Here and there today, I noticed wilting flowers, bird poop, and potholes in the road. That dismal little list hardly accounts for the things I am grateful for, which makes it odd I recall them at all.  It makes me realize something, though, about what I am most grateful for.

In the long intervals of time briefly punctuated by those odd little details, I savored a mellow cup of coffee, meandered along a long line of vendors' tents and tables at the farmers' market, took a leisurely nap, and saw George Clooney in The American at our movie theater here in Pacific Grove.  To top all that off, I had dinner out at a local cafe and a stroll home on this soft late-summer night.  It was a very relaxed and enjoyable day, beginning to end.  That's a fine list of delights to be grateful for, indeed.

I could leave it at that and say good-night, but I keep feeling a sense of gratitude and appreciation for...my existence, I guess.  Just that simple?  I think it goes deeper. 

I appreciate the fact that bird poop and potholes do not rivet my attention, that the world I am privileged to enjoy is beautiful, bountiful and peaceful.  I am not obsessed; I can discern between reality and delusion. I cannot begin to tell you how immensely grateful I am to be able to think clearly about that, to say that coherently, to understand that it is profound.

I work with people who are mentally ill, some of whom are completely undone by a speck of red, believing it is blood and that they will be contaminated.  I work with those who are continuously and forever engulfed in the sound of fierce condemning voices interrupting their every thought, day and night.  I work with people enslaved by drugs and alcohol and those preyed upon by abusers.  They teach me to keep things simple, to appreciate what I have and to enjoy a laugh at any opportunity.

I am healthy, can solve my simple problems, have no complaints to speak of.  Chalk it up to the luck of birth.  By whatever force, I am free to live peacefully.  I am not perfect, and I am very deeply grateful -- almost to an extent that cannot be expressed -- for the ability to notice little things and keep them in perspective.  Surrounding my gratitude is relief that I am fine.  All I need I have, and that's the simple truth.