

Kirk: "How long to re-fit?"
Scotty: "Eight weeks. But you don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for you in two."
Kirk: "Do you always multiply your repair estimates by a factor of four?"
Scotty: "How else to maintain my reputation as a miracle worker?"

I must've chapped the hide of the Monday Demon some time in the last week, because today I was hit with a bad case of "everything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

I'm grateful our old-school manual collator was never thrown away because the collating part of the printer went on strike and gave me 24 copies of Page 1, Page 2, Page 3.... all the way up to Page 42. Talk about papercut city. At least I was able to keep my reputation intact, with only a slight bit of tarnish.

August 13

Brother David says the first recognition of gratitude is often its very gratuitousness. You feel surprised and welcome the unexpected, undeserved, and unpaid for. In his book he uses a rainbow as his example of gratuitous gratitude. I think the spontaneous little lovefest Earl gave me this evening counts as well.

I'm grateful for Brother David's words since they seem to really bring into focus what is happening with this journal and me. I'm also grateful that my mother brought his words and I together.