Some days I go out for a walk and wonder about the good things. There are a million and there are none all at once. Nothing specific will come to mind, but I will feel a sense of general goodness that tells me it's all good. It's all special. Good is a state of being.

I think of stopping by my parents' with my daughter to visit on Columbus Day, of going for a walk with my camera and taking in the color while she showed my folks some new online game or other.

I think of bringing the guinea pig down to keep me company while I'm making dinner. He taste tests the salad like only a true and loyal friend could.

I think of pleasant conversations with good, old friends who know the score and who care about me as much as I do about them. How what we do and how and why are relevant hearthside as well as in the anonymous outside world.

I think of the kids who go out of their way to say hello or to share their deeply private love poems or to ask me how long germs can stay alive in your mouth (and so was it a good idea to kiss so-and-so because, well, he is kind of gross....), or to ask me if I have any kids because they say they think I'm (it's hard to believe) cool and therefore must have at least one kid.

I think of the parents of the kids I teach and how they care enough about their kids to talk to me about their progress.

I think of the brilliant autumn light and the gorgeous colors and the cool nights and the full moon dropping in the belly of night like a baby about to be born, how good it feels to sleep and then to wake up in the same dark and call the day my own for a little while. Then to say hello to the first neighbor walking the first dog in the first light of day.

Round and round it goes, even when on those days that feel like a difficult upward climb. And it is all a blessing.


Blog Your Blessings