I take clean clothes from my automatic washer and dryer for granted. I take for granted as well the ability and easy affordability of calling my friend or relative across the country, across the world. Safe abundant cheap drinking water pouring out of multiple taps throughout my home, whenever I want it! Indoor plumbing and refrigerators and central heat.
The ability to look up the play-by-play from game seven of the 2004 ALCS or the GDP of Afghanistan in 1988 or the cast of M.A.S.H, for free, in a matter of milliseconds. To hear my Mom’s voice or see the sun rise or smell the lilacs. To be able to walk and run (sort of) and hear children laugh. To be able to learn new things and talk to friends that I have know for most of my life who live many times zones away.
To have access to medical care and dental care and eye care and even pet care. To open the refrigerator and see many types of cheese and fresh fruits and vegetables. Coffee and decaf and tea (once again with and without caffeine). A solid fifty-year roof over my head.
Freedom of speech, religion, press, and so so much more. Endless love and compassion and support bubbling up all around me and you. Polio vaccines and doppler radar.
I can speak and understand and remember my friends and adventures and struggles and the name of all seven dwarves (and nine planets, there are nine damn it!). Good movies and albums and recipes and the even the ability to taste. I can hear and control my muscles and have a functioning immune system and a central nervous system and a reasonable understanding of chemistry.
I get to vote and send my daughter to a good public school. We have safe reliable cars and shoes and bicycles and lots and lots of people who love me. I have things to look forward to and things to remember fondly and wonderful things to experience today. I have people who would rush to my aid and those who I would and have done the same for. I got to hike today in snow around a beautiful alpine lake in the middle of a pandemic.
I can learn and have learned much and know that I will never understand more than a single grain on a endless beach. I have hope and compassion. I have challenges and struggles to overcome, to repurpose. I have my brightest days ahead of me until there are no more.
International travel. Art museums and yummy restaurants and ice-cold IPAs. Warm dry firm beds and roasted coffee beans and bananas from half way around the world. Books and magazines and newspapers and bike paths. Word processors and high definition television and stereo sound. A lifetime of Simpsons and Sixty Minutes and a never-ending sports season for which the shape of the ball simply changes every few months. Kafka and Emerson and Shakespeare and Rumi. Fireplaces and a functioning digestive system. Logic and wonder and magic and love and boundless opportunities and commensurate responsibilities to all around whether or not they enjoy all or most or few of these bounties! I am blessed.
