Coffee!!!

 The Gratitude Challenge. The rules are that you post for five days listing three things each day that make you grateful, then pass the challenge on. A friend and I did this a few years ago and agreed that it is time to run it again. All contributors are more than welcome.

Day 2

I staggered out to the kitchen this morning, turned on my coffee maker, plopped a pod into it and hit the brew button. A short time later, I was slurping down my drink and life was starting to look livable. When I thought about this day’s Gratitude Challenge, the coffee maker was top of mind.

But, hey. Some clever man or woman designed it and others manufactured it. And it runs on electricity, as does the hot water tank that dispenses all the steaming water we need for showers, dishes and the like. As does the thermostat that controls the climate condition inside our house so that at the push of a lever, we can be warmer or cooler. As does the nest of wires supplying power to lights, chargers and, not least, this computer. So, the gratitude spreads out over a lot of designers, inventors and, not least, to the intrepid Hydro One crews that are called in when the supply is interrupted, at whatever hour they are needed, to climb poles, wield chainsaws and do finicky things in February temperatures with ungloved fingers. I try, daily, to be grateful for all I have that is supplied to me by so many dedicated people.

And, not least, I find myself grateful for the wonderful little inventions and adaptations that make it possible to do most things with eighty-one plus fingers, ears and eyes. Glasses and a magnifying lens, hearing aids, wide-handled peelers, all of those. You don’t think about them until you need them, and then they are extremely useful. A cane, walking poles, wide shoes with elastic laces. A magnifying mirror in which I can see my earlobes to insert stud earrings. And a coffee mug with a wide, easily graspable handle.