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- For love, and how it is the first thing to greet me anywhere I go.
- For my freedom
- For my family, and the ridiculously long group texts that keep us connected.
- For my every day people who are there through for the boring Thursday and the traumatic Mondays alike.
- For patrons of finance and spirit who never ever seem to believe that maybe I will fail and be useless to the world forever.
- For the world table and how we keep bringing new conversations to it, sharing our vocabulary and experiences, and using those stories to make this a better place for us all.
- For Dave
- For the blogosphere and the people who read and write it into existence everyday.
- For travel and how it becomes increasingly gentle with each new adventure.
- For my willingness and ability to learn.
- For those willing to take time to teach me.
- For food and how it spices my life.
- For my wrinkles and scars, my strawberry skin, my grey hair, and my rolls of chub. I am aging. Not everyone gets to.
- For books, always, and how I can access so many.
- For pictures and how they give me a way to speak when I don’t have any words.
- For therapy and medicine, and all the many forms they take.
- For my ability to walk forward without pain, both literally and metaphorically.
- For this space and the words it has encouraged.
- For GIFs
- For my name and the shapes it takes
- For tears, and how often they fall now that my heart is softened by life.
- For poetry that makes me think and feel
- For the United States Postal Service. *fist bump*
- For roses and foxes, and handsome princes who remind you what it is to tame and be tamed.
- For city sidewalks and how heels clap against them
- For gnome homes
- For California sunshine and how it somehow more “home” to me than the floor under my feet
- For museums and art pieces and the people who love them as much as I do
- For date nights, where I can talk about Dave and freedom and blogging without any discomfort
- For mythology and fairy tales and how they are stitched into my bones
- For foundation and makeup products made in my skin color
- For the continuing offshoots and sagas of Star Wars and Star Trek and XMen
- For emojis
- For the Braille Institute
- For potatoes, in all their magical manifestations
- For nail polish and sequins and and shiny jewelry
- For Little Footers and how they are already fixing this gorgeous world
- For the people who have been pushed down, but continue to stand up.
- For the people who are listening to the stories that are so very hard to tell.
- For my safety.
- For friends who are compassionate and honest at the same time
- For conversations that tangle and stretch and snap back at the oddest moments
- For this laptop, because it is my TARDIS.
- For Sharpies and post-it notes and journals and binders
- For tiny acts of kindness
- For the feeling of Knowing
- For code and how it lights up when I am talking to it.
- For bizarre, beautiful, and/or silly Instagram accounts
- For the Universe and her provisions
- For You, best Beloved reader
Visit the others who played along here: https://talesfromthemotherland.me/2018/01/02/50-happy-things-2017-bloggers-unite-to-flood-the-internet-with-gratitude/[P.S. Over at that link, Dawn still has the most original version of the “You are Loved” badge up on our site. 😍]
Ari: My love, this is a picture of you. You are the reason I am so grateful for #34 and the reason I am captioning all my photos because maybe one day you will read the things you find here. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Picture shows a breathtakingly beautiful baby girl in a car seat, peacefully drinking out of her bottle. .
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♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥Ra Avis is the author of Sack Nasty: Prison Poetry and the girl behind the dinosaur at Rarasaur.com. She is a once-upon-a-time inmate, a reluctantly-optimistic widow, and an exponential storyteller.
Here are some ways to support or get involved in what happens here:
1 – leave a comment even if it’s just a smile
2 – let me mail or email you happy things
3 – reach out or share freely
4 – buy my book
5 – donate in any amountAnd if all you can do is read, please know that it means the most.
You and your story are welcome here, and you are loved.
You are one of my happy things lady Dino!
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Aw, thank you. You and your humanity appear on this list in many forms. I am definitely so very grateful for you. ❤
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I meant to do this but things haven’t been great so I forgot. I love your list, though.
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My month has been also not-great, but I thought maybe that’s the most important time to write a list of this nature, late or not… which I definitely was, haha! 🙂
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I want to write a post tonight but my laptop is Defrag meeting and taking forever. Crossing fingers!
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Fingers crossed. Tell your computer we love your words, so it understands the importance of the situation, ha! 💚
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#50 back at you. Love your list.
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Love you! 🙂
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#1, 3, 4, 5…you’re blessed!
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I am indeed. 💚 Thank you for reading.
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I loved reading this because I like thinking in a positive way even if things aren’t great so it’s nice to see that other people are doing the same thing. Thank you 🙂
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It’s an even more important exercise when things aren’t going well, I think. I’m grateful I did it. I cleared my brain. 🙂
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Nice list. Maybe I’ll do that once I have the time. I’ll try to start writing down.
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Yes definitely! It put me in a cheery mood. 😊
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That’s nice to know 🙂
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You did it, you did it! Oh happy, grateful dance!! I’ve had a crazy week, and a tough many weeks, but the #BloggersUnite is really something I feel happy about. I’ve read every single list included, and it just feels wonderful to see all the things that collectively, and individually, make us happy and grateful. I extended the deadline, in the hopes that others would join… and there were a few. You made it on the last day, and I’m super grateful! Thanks for joining Ra.
You touch on several that I share: emojis, safety, museums/art/art pieces, for people who listen–– to the hard, and the easy stories. So many things to be grateful and happy for. Thank you Ra!! xo
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PS) I went in and extended the linkzin deadline so you could add your link. I was going to add it for you, but I couldn’t find an accurate email for you. Just add it by 1pm Thursday. Either way, I added a link to your list, on my post. 🙂
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So much love on this list. I need to make my own list.
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That’s an inspirational list! I thought it would be hard to come up with 50, but you have surpassed my expectations!
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Love you too Ra. RAWR!!!
I’ll have to have a go at compiling my own fifty happy things now. 🙂
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❤ ❤ ❤
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Enjoyed this one . All the simple pleasures one takes for granted.
Sent from my iPhone
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Do you mind if I share this on Facebook?
Sent from my iPhone
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Sharing is always welcome. 💚
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Feeling so honored to be included in your 50 Happy Things! ❤
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I liked #50, but I don’t see why you didn’t mention me by name… : )
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Very cool :-] Thank you.
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