An Easy Thanks

Sometimes being thankful is just plain work. Days when I lock myself out of the house for the third time in two weeks. Days when the milk gets spilled at every meal and a certain little person could not hit the toilet if it were a bathtub. Days when naps are short and patience is shorter. Days when a baby is permanently attached to my hip or days when both kids cry. Some days a baby is permanently attached to my hip AND both kids cry. As much as I know these are precious moments, funny memories, the wonder years that I will at some point in the future look back on with the rose colored fuzziness of selective memory that only time can bring, in the moment it is sometimes just pretty darn hard to be thankful.

But then there are the rest of the days. The beautiful days that I want permanently etched in my memory. Forget memory, they are days I could repeat over and over again. Days of endless drooling smiles, of seventy degree sunshine, of lemonade and lounge chairs, strawberries and barbeque, of capris and painted toes, a 4 year old playing with a fishing pole and a baby in a wide brimmed polka-dotted hat. Days of lounging and dancing and playing tag and swinging. Days filled with grandpas and grandmas and the people who make life good. Blooming tulips, growing gardens, clean cars.

I am sure there is something more glorious, more virtuous, about gritting your teeth and choosing thankfulness on days that are not quite so splendid. But even so, on this incredibly easy day, when thankfulness comes with no effort at all, I mean it just the same. Thank you God, I could not have asked for more.