2019 Thankfulness, and the start of 2020

As promised about a year ago, I did keep a thankfulness log again in 2019.  I continue to maintain it as a way to sleep better and improve my mood.  Some experts recommend to make your list in the morning to start your day off right.  That doesn't work well for me since I'm not a morning person, so I do mine before I go to bed.

Here are some highlights and themes of my thankfulness from 2019.

I was frequently thankful for these things throughout 2019:

• Friends.  Of all types - those I travel to see, those who come to see me, those I travel with to big destinations, and those who live nearby that I go out to eat with once or twice a month.
• Family.  One should hope so since they are important to me - my parents, my brother, my sisters, my nieces, my nephew, cousins.....
• Getting a massage.  If asked, some of the best things I do for myself over the course of the year are to get massages and hire a cleaning service to do the general cleaning maintenance.
• Sunshine.  Where I live now is in general much cloudier than where I grew up, so I always appreciate a day with sunshine here.  It's amazing how some sunshine can improve a person's mood.
• Bible study.  I found these very encouraging this year.  I think other meetings made the list too, but this specific type of meeting was very helpful this year.  Maybe it's the breath of refreshing air it brings to my soul after a long, stressful day at work that I appreciate so much.
• Prayer.  (And other similar things related to God and getting reminders about the true meaning of life.)
• Leftovers and canned food.  Because when you eat a lot of meals by yourself, it's nice to have an easy meal that I can quickly heat up in the microwave.
• Safe travels.  I drove many miles and took lots of plane trips this year.  As I get older, I think I appreciate more and more having a safe trip without any major problems.

And now for a few of the more "unique" thankfulness items.

January

• Appreciating feeling happy.  After a tough 2018, it was refreshing to pause and notice how good it felt to be happy again.
• Seeing kids get excited about applying math to solving problems (i.e. mentoring robotics)
• Seeing a full lunar eclipse
• A good performance review at work
• Feeling motivated
• Having an operational furnace (we had a big polar vortex in January)
• Having willpower to follow a strict diet, and learning to be creative while on that strict diet

February

• Finding some good "special diet foods" at Wal-Mart
• The "spark" of interest and excitement when reading a book at supper.  As Plutarch said, "The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting."
• Adding things back to my diet as part of the big diet experiment (Celery!  Raspberries!  Mushrooms!  Oh my!)
• Prescription scuba mask
• Making progress on design validation plans at work
• Learning kayak skills in a pool
• Robotics - seeing the robot coming together
• A tropical vacation to Aruba (e.g. dolphins, scuba diving, relaxing)

March

• Hearing frogs sing for the first time in the year
• Interesting pecha kucha event
• Canned chicken (it makes for a quick, easy meal on the go)
• Eating red meat (for the first time in more than a month)
• Figuring out how to do a certain calculation needed at work
• A 2.5 hour car ride to decompress
• A very nice visit with my special meeting company
• Being reassured of the things we are sure of
• Amazon Prime
• Positive feedback on how I'm making an impact as a mentor
• The excitement of a possible job opportunity
• A quiet day at home
• Hearing birds sing when I open my garage door
• Driving with the windows partially down
• A cute picture of my nephew on Snapchat

April

• Fritos (because the ingredients are so simple)
• The fun of data analysis
• Temperatures in the 60's and 70's
• Being able to work from home (when feeling slightly ill)
• Having co-workers who care
• Celtic Woman concert
• Not eating lunch at my desk (because often I do)
• A 3 hour nap
• Yoga
• Eating potatoes after a long break from eating them
• A quiet day at work to get things done
• Talk radio
• A neature walk
• Help from God for the day
• Time to play the piano
• Intestines showing some improvement

May

• Home Free concert
• Eating lunch with some long time work colleagues
• Seeing a local parade for the first time
• Impromptu supper with a friend
• Solving interesting problems
• Things that pull our heart strings and remind us life is short
• First day of outdoor kayaking
• Zone out time at the YMCA on the exercise machines
• Living close to work
• Owning a foam roller (and using it of course)
• Cancelled work meetings
• Making progress in getting answers about my health
• All gave some; some gave all (Memorial Day)
• Muscles starting to feel better
• A thunderstorm to lull me to sleep
• Eating pork for the first time in months

June

• Unique kayaking experience paddling down a flooded road
• Fun at beach volleyball
• Riding my bicycle
• Sleeping well (partly because my help was getting better)
• Lunch outdoors on the bluff
• Doing the first test drive for a new car
• An awesome 2 week vacation to Greece
• Deliciously flaky croissants
• Seeing the marvels of Roman and Greek ruins, aqueducts, and archaeological digs
• A super fancy Michelin start dinner
• Being in Sunday morning meeting for the first time in several weeks
• A medical procedure going well
• A hymn coming to mind
• Lounging in my hammock

July

• Getting flower beds weeded
• Seeing an awesome fireworks show
• Freedom and liberty
• Playing in the pool
• A nice canoe paddling excursion with Bex
• Fun playing rook
• Having experience at work
• A lunch time ride in a convertible with the top down
• Team lunch with delicious pizza
• Seeing the beautiful sights of Chicago
• No cavities
• Fresh local blueberries - the first of the season
• Hot summer weather
• Leaving work early on a Friday
• A refreshing rain shower
• Talking to my parents
• Forgiveness
• Freshly grilled bratwurst
• Making progress on car shopping / test drives
• A good report on the tests from the medical procedure
• My neck and back barely hurting

August

• Fun at the zoo
• An evening walk to the lake
• A new Kindle
• Starting a new long-term training program at work
• Chocolate
• Delicious BBQ brisket
• Compliments from my classmates and instructor on good data analysis
• Enjoying discussing details of a nerdy data topic
• Flights not cancelled
• Diary free ice cream (yes, it's a real thing)
• Having snacks in my backpack
• Being excited to see people at convention
• Walks on a country road
• God speaking
• A perceptive friend

September

• A singing kind of morning
• A delicious Danburger
• Sleeping in my own bed
• A big presentation going well at work
• Getting some emotions off my chest
• The end of car shopping in sight (and getting a new car!)
• Stores with gluten free stuff
• Muscles feeling good in the morning
• Interesting book club meeting
• Finding peace in unexpected events
• Contemplation while doing yard work
• A friend making me laugh
• Sending a silly e-mail about snakes
• Fresh raspberries
• The excitement of a Wednesday evening at convention
• Going to bed before midnight
• Easily finding a buyer for my old car

October

• A beautiful, warm day (>80 F in October!)
• Resisting temptation
• An evening without an agenda
• Getting my roof rack installed
• Getting back in the exercise groove
• Decent leaders at work
• Impromptu lunch with co-workers
• Learning glass blowing
• Doing some last yard work in warm weather
• Having an iPod for a long drive (can you say podcasts?)
• Hiking
• The help of a co-worker to manually take data
• Being able to keep my emotions mostly under control when I started feeling upset
• A walk with a friend on a beautiful day
• Crockpot meals
• Final product approval on a project that I've been working on for 1.5 years
• Road trip talks
• Financial independence that allowed a change in plans
• Hearing of a faithful finish

November

• A beautiful walk in Garden of the Gods
• Daylight savings giving an extra hour of sleep
• A lunch invitation
• Mousetraps
• Fall colors
• Guy at work looking out for me and making a gluten free waffle
• Making scrapbooking progress
• Beauty of falling snow
• Responsible parents
• A hymn in my head when I wake up
• Unlimited cell phone data
• Beautiful moonrise
• Sister workers
• The way my muscles feel after aerobic exercise
• Piano Guys concert
• Lots of time to read my Bible in the morning
• Finishing leaf raking before it rained too hard
• Soaking in a hot tub

December

• Eating a second Thanksgiving dinner
• Peace in prayer
• Liking my job enough to get engrossed in it
• Other engineers helping me get tasks done
• Fun judging middle school robotics competition
• Tater tot deliciousness
• Getting more than 8 hours of sleep (that's a rarity for sure)
• Cleaning out my e-mail inbox a little bit
• God given gift of intelligence
• Previous hard times that help me appreciate what I have now
• Feeling thankful
• Getting exercise outdoors
• Reading a good book
• Getting a house project done
• Dealing with the mail pile
• Stretching
• Standing up for myself
• Feeling someone cares
• Helpful salesmen
• A very helpful gospel meeting
• Piano playing therapy
• Extended family to spend Christmas with
• Rock climbing
• Ice skating on an Olympic sized skating oval
• Cute smiles and snuggles with a 7 month old baby
• Fireside chat with a good friend
• Exercise and a shower to blow off some emotional steam
• The fun of finishing a puzzle

Whew!  I think that's plenty.  2020 started with having the stomach flu on New Year's Day, but it has been improving since then.

Happy New Year!