Thankful Thursday.

Today, and this week, I am thankful for:

-- our lovely share from Avalon Acres.

-- homegrown lettuce for burgers, and a small handful of strawberries the critters (sow bugs?) didn't get to prior to picking, both from the repurposed pool bed garden.

-- Kelly's help in the garden, along with plenty of rain.

-- afternoon coffee in the absence of sound / enough sleep.

-- the boy's fever, finally broken, the mystery viral bug (Fifth's?) passed.

-- a child with dramatic flair, a fondness for words, and persistent passion (this, some of my friends call playing the Pollyanna game.)

-- Jolie, who busts her heinie and opens her heart SO wide in fighting to keep her county's children loved on and well served through her TEEN Reach and ACE Afterschool program, even through proposed budgetary cuts.

-- Anjali, my former colleague at Mothers Acting Up, who didn't hesitate for a moment to send out an action alert about dear Jolie's and Illinois' other 92 afterschool programs affected by these budget cuts.

-- my husband's willingness to rise from a hard sleep and clean dog vomit while I tended the boy.

-- my husband's perpetual willingness to share my time (and that of our son) with my family.

-- my father, my husband's father, my late grandfathers, and my son's father. I celebrate them all and offer my thanks for their presence. I love & appreciate you each: Joe Ben, George, Temple D, Herman Victor, and My Beloved Mister, Eric.