Today is Gratitude Day!

Continuing my list of '100 Gratitudes', I am grateful for...

5. dogs - their loyalty, their carefreeness, the cute way their tails wag, and their wonderful intuition; dogs just seem to know when we are feeling down and need some cheering up.
I have vivid memories of the three dogs who are no longer with us - our first ever pet, Tip, the kindest, gentlest dog there ever was, our little dog Maxi who lost hair by the bucket load but was the cutest thing alive, and my sister's dog Indy who used to spoon with me on the couch, just like a human, and was my buddy when I really needed her. I'm grateful for the time I spent with each of these amazing animals and I'm so glad they were a part of my life.
These days I spend some time with my Mum's dog Bobbie, a real teddy bear of a dog, so charming I just want to eat him up! :-) And I look forward to the day, sometime in the future, when my partner and I will bring a new dog into our home.


6. affection - touch can heal and inspire, it can be romantic or platonic, but it is never without tenderness. Touch can remind us that people care, that we are loved, that we are not alone. Touch can help us feel safe and strong. Touch can help us overcome grief. Touch can remind us we're alive.
I am so grateful for my ability to give and receive affection, to reach out to others and have them reach right back to me. A hug can invoke more joy in me than anything else.
I do like witnessing public displays of affection. Not overly passionate kisses, but those intimate moments stolen between lovers, friends or family - his hand resting on the small of her back, a peck on the cheek, an intertwining of fingers, a piece of hair being brushed from a face, a child reaching up to take her mother's hand. These innocent affections, whether experienced by me or witnessed in others, are what life is all about, to me. They show love.


7. aquariums - I love the peacefulness of watching a school of fish circle in the water. Back when I first started writing I was inspired by three striped fish swimming within a crowd of others at the Sydney Aquarium. At the time, I wrote a poem about them -

A glass wall, from
floor to roof
displays this underwater world

All blue and aquamarine, all
coral
and fishes
and bubbles.

Three fish, all striped in black and white,
swim
back and forth

Across the glass in
unison,
as though choreographed.

The invisible energies of life guide them
from
side to side

Where one goes,
the others follow
A dance made just for three.


8. laughter - the kind that has the tears rolling down your cheeks, the kind where you grasp for air, where your tummy tries to jump right up out of your throat with unadulterated joy.