Giving Thanks

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Note: This is a conversation from about a week before Thanksgiving. It just happened to be very appropriately timed. I only realized how it matched the holiday as I was writing the post.

Gratitude for things in you life is supposedly a primary factor of happiness. Every night, you are supposed to find one to three things to feel grateful about.

My grandmother Mamaia has been practicing this regularly her whole life, in her own simple, earthy way: every night before going to sleep she would check the list in her head: the chores that were finished today, the progress we made on the others, however small. Then she would go to sleep with a feeling of accomplishment.

I don't do this on a regular basis, although I'm aware of the benefits. I just never got into that habit. But every now and then, I realize how lucky we are to have each other and voice it out. 

This was one of those times.


Saturday night, walking back home from the grocery store. Winter is upon us so everything is dark and the chill bites right through two layers of clothing.

Mara is sockless in her summer crocs because she actively chose to "have cold feet". She is walking between Greg and me, holding both our hands, while Gaius is bundled up on me in the Ergo Baby. We're all shivering on a toddler-speed walk towards the house.
Small as she is, Mara is quite invisible between us, so the conversation seems to be just between the adults.

Elena:
I'm so glad we went to the Zoo yesterday!
We got to hang out with friends in a small setting, nothing was rushed, we had a good baby-friendly time. And got to see giraffes! So glad it turned into a warm day, too, especially after all my worries that it would be too cold for Gaius.

Greg responds:
I'm glad I've figured out what's wrong with our canary server!
He does that quite a lot: having a parallel thread of thinking about work while I get on with my mundane concerns. 

Unexpectedly, Mara chimes in from down below, in a serious/thoughtful voice:
I'm glad... about... 
[longer pause]
... the macaroni and cheese.

Happy mom and dad exchange a quiet, smiling glance.

That's mindfulness for a toddler.

She's thankful, and it's for something that's been silently in her thoughts in the past twenty minutes. She's part of the conversation, in the most appropriate way. And her intervention triggered critical mass of three people being thankful together.

We just founded our own little gratitude-expressing circle!

Here are some snapshots from that week:





Mara being extremely safe while handling penne pasta:

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