What am I grateful for?

Following on from Kezzie's post about 10 things that she is grateful for, I thought I'd write a post about what I am currently grateful for, so here goes.

 

1- Having time at home with OH and LB. It's not often that you get the chance to spend so much time together and apart from the odd little disagreement, we've all rubbed along very nicely during Lockdown. We're starting to see less of LB now, as she is getting out and meeting friends more, but she needs that, especially being an only child and being stuck at home with the olds.

 

2- That none of our families have been badly affected by Covid-19. We are very lucky indeed. We're still not sure if we've had a mild version of the virus, and we will probably never know.

 

3 - Our dog - So grateful to be able to take her out every morning and spend hours outside in the open air, exploring the local open spaces. It would be much harder to motivate myself to go out if she wasn't with us. She's stubborn as a mule, but has been great company during Lockdown. We love her to bits.

 

4 - To still have a job to go back to once this is all over. Although I'm not sure when I'll be going back, or what sort of state the shop will be in when I get back, I'm happy to have a return to work to look forward to and grateful to have been paid during Lockdown.

 

5 - The YouTube and other social media content that some of the people I follow have been putting out during lockdown. Their hard work and creativity have helped to keep me sane and entertained with dancing, music, vlogs and blog posts and also helped me to feel connected to others whilst being stuck at home for the last three months.

 

6 -  Our garden and allotment - (Although I haven't really visited the allotment that often during lockdown). We are so very lucky to have such a special place to be able to escape to and I know that OH would have been lost without it. I might not have spent hours and hours in the garden, but I do enjoy looking out into it every day and love watching it change with the seasons. I also love observing the birds frolicking in the bird bath and I am going to try to spend more time out there in the next few weeks, if the weather stays good.

 

7 - The opportunity to experience a more simple existence, where we live less frenetic lives and have the time to appreciate those around us, what we have and to realise how lucky we really are.

 

8 - Having the time to spend on starting and finishing various projects around our home over the last 3 months. When else would we ever have got around to doing them.  More specifically, I am very grateful that we have now re-decorated two rooms in our house.  OH is now moving on to sand and re-varnish the floorboards in both of these rooms, so I don't know if the decorating will proceed into the hallway any time soon, but at least we've got some momentum going, which should help us to continue with it.

 

9 - Books - What would we do without being able to escape into a good book, be it for a few minutes or even a few hours?  Being able to read most mornings has made for a very agreeable start to my days and I am happy to have created some space on the bookshelf, where previously a whole lot of unread books sat.

 

10 - TV and Netflix - Although we might only watch a couple of hours a day, we've found plenty of things to keep us informed and entertained on Lockdown evenings. It is becoming apparent though that the TV stations are struggling for new content, judging by the many repeats that have appeared in the programming in recent weeks. 

 

A few examples of things we've been watching: The Last Dance on Netflix, Succession - series 1 & 2, The Great British Sewing Bee, Gardener's World and Jools Holland and guests on Friday nights and I can't forget my daily indulgence of watching Escape to the Chateau DIY.

 

Finally, it goes without saying, that I am very grateful to everyone who has helped us to get through this Lockdown period, namely the supermarkets and shops that have fed us, the hospitals and their staff who have risked their health to care for the sick amongst us, the transport workers for helping the key workers get to work, the refuse collectors for clearing up after us and all the public servants who have worked tirelessly throughout this time. We may not all be 100% happy with how things have panned out, but I am thankful for their efforts to navigate us through this pandemic.