Whenever life sucks,
when all hell has broken loose and i think,
I am definitely out for the count this time.
I remind myself to count my blessings.
I start small.
GRATITUDE
I woke up this morning.
I can breathe.
I am abled bodied,
I am well.
I have clear thoughts.
I can swallow.
There is food to eat and clean water to drink.
I am warm.
I have a home.
My mother.
My car, it turned on.
My computer, is new.
I have keys to a home.
I am loved.
I have things to unlock, and maybe this is the key.
Having gratitude for every thing, and every place I'm in,
for people and perspectives
how they stay firmly rooted, or shift over time.
I want to be like the ocean,
large and vast...
but always unashamed.
I am grateful for this knowing and poetry.
For love letters and emails
with kind kind words
sent from strangers across the world.
I am grateful for tuberoses
for the smell they release.
For hair things scattered around my house and car,
but always, always within reach.
For the feeling
taking my bra off after a long day brings
Oh I am grateful.
For, for good good friends that
FaceTime at 2 AM because I sent a text about feeling, feeling lonely.
I am grateful
for Thrify's mint chip ice cream on rainy days.
For teachers who invested in me
beyond subject matter.
For the iPhone and ALL the cool things that it does.
I mean, really?
What did we do before screenshots?
I am ever grateful
for activists, and allies.
For people using their voices.
For anger turned strategy.
For movements and protests
because we are worthy of SO much better.
I am grateful for Mr. Rodgers
and Michelle Obama's arms.
For the trees and the air,
For quiet moments and celebrations.
I am grateful for stillness
and plane rides across the world to places I have only ever dreamed of.
Oh to be grateful for the memories and the heartbreak
that is now behind me.
I am grateful for those terrible days,
that taught me, birthed my appreciation for tomorrow always coming.
For 82 degrees, sunny Sundays with a gentle breeze.
I am grateful for contrast and proximity,
for sunshine and being prepared for the rain.
Oh I am grateful,
for friends turned family,
for lovers never lost.
Oh I am grateful.
Eternally, eternally grateful
to be whole, healthy and loved.