Gratitude

Tonight, I am thankful...

...for good friends who make me laugh.
...for the cool overcast weather for my drive "home" (back to D.C.), which meant that I didn't have to drive with the windows down to compensate for my broken air conditioning.
...for the chance to spend a relaxing weekend with Finbar, who I miss terribly every single day.
...for the white sheep on the green hillside that I saw as I rounded a sharp bend in the highway.
...for the tulips planted in the median for miles on end, creating a blaze of red and white in the slanted light of a setting sun.
...for the children standing on the overpass, waving to the cars stuck in the traffic jam. The tallest boy was holding a large American flag and two of the girls were dressed all in red, white, and blue. It was such a little slice of Americana and made me smile in the middle of a stressful situation.
...for enthusiastic greetings by all the animals in the house, making me feel loved when I was so sad to be driving miles and miles down the highway in the opposite direction from Finbar, feeling like I should just turn the car around and head toward my "real" home-- wherever Finbar is.