Mockingbird Hill Cottage

As I head into Manhattan for another day of coaching work, I am feeling grateful. Not just for today’s job, but for a host of things.

• For a husband who reacts with surprised delight when I unexpectedly come in the door after three days away.

• In that same vein – for a husband who writes the most beautiful lyrics and is a true wordsmith, as well as a romantic. As I was listening to my playlist while driving home from Hartford, two of his songs came up and, though I’ve heard them many times, I was amazed at the beauty of his words.

• For work. For the chance to work at what I love and have loved since I was in the 7th grade. How many people get to do that? I know it’s rare. I don’t take it for granted.

• For inspiring colleagues who, in turn, inspire me.

• For Darko, who I first worked with in 2008, and who has been an inspiration ever since. I am very, very fortunate that he continues to want to work with me.

• For the actors I have the honor of working with. You know, 99.9% of actors are very nice people. There are a few bad apples, but I can probably count the not-so-nice people I’ve worked with on one hand. Maybe six fingers. And that, my friends, is after more than 30 years of doing what I do. How lucky I am!

• For my sister and her family. For my nephews and nieces and great-nephews and great-nieces. For a magical little boy named Z.

• For a lilac bush that has flower buds, despite unexpected snow and ice and freezing temperatures.

• For a climbing hydrangea with buds that were encased in icicles just over a week ago. I frantically tried to break them off, but I could only do so much. It has survived quite nicely. I’m not so sure whether the daffodils will bloom and there is definite damage to the day lily leaves and some sedum, but they’re pretty strong, so we’ll just wait and see.

• That being said, I’m grateful for a relatively mild winter after two winters in a row that were devastatingly harsh and seemingly endless.

• For Spring, which is technically here, but not so here during the past two weeks. I know it’s coming. The temperatures look as if they’ll be climbing toward the end of the week. Then I can get outside and do some much-needed cleanup work in the gardens.

• For the car my dad lovingly gave us when he decided to stop driving. It has made my life so much easier. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it. Every day.

• For books and music and beautiful pottery and textiles and all the things we surround ourselves with here at the cottage. Layers of meaning, layers of words, layers of beauty, layers of well-loved things: they are the substance of our home.

• For our cottage. I walked in the door last night and fell in love with it all over again. You’d think I’d been gone for weeks, rather than three days. It is my safe place. It is our home. It is everything I ever dreamed of for all those years when I was living in studio apartments, or city apartments, or rented houses, or rented rooms. I loved all of those places and made each one my home. I didn’t need someone telling me to do that, I just did it. I’ve always done it. Anyplace I hang my hat is home, as the song goes. But this  is different. This is something we never thought we’d have; two people working in the arts, earning a livable wage, but not a house-buying wage. At times, it’s been a struggle, but it’s a worthwhile struggle. We love it here. We NEVER take it for granted.

• For this blog and my other blog and for all of you. I’ve written about it many times, so I won’t say anything more. I’ll just say, again, how grateful I am for all of you.

• For all my former students – hundreds of them. I treasure our friendships and the time we spent together. Occasionally, I even get to work with one or two of them, many years later. What a joy they are.

• For my brother and my mother and my father and my father-in-law and Winston and Riley and Scout. Gone from this plane of existence, but with me every day. I love you forever. For grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and colleagues and students who have graced my life and who have passed on. I love you forever. For childhood friends and pets who are no longer with us. I love you forever.

Oh, theres’s more. But that’s a good start for today.

Happy Monday.