Grateful, November first Sunday

 Gratitude is actually something I've been trying to focus on for several months.  Seeing several blogs where the author is trying to post each day in the month of November about something they are grateful for got me to thinking more about what I am grateful for.  I know, realistically, there is no way I'm going to manage a post a day for the rest of this month.  But, perhaps, I can do a post each Sunday.  

Here is this week's attempt at that.  Maybe, if I can get through November, I'll try continuing it in December.  Because gratitude isn't something that's restricted to only the month in which we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving.  

This summer, DH finally helped me to get our porch swing from the basement--where it had been stored since our kids gave it to us for Christmas in 2019--up to the garage where I could stain and seal it.  

I had always wanted a swing on our wrap around porch, in fact, that was the main reason I wanted a wrap-around porch in the first place back when we were designing this house in 2001 before we started building it.  Took quite a bit longer than I'd thought to actually acquire that swing, but here it was, in July 2021 sitting  on sawhorses in the garage awaiting my perfectionistic DIY touch.

swing half stained

tilted backwards so I could stain the underside too

Once it had cured and was weather-proof, DH hung it on the south end of the front porch one day while I was away from home.  It was such a great thing to walk around the corner and discover.  The perfect little shady nook that catches a good breeze more days than not.  Exactly what I had always envisioned for spending a relaxing hour or two with a good book.

Relaxation is not a skill that I come by naturally.  It's one that I have to consciously pursue, otherwise I'm constantly chasing after this task and that that need to be done, or helping other people until I'm so tightly wound I can't think straight. Having my swing finally is helping me learn to take a little me time now and then. Even better if I can convince DH to sit with me on the swing, although it's not really his kind of thing.

I'm grateful for this swing, my outdoor relaxation spot.  I'm grateful for DH, who carried it up from the basement so I could finish it, who also put the supports in the porch rafters so it could be hung, and then hung it for me.  I'm grateful for my four kids, who orchestrated the purchasing of this swing (and bought it as unfinished bare wood so I could stain it the exact way I wanted it to look) because they figured that after this many years DH wasn't going to prioritize this particular want of mine.