Things I'm grateful for today

From November 20

To borrow an idea from my sister Jo's blog, I'm going to list a few things I'm grateful for on this Thursday evening:

1. The inherent unpredictability of my doula job. Knowing I might have 24 straight hours of work (usually spanning a night or two of normal sleep time), and yet not knowing when that will be forces me to live in close connection to the unpredictability of life. I appreciate this. You just never know what life is going to toss at you, and my doula job keeps me honest about this fact. Somehow, because of this, the surprises are less shocking, and I feel like I'm on a stronger foundation when they come.
   
2. The morning staff at Zingerman's. They're always so very happy to see Maia and me (and Sam, too, if he joins us) when we come for coffee and baked goods in the morning. I think that morning Zingerman's is becoming our version of "Cheers." This morning, Maia had a muffin, I had my coffee, and we read a couple of books at a leisurely pace.
   
3. My Thursdays of free time, thanks to Papa Stan. Today, after his noontime arrival, I was able to go sell several items at one of our local secondhand shops, spend some time browsing magazines at the bookstore, get coffee, and just get some time to be at peace with myself. I am so very grateful for this time, and I know, too, that Papa Stan and Maia are both grateful for their hours together.
4. My car. I love my car.
5. Jane Healy, for writing the book Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think--and What We Can Do About It. It was a very technical, highly scientific book at times (all about neurons and synapses and myelin and other fun stuff), but I learned so much about how children's brains develop, and what current forces in our culture might be doing to affect certain aspects of that development (particularly language and self-control) . The concept of "neural plasticity" is revolutionary to my understanding of all this.