fifty happy things

    1. For love, and how it is the first thing to greet me anywhere I go.
    2. For my freedom
    3. For my family, and the ridiculously long group texts that keep us connected.
    4. For my every day people who are there through for the boring Thursday and the traumatic Mondays alike.
    5. For patrons of finance and spirit who never ever seem to believe that maybe I will fail and be useless to the world forever.
    6. 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.
    7. For Dave
    8. For the blogosphere and the people who read and write it into existence everyday.
    9. For travel and how it becomes increasingly gentle with each new adventure.
    10. For my willingness and ability to learn.
    11. For those willing to take time to teach me.
    12. For food and how it spices my life.
    13. For my wrinkles and scars, my strawberry skin, my grey hair, and my rolls of chub.  I am aging.  Not everyone gets to.
    14. For books, always, and how I can access so many.
    15. For pictures and how they give me a way to speak when I don’t have any words.
    16. For therapy and medicine, and all the many forms they take.
    17. For my ability to walk forward without pain, both literally and metaphorically.
    18. For this space and the words it has encouraged.
    19. For GIFs
    20. For my name and the shapes it takes
    21. For tears, and how often they fall now that my heart is softened by life.
    22. For poetry that makes me think and feel
    23. For the United States Postal Service. *fist bump*
    24. For roses and foxes, and handsome princes who remind you what it is to tame and be tamed.
    25. For city sidewalks and how heels clap against them
    26. For gnome homes
    27. For California sunshine and how it somehow more “home” to me than the floor under my feet
    28. For museums and art pieces and the people who love them as much as I do
    29. For date nights, where I can talk about Dave and freedom and blogging without any discomfort
    30. For mythology and fairy tales and how they are stitched into my bones
    31. For foundation and makeup products made in my skin color
    32. For the continuing offshoots and sagas of Star Wars and Star Trek and XMen
    33. For emojis
    34. For the Braille Institute
    35. For potatoes, in all their magical manifestations
    36. For nail polish and sequins and and shiny jewelry
    37. For Little Footers and how they are already fixing this gorgeous world
    38. For the people who have been pushed down, but continue to stand up.
    39. For the people who are listening to the stories that are so very hard to tell.
    40. For my safety.
    41. For friends who are compassionate and honest at the same time
    42. For conversations that tangle and stretch and snap back at the oddest moments
    43. For this laptop, because it is my TARDIS.
    44. For Sharpies and post-it notes and journals and binders
    45. For tiny acts of kindness
    46. For the feeling of Knowing
    47. For code and how it lights up when I am talking to it.
    48. For bizarre, beautiful, and/or silly Instagram accounts
    49. For the Universe and her provisions
    50. 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. 😍]

    LittleLion
    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 amount 

    And 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.

29 thoughts on “fifty happy things

  1. 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

    Liked by 1 person

  2. 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. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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