Welcome to summer, let's give gratitude

This year, I decided to grow corn. Yes, corn. In my backyard, nevertheless, and with no knowledge of what to do other than amend the soil, plant the seeds, water and pray. I hate to admit that I'm not the best gardener but there, I've just said it.  The corn has taken me by surprise though. It's not only growing, but it's following a certain growth pattern. It turns out the stalks and leaves have easily measurable growth rates that even a child could discern! Then again, the rest of my garden has been decimated by roly polys (who knew those cute little round balls could turn into your worst enemy?) so I actually think there may be some divine intervention at work. Either way, I've become fascinated by the growth cycle of the stalks as they mature, which in turn reminded me there are specific growth cycles that we can measure against most things in this world.

Pregnancy came to mind.

Welcome to my brain, it's kind of strange sometimes. 

My sister experienced pregnancy twice. As a result, I have a niece and nephew whom I'll be seeing next week for summer break. This is where gratitude arrives. I am so grateful for the two of them and the chance to spend time with them. When I ask people "What are you grateful for?", I usually get a blank stare and have to prompt them with some things they can be grateful for. It seems that most of us don't take enough time to think about the little things that make us happy, or the big ones, like pregnancy and the gift of life.

We could use the beginning of summer to set some new goals, but let's keep it easy today:

What are you grateful for? 

(I'm grateful my garage door was fixed today for less than the original quote, for the corn growing in my backyard, for my niece and nephew, for my sister who gave birth to those awesome kids, and for my colleague who pushes me to get off my butt and do "all the things"...)

Your turn!

Happy Summer of Gratitude! 

With niece and nephew, Kate & Ben, during the summer.