50 Shades of Gratitude

Leave behind the gray and step into gratitude, in 50 shades, of course.
Here’s my list on the approach of my 50th birthday.
No doubt you have yours…

1. An entire week, a year, a life… to sense, reflect & write my way to 50.
2. The gift of my body… to love, to dance, to birth, to nurse, to move through space.
3. The community of Marlboro, Vermont.
4. Marlboro Elementary School.
5. Southern Vermont–where so many find so many ways to celebrate art, voice and humanity.
6. The state of Vermont which I’ve been proud to call home for 20 years.
7. SOUTH POND.
8. NERINGA POND.
9. The Whetstone Brook.
10. MacArthur Road.
11. Dan’s emerging rock sculptures up MacArthur Rd.
12. Whetstone Ledges Farm Stand
13. The music makers. Local. Worldwide.
14. Libraries, everywhere.
15. Cafes, everywhere. But especially our Amy’s.
16. Cities. Kyoto. Paris. New York.
17. The United Nations.
18. WOMEN.
19. CHILDREN.
20. Men, men, men.
21. New life… plants, babies, animals.
22. The splendor of frost.
23. TWILIGHT.
24. The sun on the water at day’s end.
25. That time of day when water becomes glass.
26. 7 Sisters.
27. ONE BROTHER.
28. Two sons.
29. One AMAZING man who has loved me and taken care of me and celebrated me for almost 30 years.
30. Childhood friends. Highschool friends. College friends. Traveling friends. International friends. Local friends. New friends. Friends to come.
31. Mentors. Colleagues. Leaders. Teachers.
32. The SUN.
33. Conversations.
34. The male mind.
35. Male confidence.
36. Male competence.
37. The men who have been my friends. Who have fed my mind. Who have complimented me in ways that have nourished me through time.
38. WATER. Drinking, bathing, showering, playing, watching, gliding, skating. Wine with.
39. The women who have shaped my life. Who have paved the way.
40. Bellies.
41. Birth.
42. Lovemaking.
43. Tequila.
44. Irreverence.
45. The sacred.
46. Bliss.
47. Yoga.
48. Loving Me.
49. Being 49.
50. (Shit, how did I get to 50 already!)
    To Be Continued…

More on the Path to 50:

FU 50′s
Flat 50
Being 49
Tribute to the 40′s
30′s Retrospective
Turning 20
The Hardest Decade? 10-19
The First Decade