Pat Bean's blog

          In all my 81 years I’ve never lived through a year like this one. Covid and hateful politics have turned America upside down. I’m ready to get off the Merry-Go-Round and live in a kinder world where people can disagree but still work together to try and make life better for all. The sooner people realize no one can have everything they want, the quicker this can happen.

          Is this even possible?  I’m not hopeful, but I’m still going to think of my glass as half full and not half empty. Thinking about all my many blessings and the little things that fill my days with joy actually makes this easy.

          So here goes: In no particular order, my annual Thanksgiving blog listing 100 things I’m thankful for.

          1: It begins with my large family of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and all their spouses and partners that I so dearly love, and who in return make me feel loved. I spent half my life searching for love, sometimes in the wrong places, before realizing it was around me all the time.

          2: My canine companion Scamp, who has now been with me for 17 months. I’ve always owned dogs but never had one as challenging as him. He was supposed to be a small Schnauzer-mix, eight months old and female when I adopted him from a shelter. He turned out to be a 42-pound Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix, male and most likely much younger than advertised – and he wasn’t house broken. He’s been a challenge from the first but has kept my life interesting and I would hate to think of life now without him.

          3: Tucson sunrises and sunsets. I see the sunrise from my bedroom window, sometimes before I get out of bed, and I try to make time to watch the usually awesome sunsets from my living room balcony.

          4: My friend Jean’s chocolate chip cookies.

          5: A nightly hot bath that always relaxes this old broad’s body so she can sleep better at night. It was the only thing I missed when I was living on the road in a small RV that had only a tiny, cramped shower.

          6: Books. As long as I can buy a book I want when I want it, I’ll never feel poor, or lonely.

          7: My journals, 50 years of them, some of which I’ve finally begun rereading for the first time. The early ones are missing months and are sketchy, but the ones I write today allow me to have long conversations with myself and many of the authors I read.

          8: The New York Times: As a longtime journalist, it’s been sad watching one newspaper after another fold, including The Dallas Times Herald, which I grew up reading, and The Houston Post, which I was a stringer for during my early journalism years. Just as sad has been watching some media take sides on issues and slanting the news instead of just reporting the facts. I feel the NY Times still exhibits the values I, and the publications I worked for, had during my 37-year journalism career.

          9: A soft bed with clean, sweet smelling sheets to crawl into every night.

          10: My pain doctor, who gives me a steroid shot in my back every four or five months that allows me to keep trekking up and down three flights of stairs at least six times a day. Advil helps, too.

          11:  Social Security.

          12: America, with all its faults, because it still is the land of the free.

          13: Birds, whose fascinating lives fuel a late-blooming passion within me to see them and learn about them, even if it’s just watching their behaviors from my third-floor balconies.

          14: Soft blankets to snuggle beneath when it’s chilly.

          15: My female role models: Anne Richards, Margaret Mead, Molly Ivins, Maya Angelou, Helen Reddy, Ellen Goodman, Susan Wittig Albert, Susan B. Anthony, Pearl Buck, Nelly Bly, Osa Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Amelia Earhart and all the other women I knew or read about who never let gender get in the way of their goals.

          16: Rainbows after storms.

          17: Daisies and gardenias, and all the other species of flowers. 

          18. Comfortable shoes.

          19: Aspen trees in the fall, and live oaks, and sycamores and well, just any old tree.

          20: Road trips with just me and my dog.

          21: Chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate milk shakes. OK, anything chocolate.

22: A stormy day with a good book and a comfortable chair.

23: Surprises.

24: My morning cream-laced coffee.

25: Friends, who enrich my live in many ways.

26: Daily telephone chats with my oldest son, D. C. And the less frequent calls from my other children as well.

27: A Jack and Coke nightcap.

28: That I still have a zest for life, and learning.

29: Story Circle Network, my support group of wonderful women who helped me find my voice, write my book Travels with Maggie, and actually get it published.

30: The Internet, which while sometimes annoying, brings the world to my fingertips, lets my see my great-grandchildren as they grow up, and helps me find answers to my million and one questions.

31: My friend Jean’s dog Dusty, because she’s my dog Scamp’s best friend.

32: Smiles and laughter. Anytime, anyplace.

33: My granddaughter Shanna and her wife Dawn, who moved to Tucson to be near me, and who enrich my life.

34: People who wear masks out of respect for other people’s safety as well as their own.

35. Hand sanitizer. Who would have thought we would ever be thankful for this item?

36: Grocery delivery so I don’t have to go inside stores in this age of Covid, but also because someone else carries the weight up my three flights of stairs.

37: Scamp’s no-pull harness, because he’s a strong mutt,

38: Card and board games with friends.

39: Moisturize,

40: The Catalina Mountains, my outdoor backdrop.

41:  Art and Music that bring joy to my eyes and ears.

42: That I’m a writer because it keeps my observations skills sharp, and gives purpose to my days.

43: Hot tubs.

44: The helicopter ride I recently took over the Grand Canyon to help celebrate my dear friend Kim’s birthday.

45: The sweet-tasting naval oranges that came with my latest grocery order

46: My dog’s new groomer.

47: My Kindle and my computer. Still not that fond of a smart phone.

48: My daughter-in-law Cindi, who took on the job of being my guardian angel.

49: Scented candles.

50: A new tye-dye T-shirt.

51: People who are kind

52: Our National Parks, Refuges and Forests.

53: Washers and Dryers and all the other appliances that make life easier with time left over to read.

54: Electricity for all those appliances and reading lamps.

55: Vaccines that have rid the world of many diseases – with hopefully a new one on the horizon.

56: Audible books.

57: That I paid off my car this year.

58:  Morning walks with Scamp.

59: That I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes.

60: Happy hours with friends.

61: A good haircut,

62: Favorite televisions programs: Survivor, Amazing Race, Sunday Morning, PBS Mysteries and my latest, The Pack.

63:  A hot cup of Lemon-Ginger tea.

64. People who read my blog, or buy my book Travels with Maggie.

65: A snail-mail letter from my good friend Charlie.

66: When I’m able to solve a computer glitch all by myself.

67: A good manicure.

68:  Finally realizing what a strong, good but feisty woman I had for a mother.

69: That my great-grandson Junior liked the Doctor Doolittle books I liked when I was his age.

70: That some of my family likes to hang my paintings on their walls.

71: Air conditioning.

72: Wolf Brand Chili, a quick meal on a day when I don’t feel like cooking.

73: That I had a job I loved all my working days.

74: That I finally gave up all notions that I could be perfect, and that I’ve finally learned to give myself credit for all the things I do and stopped beating up on myself for all the things I didn’t do.

75: My rubber tree plant on my balcony that has survived for at least 25 years.

76: The smell of a desert landscape after a heavy rain.

77: My travel memories of the Galapagos, Africa, Japan and many more big and small adventures.

78: That I can still travel.

79: Making new friends.

80: The Sonoran Desert in which I now live.

81: Wayne Dyer’s book Your Erroneous Zones, which set me on a whole new way of thinking back in the 1970s.

82: That I have a nice, safe place to live.

83: Clean water to drink.

84: That I live an independent life and can still take care of myself.

85: Nice neighbors.

86: Watching the stars through my bedroom windows at night.

87: Tasty soup made from leftovers.

88: Paintings that I love hanging on my walls.

89: Weekend pancake breakfasts with my friend Jean, and our dogs Dusty and Scamp, who always get a pancake, too.

90: A Zoom meeting with my friend Kim in Utah.

91: Colorful stationary.

92: Cajun food.

93:  A freshly cleaned apartment – and car.

94:  Temperatures below 100 degrees, which are rare during Tucson’s summer.

95: My brother Robert, who sees the world different from me, which makes our connection something we have both had to work on, which makes it even sweeter.

96: A good movie that makes me both laugh and cry, ditto for a book.

97: Days when Scamp lets me sleep past 5:30 a.m. before demanding his walk.

98: My recent view of the Colorado River from the old Navajo Bridge, just before it enters the Grand Canyon, and memories of floating beneath this bridge twice.

99. Arriving safe at friends Robert and Karla’s home in St, George, Utah, after a nine-hour drive from Tucson and being welcomed with love, hugs and a Jack and Coke.

100. Having Thanksgiving with friends who treat me like family.