I don’t know what it is about my brain but it seems like I sure have had to dig out of a lot of crap between my ears to remember on a daily basis ten reasons to love life. Here’s what I came up with today:

1.) Indian Summertime when it is cool enough to make you want to bite the air when you’re out in it but warm enough that you stop just before the bite to feel the sun on your face;

2.) Sunsets and sunrises. Every day they’re different, no two are ever the same. There are certain parts of the world where the sunsets are really exquisite but most of the time if you find the right spot to enjoy them, just that can make the difference. The right spot and if you catch either of them at the right time like getting up early in the morning to go fetch the paper and seeing the sun rising and the stars twinkling in the sky at the same time. To me, that’s some kind of magic.

3.) Happy dogs and cats that reikki loving energy out from their backs through your finger tips and up through your arms into your heart. Met the most well behaved two-year-old Golden Retriever I’ve ever seen tonight at a party. She calmly meandered around greeting every one but always seemed to make her way back to me for me to pet her and adore her. She had me at her first blink.

4.) Old friends and new friends who celebrate who you are and don’t try to change you to be someone that you aren’t.

5.) Good music. Heard some good blues driving home tonight through winding hill country roads with the guy bellowing about some dame putting the whammy on him. Had both my husband and I singing by the time we got to the end of the road.

6.) Laughing. There is truly no better conductor to connection then laughter. My hubby and I decided to take a long afternoon nap rather than throw Halloween costumes together for a party tonight. Instead we woke up refreshed, I went on a long run and we dressed all in black. On the way to the party I asked my husband if he felt handsome dressed all in black and he said that he felt like a waiter. There was something so hilarious about the way that he said it that we both laughed and made jokes about ourselves all the way to the party.

7.) Colors. I love the colors this time of year when everything seems to turn golden and burnished and red with occasional bright swatches of yellow daisies. My red haired friends may find it dangerous to be around me this time of year because I always want to get an outdoor photo of them with their red hair against the golden backdrop of autumn.

8.) Creativity. So grateful that I’ve finally grown up enough that instead of being jealous or envious when someone is creative, I love to see what people come up with to express themselves and I celebrate it with them. A long time friend dressed up as a Cat n the Hat for the party tonight and although it is a costume she has had for awhile, I had never seen her in it. Her personality is totally a Cat n the Hat and that was quite apparent as she focused on carving out her special design on her awfully big pumpkin.

9.) I come across a lot more good people in life then I do bad. There are a lot of people out here who are trying their best to do their best, are kind to others and find ways of giving back from the simple to the sublime. If you don’t have very many of these type of people in your life then try looking in a different direction because they’re out there.

10.) We get a new day every 24 hours with an opportunity to learn something new that we hadn’t known before (or maybe had forgotten that we had known it before!). I learned today that Gout is usually found in your toes and it is caused by a crystallization of Uric Acid. I also learned that I made a complete fool of myself by going on and on about my friend’s Gout in her toe and telling all of her FB friends that I thought Gout was only found in the neck (by the way, my friend is a nurse) only to learn that what I was thinking it was is a Goutier not Gout. Ohhhhhhhh, Thank God tomorrow is a new day…..