#191

Still counting.  I'm discovering this act of purposeful listing of gifts - gifts that I know come from the hand of God - has become more than an activity, a discipline, or a goal.  Now, it's become a filter in which I am seeing my life.

Yesterday.  Tired when I woke up, I knew there were some "things" that I needed to accomplished.  Not stressful things but rather fun things like getting my hair cut.  I knew my parents, D and J, were going out of town.  It was late morning and I had a nagging feeling that I should ring them up to wish them well ... and possibly meet for a coffee they would buy.  I'm selfish and I love coffee.

At 11:00 a.m. I pushed the buttons of the receiver and heard my Mom's voice excited on the other end.  Her news was shocking.  Old friends from my childhood - friends of my parents, D and S, - were in town on a whim.  They had just driven up in their driveway on their way home to the East coast.

After a few minutes over the speaker phone, I had a plan that now trumped my previous to do list.  Wearing no makeup, I spilled the news beans to My Chris and in minutes we were in the van with a destination and a goal:  he drives and I put on makeup!

When I saw their faces, they seemed altered ever so slightly to what I had trapped in my childhood memory place.  Then, the very next emotion that washed over me, seemingly on some sort of "cue" that I've come to recognize, was thankfulness!!

As I sat on Mom's comfy couch, close to Irene, the rhythm of her northern accent and speech pattern took me back to my childhood spent in Montana.  Camping trips.  Mosquito bites.  Mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Homemade wheat bread.  Easter egg hunts.  A swinging bed.  Christian books.  Downstairs basement.  Handle bar mustache.  Fall scene wall mural.  It all washed over me as familiar and cozy as a down comforter being drawn up under my chin on a cold Fall night.  I wanted to nestle myself there for a long time.

Of course reality sucked the life out of the memory time and schedules had to be kept and travels had to be resumed.  However, the hour that I spent near these dear ones - Dean and Irene - made my list.  Their visit is #191.  I could have written at least 50 more entries of thankfulness for what this one, impromptu, surprise visit has meant to me and what it has brought to me.  However, just by writing down:

#191. Dean and Irene

I am filled with such teary-eyed, heart exploding thankfulness that it almost takes my breath away!  Yes, Dean and Irene, they are the gift.  But, now I'm seeing more accurately the GIFT GIVER!  In a normal day, when I was tired, He interrupted the clock and gave me a trip down memory lane.  A trip that explored people and places that are so tender and sweet and so full of child-like giddiness I am undone!  He knew this gift was needed ... would be appreciated.  The magnitude of this simple gift, given by this indescribable Gift Giver, blows me away.

The list is changing me.
The list is changing how I see the world.
The list is changing how I see myself.
The list is changing how I see ... the One doing the giving!

giddy and counting,
christina