The Grateful Day Sept. 7, 2007

It's early Friday morning. I'm trying to get some editing in before Christa makes her appearance--all still-sleepy hugs and "Aren't-you-glad-I'm-here" smiles.

Yes.

I know I bemoan my fate as a mommy-come-lately of a child who wakes up much too early and much too chipper. And yet I think wrapping my arms around a just-waking-up child, her body still warm from her blankets, is--as the song goes--one of my favorite things.

Other things I am grateful for:

• I am grateful that, while I tend to see the glass half empty--apologies to all you optimists--my husband balances me out and pours his glass half full into my glass.

• I am grateful that I am getting everything done that I need to get done and that I am no longer saying, "I'll never get it all done." I either will or I won't. That's easy enough to figure out.

• I am grateful my car has a new clutch, new brake pads, new spark plugs, new air filter, blah, blah, blah . . . I'm not an automotive freak, but I do know all those thingamabobs will make my car run smoothly and will stop the idiot lights from coming on. I hate it when the idiot lights come on in my car. I want to pull over to the side of the road and abandon my car. It's not what the manual says to do, but it's my gut instinct.

• I am grateful people are reading Baby Changes Everything. Really. And I am grateful when they e-mail and tell me they laughed out loud or cried while they they read it. I am grateful when they tell me the book encouraged them. That's why I wrote the book--to encourage other mommies-come-lately. And it's happening. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that for a writer.

May your day be anchored in gratefulness.