It felt pretty good last week to write some words on the things I was grateful for. Grateful is good. Gratitude can turn your mood from shit to alright. Typically if you feel alright, you forget that you should practice gratitude. So, it is best to make gratitude a habit. That’s what this is: me trying to make gratitude a habit.
Here’s a numbered list of five bits of this week’s gratitude in no particular order.
6) This amazing weather – God, this week was blissful when it came to whether in Bavaria. My place is typically covered in fog for six consecutive months, so when springtime shows its face, it’s amazing. Particularly awesome is our new garden. The first time we saw this garden was probably end of October. Most was overgrown and removed in the final garden prep for winter done by the previous tenants. Now it’s basically a surprise every week. I have no clue what’s here. Snowdrops. Plenty of snowdrops, but it seems many bulb flowers are following soon. Maybe it’s the Dutch genes, but I love some spring color in a garden! This sublime weather jump-started our garden.
2) Paper accepted with very minor revisions – Doesn’t need explaining. It always feels good if you can submit a revised version that took 15 minutes to revise.
12) Home-Office – I loved working from home this week. I’ve been dealing with a pretty nasty sinus infection since the weekend. I think it’s better to stay at home, as I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. Working from home was productive. And lunch in the sun feels great. Too bad my son also took over the infection (or similar). We home-officed together today. I managed to do quite some work, and he was anyway most eager to sit next to me and watch Peppa Pig most of the day. Grateful for YouTube, Netflix, and basically internet, in days like today.
1) Horrible romantic comedies – They make me want to vomit sometimes, but since Valentine’s, my Netflix list has been full of romantic comedies. I’m not ashamed to admit that we watched many of them, and are actively seeking new suggestions. Our work and family life has been hectic this winter. My brain feels like sludge. Sometimes I can barely think anymore. In times like these I need stupid films with predictable plots and simple humor. Target audience. It also is a plus that it doesn’t matter if I fall asleep during the middle half hour. I am grateful for the time spent with my wife, watching such horrible movie productions. This silly stuff makes me appreciate her even more, if that makes any sense at all?
1) My son’s a story teller – He’s just making up jokes and stories as he goes. In a good way. He’s chatting oir ears off all the time, and it’s so fun to see that develop. I can tell that he enjoys stories as much as I do. I bet he’ll make a great conversationalist. My daughter on the other hand, she’s a standup comedian already, but only speaks six words: mom and dad, yes and mostly no, piss and shit. She can make a lot of fun with these though. Kids are so much fun. Grateful every day. It goes without saying, but it also deserves to be emphasized.
Ok. Enough lists. Time to find a silly movie.
Robin Heinen 