Each week (I aim for Thursday), I’ll use this space to list five things (items, experiences, people, whatever) for which I’ve been recently grateful. Consider it my “blessings count”. Ann Voskamp’s famous challenge to list 1000 gifts seemed daunting — I’m committing to 500, a task which will take me two years of weekly posts to complete!

I postponed this post so that I might include thoughts from my wife’s 20th high school reunion. Here we go:

1) Friends
Everyone could list this one, but there is something very special about friends with whom many miles have been logged. There’s a special gift found with those who knew each other before any of us were anything at all!

2) Rain
My gratitude for the weekend’s rains was tempered by the way that a usually beautiful camp was transformed into a swamp. Unreal!

3) Socks
There is a special joy to putting on a new pair of socks. There is a lesser joy two days of sloshing in your socks. There is another wonderful joy to putting on dry socks when you get home.

4) Showers
I have likely listed this one before, but the first shower back at home after a few days away always strikes me as beautiful!

5) Laughs
A decent reunion is always laugh-filled. Some of the laughter was from hearing stories of the past 20 years of friends’ lives. Some of the loudest laughter was from the retelling and reliving of stories from much farther back than that!

YOUR TURN: Your input makes this post better!

• Did any of this week’s list especially strike a chord with you?
• What’s one thing you’re particularly grateful for this week?

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