Counting blessings

It's always worthwhile to take stock of the good things in life. Following Donna's lead, here are some of my blessings:

1. I have a job that I enjoy and that gives me a lot of freedom to do what I want. Work has been stressful in recent months because of funding issues, but all in all, I think most people would love to have the flexibility and variety in what I do on a daily basis. Hopefully the months of uncertainty about the place's future will be resolved soon.

2. More than at any other point in my life, I know who I am. Kind of a weird thing to say, especially because I never felt like I didn't know myself. It's hard to explain. I didn't set out to "find" myself, but the last fourteen months have given me reasons to reflect on the matter. A job scare followed by another one (the current situation) has put work into perspective. I like what I do, but I had invested myself in it too much as a way of ignoring my dissatisfaction with my personal life. I can't say that I've solved that puzzle yet, but at least I feel like I'm more capable of it than I was a year ago.

3. I'm thankful for friends who inspire me. With family and friends moving farther away in the past year, it's been a big help to make these new friends. They have introduced me to things I would have never considered doing, listened to me when I've needed a friendly ear, and been encouraging and interesting people to get to know better.

4. I also appreciate my readers, some of whom I've come to know. I write for myself here, but if it weren't for your responses and knowing that people take the time to read what I write, I don't know that I'd keep at it as earnestly as I do. I'll try not to bore you but no guarantees. :)

5. Of course I'm grateful for my health, and the same applies to my car's health. For the two-plus years I've owned it, I haven't needed to have any major repair work done, just standard maintenance. The car had more miles on it than I preferred, but it's been very reliable.

6. Who knows why I have it, but I'm glad that I have curiosity. Life is so much more interesting and amazing when you stop to consider the vast expanse of human knowledge and creativity. I'm happy that I have a sense that incites me to seek out what I don't know and to explore deeply what interests me most. For example, knitting is such a simple thing at its core, but it boggles my mind how all of its techniques were created and passed along. If there's one thing that frustrates me most about a lot of the students I encounter today, it's the lack of curiosity. Is too much information available too easily that there's no allure in looking past their noses?

This was a lot harder than I expected it to be. Six is a paltry number, but if I don't stop now, I'll sit here all night trying to think of some more. I thought I'd bang out a fast entry and get to knitting after spending the early evening doing more apartment cleaning. And the universe laughed again...