Gratitude

My family just returned from a really fun long weekend in Lyndonville, VT at a place that has becomem a winter St. George Tradition, The Wildflower Inn. 

It is so beautiful here that it is easy to look around and be absolutely filled with gratitude for so many different things...the sheer beauty of this part of the world, the ability to see and take in this beauty, the fortune of a healthy family that can sled and skate and eat cookies and play foosball and air hockey, a car that can get us safely to the destination 4 hours from home...you can see how the list can go on and on...

So when things are humming along well, gratitude is easy. Do we always remember to express our gratitude?  Maybe not.  Do we take the good times for granted?  Maybe sometimes.  I'll tell you, I looked out at the beautiful VT mountains a bunch of times over the weekend and smiled and took deep breaths of air and had to consciously remind myself to say "Thank you" for this beauty.  For this vacation.  For this family.  For the dog lover taking care of the pups.  For the friends who not only were taking care of the cat but also came over, went through Emily's backpack, found her Knufflebunny, brought it to the post office and had it overnighted to us in VT. (Oh my goodness THANK YOU for blessing us with friends like these!) For the innkeeper who spent time chatting with us every day and who was invested in seeing Knufflebunny arrive on time. 

So imagine when things are NOT humming along well...if you're down or a situation just seems difficult, rotten or hopeless, imagine how tough it is to remember to practice gratitude in those moments.  I know I've written about this before but it's really so important to remember the things that you are grateful for in the tough moments.  For instance...I expressed (easily) gratitude above for the car that safely transported us the 4 hour drive...but here's the actual visual from the drive...I white-knuckled it the entire trip there!  It was dark, the road was (maybe) covered in black ice (warned the signs), the kids were watching movies in the backseat and Darin was having some fun conversations with friends via his iPhone and I was scared!  I reminded myself several times during the trip to relax (grip on the steering wheel loosened) and to remember how grateful I was to have a safe car, a happy, healthy family, the great luck to be vacationing in such a beautiful place (shoulders relaxed a bit).  Next thing you know I see brake lights ahead...welcome back, tense shoulders and white-knuckles!!!

Yet another opportunity to practice gratitude...