Gratitude Practice 2020 Day 252: A Tiny Front Porch Respite

I'm sitting on my front porch on what seems like an absolutely dreamy September evening. The weather is nothing short of perfection. We've got about an hour left of sunlight and many call this the golden hour. I hear crickets chirping but I know they must also be rocking out to the neighbors mash up of 70' dance music which provides motivation for their workout. Sarah Kate and I have just made a delicious Italian Tomato Zucchini soup for dinner…. because the zucchini just won't stop. What is it about chopping vegetables that you've grown in your own backyard? Nothing more satisfying for the soul  As our healthy hearty summer soup simmers we get notice that our darling four year old neighbor is outside hoping for his sidekick to join him in a post dinner pre-bath outside adventure. My girl, currently playing fashion designer with scraps of metallic fabric she liberated from the basement bins, looks at me with all of the hope and wonder her tiny body can muster because nothing beats an evening of running up and down our street with our buddy Oliver. I turn the burner to low, nod my head up and down and she bolts outside at cheeta speed. And...for the first time in what feels like weeks...I almost feel normal. It's been a real crap-tasticks stretch for the last few weeks and yet tonight feels like maybe...just maybe...we may have turned the corner. 

Grateful for homemade soup warming on the stove. Grateful for our girls endless creativity and excitement. Grateful for the crickets and Staying Alive mashup. Grateful for the sacredness of my front porch. Mostly grateful my determined detox is working.