Gracias a la vida

I'm not a big holiday person. They kind of stress me out. This was my first time celebrating Thanksgiving with my family since 2006 and even though I wasn't in charge of cooking, everything else surrounding the event really stressed me out. It didn't help that a pipe broke on the other side of my closet wall, flooding my carpeted floor, ruining a pair of my favorite boots, and forcing me out of my room which was subsequently torn apart and gutted by two curmudgeonly contractors. Or that my boss told me that we'd be closing for the long weekend meaning that I wouldn't be working for almost 10 days.

So last week I wasn't in a Thanksgiving/grateful mood. I felt cranky, irritated, and displaced. One of the few things that saved me from insanity was a visit from my dear friend Tina, who lives in overcast San Francisco but always seems to bring the sunshine with her when she comes back to Southern California. Last night's fondue, drinks, and dancing in my old neighborhood with old friends in town for the weekend and new friends also helped lift my spirits quite a bit.

This morning, walking around my friend Jen's neighborhood, savoring the sunshine, the palm trees, the houses on the hills, a perfect iced coffee, and her kind words and invaluable friendship, I knew that I really should be counting my blessings instead of lamenting over the things in my life I have little or no control over.

All day I've been thinking about what I was most grateful for in my life. What I came up with were my friends, my family, my boyfriend, my health, and my location. Pretty basic stuff, most of which I'm sure anyone reading this is thankful for as well. Cliche as it sounds, I truly believe these to be the main components of happiness. All the other stuff just complicates life more.

All of this got me thinking about Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra who expressed it simply, and best, in her song Gracias a la vida (Thanks to life), a ballad that's been covered a million times over, including a heart wrenching, and arguably more widely known, rendition by Mercedes Sosa. Both are divine but I have to give credit to the original, which makes me want to cry and/or hug my mom every time I listen to the lyrics.