Bloghop: Gratitude in Uncertain Times

Liz over at In Omnia Paratus posted last Friday about things she was grateful for amidst the uncertainties of this pandemic, and it was a post that really resonated with me. Amidst all the fear and misinformation and negativity online, I'm trying to focus on the many, many things I have to be grateful for, and I think sharing them can be a small ray of sunbeam in the turbulent storm that is the present. So, without further ado.....


Two of the brightest spots in my life, global pandemic or not.

Things I'm grateful for amidst the uncertainties of this pandemic:

• My husband, who is my rock. It hasn't made it to this space yet, but he was promoted to Deputy Warden at the state's flagship institution (starts today, incidentally), and even as the world melts down, he steps up. He's currently busting his butt to finish up our detached garage by mid-April while also just generally being a real-life Superman on the daily.
• My animals, who have no idea that society is descending into chaos. The routine of their care as well as the unconditional love and laughs they provide me keeps me grounded. Side note on this one, I'm so glad my horses live at my house, so I don't have to worry about being prevented from seeing them. I didn't get pictures of all of them to include, but enjoy some scenes from the last week or two that made me smile.

I think my favorite part of this photo is the bouncing bebe in the background, haha.

• My home (and nearly complete garage), because I cannot imagine trying to function like this in our previous space. It took us a really long time to build, but I'm glad we waited and built precisely what we wanted, because this space is so functional and perfect (minus the fact that if I had known when we designed the layout about the next bullet point, I would have absolutely added a home office, lol).
• My job, particularly the fact that it can be done from home. After my promotion last fall, I've gotten to participate in a lot of cool programs, teach training sessions, and grow in new and exciting ways. I'm so blessed to work for an agency that prioritizes it's employees, and once all hell broke loose, those of us who could work from home were mandated to do so until further notice.

Day one setup, waiting for some purchases to make it more comfortable for long-term use!

New coworker giving me some sideeye....

Another new coworker being needy, as she does.


New chair, additional monitor, new mouse, just waiting on a slightly better keyboard!

• My friends, who are constantly a source of light, laughter, and love in my days. I don't know what I would do without the incredibly brave, brilliant, and downright badass women I have in my life, many thanks to this little corner of the blogosphere. Whether its sharing silly memes, dissecting news releases, getting the facts about tech and science, sharing pictures of pets that I love like my own, keeping each other grounded in the bad times and celebrating the good times - I love all of you more than you could ever know.
• My relative safety, both physically in terms of distance from any major cities, and financially, in that I'm not worried about being able to pay my bills and buy necessities throughout however long this lasts. Assuming of course that I can find said necessities, as shelves in my town have been pretty bare the last few times I've ventured out into the world.

Even if there is currently standing water everywhere, I still love every inch of this land and what we've built from nothing.

• eBooks -- I know this might seem frivolous to most, but I LOVE reading and between house construction last year and my job, I was doing it a lot less than I used to. Losing myself in new worlds, or old familiar ones, is one of my favorite pastimes. Now that I don't spend 2 hours a day commuting (and it's currently too soggy to ride, lol), I'm burning through books I've had sitting on my Kindle for ages.
• This might be a little dark, but I'm super grateful for the timing of our construction and the mortgage rates bottoming out 🤷‍♀️ we would have wrapped our construction loan into a traditional mortgage last fall, but waiting on the garage means we'll be ready to hopefully lock in some stupid low rates. Gotta find that silver lining!

I saved this to my phone last Friday and I have a feeling it will be true for a loooooong time.

OK I could seriously go on all day about the things I'm grateful for. How about you? Are you managing to find the small moments of joy in an otherwise terrible world? I hope you and yours are staying safe and sound!