The Cozy Warmth of Gratitude

Time passes in a flash, but gratitude lingers on in a lifetime.” – Christine Ang

Much of October went by in a blur. Or that’s how it seems like to my somewhat clouded vision. I feel somewhat disoriented, probably because of the flu. Have you noticed how, when there’s a viral fever, there are moments of crystal clarity followed by total exhaustion? I am enjoying those waves.

As I lay in bed and drifted in and out of dreamland, I had pleasant fantasies. I spent time lounging on the sofa, watching random movies, crying a lot, laughing, dozing. And before I knew it, the day would be over. Oh, I am recovering, slowly.

As usual, it has been a eventful month. Let’s look at the fun bits, those parts I am most grateful for.

​I feel intense gratitude for …

Hospital visits

As annoying, and as time-sucky as they are, I must say it is weirdly okay to sit in a place where there is no internet or phone signal. We are losing work hours but have resigned ourselves to it. The dental treatment my husband is going through is painful, but the doctors claim it is working, and the silver lining (besides the ones in our hair) is that, it cannot continue beyond two weeks. We’re trying to deal with it by joking about it, although right now, we’ve run out of those.

Navratri

Ours was low-key, but I had fun dressing up in traditional attire and visiting neighbors and enjoyed their doll displays. I even put together a post about it, but didn’t get around to publishing it. I might, one of these days. What do you think? Grateful for the sneaky little shopping expedition my friend and I ran off on, one day, to get some saree blouses that are fabulous! Can’t wait to wear them.

A blogger meet

What I love most about these is getting to meet my friends. We had a good time. At the end of the meet, the heavens opened up and everyone struggled to get transportation back home.  Finally, just two of us were left. We waited over two hours before we finally managed to leave the venue. Waiting is a pain, but not when there’s fun company. We laughed practically nonstop! Overall, a great evening!

Twitter lockouts

Yep, Twitter has been locking my account continuously since the past three-four days. I vaguely wondered why, then discovered others were going through it as well. We’ve no idea what’s going on. So it was a surprise to see my account actually up when I awoke this morning. I don’t really hang around on Twitter, but the lockout did urge me to review all the app permissions that were in force and I had a good time disconnecting/revoking access. Nice to spring-clean, no? So that’s a good thing. Also, strangely, I found myself engaging a little more than usual, what with all the conversations going on. That was good too!

Hot water

Seriously, this one! After two days of sweating and having to just have a wash, I was blissed out when I could have a long bath. Oh, when I say bath, I mean running hot water filled in buckets. My nose was blocked but I had a wonderful time imagining the fragrance of the soap and shampoo and felt fabulous. It is all in the mind, sometimes.

Time

Being sick means loads of time. It is a gift. To use exactly as I like. And I chose to rest. I did minimal housework during the last week choosing to make soups and one pot meals. I enjoyed going through old photo albums, reading my son’s poems written over the years and dozed, holding the papers in my hand. Of course, I had a notebook and a pen near me–what if I had some brilliant nuggets of wisdom–I had to note those down, right? I did. Being offline rocks!

Working from home

There is not a day when I am not grateful for working from home, flexible, on my own time. I felt particularly fortunate for not missing deadlines during this time. The manuscripts I was editing were out either for proofreading or layout and there was no pressure over those. I have a new manuscript I will start on this week and it is a feeling of happiness. On the blogging front, I’ve managed to keep up. Sort of.

Delayed repairs

Remember my reference to the seepage from the flat upstairs into ours? After a year and a half of complaining, they are finally done with their repairs and I had made an arrangement with the contractor to scrape the damp walls in our house–which included two  bathrooms, one bedroom, and the kitchen. Of course he didn’t turn up the day he was supposed to. Did I fret? Nope. Total Zen. Let things happen in their own time, I thought. My son was leaving the next day and it was nice not to have workers marching in and out. As it happened, they did turn up four days later, started the work and left with the promise of returning the next day. It is six days now. Again, grateful, because I wouldn’t have been able to play assistant to them. All in good time. Sigh.

Soup

Yep, as busy as she was, my “sister” found time to make me some soup and come over and was just in time to sit and enjoy a mug of my special ginger-lemon-pepper-honey tea. Grateful for the interlude.

And while I was sleeping…

…my favorite magician and sister, Vanita Cyril quietly installed the SSL certificates on all my six blogs and moved them to https, then took care of all the related stuff that needed to be done. All my websites/blogs are now secure with https addresses.

So grateful to her for her constant support, her unconditional love, her daily nagging, her tell-it-like-it-is, that keep me grounded. Every day, the moment she logs in, she asks me “What did you do for your soul today”, and because by the time her day begins I am halfway through mine–I’d better have an answer ready!

Son’s visit​

​See how I saved the best for last? Our son was home for a week and of course, we built up the excitement leading to his arrival. I kept the week absolutely free and in spite of the hospital visits, we managed to enjoy many happy hours with him–cooking, eating together, talking late into the night, watching TV, movies, visiting our favorite bookstore, and even eating out one day. The togetherness was awesome. All too soon, the week came to an end and he went back. And now, we’re waiting for the next break!

♥

As I wait for my sense of smell and for my taste buds to awaken, I will continue to enjoy endless cups of tea and eat as usual. There’s a special joy in imagining taste. And oh, in a burst of energy, on one of these days, I made a big batch of avocado muffins. My niece enjoyed them.

I am grateful for October, exactly as it was.

What about you?

A loving ask

I’d love your votes for my nominations to The Orange Flower Awards this year. I have two nominations:

Parenting category

Travel category

If you enjoy my writing, please do visit the links and click the orange “vote now” button. Thank you!

Join me for the October Gratitude Circle blog hop.

I look forward to reading your posts.

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