Being grateful

If anyone reading this blog gets impatient waiting for updates (hi, Dad!), there is always the option of friending me on Facebook. That’s where the daily stuff happens. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the time to come up with an angle for a blog entry. But today, as I get ready to fly back to Europe after ten weeks in New York, my theme is gratitude.

Often, wherever I am, my main focus is on my daily routines (working, running, catching up with friends, walking for hours, seeing films) and pressing concerns (my cash flow!). But I’m never not aware that I’m incredibly lucky to be able to live the way I am, and to experience some of the world’s remarkable places as a resident, rather than a tourist. I’ve spent up to five months a year in New York since 2009, so I really have a broadly based life here now. But each time I come, there is something different. Some of the new people I meet become special friends. This time I stayed on much later than usual, so I’ve been hunkered down against the cold weather. I’m grateful that we had some snow yesterday, and for the beautiful sunny day today.

I’m grateful for my clients, who continue to send work files off into cyberspace often without knowing where in the world I am when I work on them. I’m also very grateful when they pay my invoices!

I’m grateful that wonderful films and documentaries continue to be made, and that they pop up on my radar. I’ve seen a whole bunch of films during this visit, but my favourite was “Breakfast With Curtis”.

I’m grateful that I remain an uninjured runner, and that my times are still good enough to earn me age group placings (fourth out of 84 in my AG in the Philadelphia half marathon a few weeks ago).

I’m grateful that I don’t need a whole bunch of stuff to live this way. Apart from a small parcel of summer clothes I sent ahead to Kuching to await my arrival in March, I’m heading off into the next adventure with only a medium-sized suitcase and a small carry-on case that will hold my laptop bag.

And I’m grateful for the friends from all stages of my life who are my virtual travelling companions.

As I will be travelling quite a bit over the next few months, to some new and fascinating places, I’ll try to update this blog more frequently.

Happy holiday season to everyone!!