Five Things to Be Grateful For This Morning

1. A gray squirrel climbing upside down on the gray, shaggy bark of a hickory, bright morning sun caught in its fur, surrounded by green leaves going orange and yellow.

2. All things fluffy:

Tissues

PJs

Blankets

Pillows

(Naps are fluffy, too.)

Blue and white clouds

Pancakes

A freshly dried towel

3. The click of the dog’s nails on the floorboards, telling you he’s

coming in to say hello.

4. Hot coffee in the morning, going down so smooth … that momentary mindlessness, fanning out across your loosening shoulders into hosannas of “I am.”

5. This chair in which I sit, this computer on which I write,

the words that gather to a wellspring and saturate my brain.