Thankful Thursday

I was browsing the disability web and came across pipecleanerdreams.blogspot.com last week and there was a post that caught me. It was called Thankful Thursday and a list followed of things for which thanks was being given. I liked the idea and am borrowing it here today. I'm in a thankful mood and as I'm sitting here with a cup of steaming green tea and a view of a lawn that needs cut, I choose today to be grateful - out loud.

1) I am grateful to live now. Though there is much to be done and many more battles to be fought, I live in a time of cut curbs and a growing sense of enfrancisement within the disability community. There was a time when babies with disabilities were cast down or cast out. There was a time of mass slaughter of those with disabilities, mass sterilization and mass segretation, not long gone but not here now. I am grateful to be here in my home - adapted, to got to work - adapted, to live fully free - adapted.

2) I am grateful for laughter. We spent three hours over lunch on Sunday laughing. Hard. Spitting tea out your nose laughing. Never noticed the others in the room, didn't care about decorum, just laughed freely. What joy. It strikes me that my fondest memories of times at work are times when we jsut laughed. Working with Bob all those years ago, we hurt from laughter - it's what I miss about him most. In fact, that's what I miss about youth, I laughed more then. I vow more laughter in my life.

3) I am grateful for dogs. I miss mine, of course, but I still see bits of Eric bits of Fred in other dogs. Leaving YAI on Friday Bobra and I waited for Joe to pull the car up to get me. We spotted a guy with a dog a few feet away. He brought her over to meet with us. She was a rescue dog, who after talking to him may have rescued him too. She let me pet her. I have always been amazed at how well dogs heads fit in the palms of our hands. She seemed to know that I needed to give her affection so she let me. She gazed up at me with pure contentment as I stroked her fur. New York's noise came to a quiet for a few seconds, a hole was created in time and I was just a little boy with a dog.

4) I am grateful for green tea. A long while back Belinda made reference to a tea PRN and I loved the idea. I knew exactly what she meant. I take my tea seriously and drink cup after cup each day. But I have special tea times. Quiet times when I let tea work it's magic on me. It is then that tea is like a massage for the soul. It lifts and calms. On our way home from New York we stopped at our favourite grocery store in Buffalo to buy groceries. I sat in front of a wall of green tea, it almost seemed like a place to pray. I chose a few new kinds I haven't tried. I can't believe this stuff is legal. I want to be buried with a bag of green tea held in my right hand.

5) I am thankful for being allowed to be in the lives of others. At YAI, training on behavioural approaches, I noticed a big beautiful bright black woman with wild hair and a huge grin. She defined beauty. All though the day, she was a step ahead of me. She outpaced me. She grew faster than the material I presented. At the end of the day I called her over and asked her if she knew how bright she was, if she understood her own talent. I encouraged her to follow that talent, and I could tell by the light that went on in her eyes, that she would remember this day. I got to do that, give that to her, how great is that?

So there are a few things I'm thankful for, I'm also thankful for the idea for this post so please pop over and visit pipecleanerdreams. But if you've a mind, tell me what you're grateful for, leave your address in the responses and we'll all pop over for a visit.