One of the frustrating things about being resident in a foreign country is that, even though one pays taxes and so on, one can't vote in any of the elections.

The plus side to that, though, is that I don't have to vote for Kerry and Edwards. I mean, I'm fully behind the anyone-but-bush contingent - but geez, I just don't know if I could bring myself to vote for Edwards. Not when he's one of the people that have made it so difficult for mothers to birth normally in the USA. (This guy does a good job of pointing out the huge holes in Edwards's arguments.) I don't know, I suppose you could argue that Edwards doesn't have quite as hideous an impact on women's health as Bush et al do - at least he's not cutting funding to clinics that do great work just because abortion is sometimes part of that work. And at least he's not promoting abstinence-only sex education programs. But still. What a choice. I'd want to vote for the Greens, but imagine how guilty I'd feel if Bush squeaked in again because of my lost vote.

Anyway.

Busy day today : climbing in the morning, swimming with a friend in the afternoon, and our UU covenant group meeting this evening. In an effort to simplify our schedules, Bobby and I are now in the same group, which is nice. Tonight's topic was gratitude. I enjoyed hearing other people's insights and musings ... things people are grateful for, the purpose of gratitude, what to do when one feels ungrateful, feeling guilt vs feeling gratitude when things go right ... lots for me to think about.

Here are some things I'm grateful for at the moment.

I'm grateful my mom is fighting her cancer with everything she's got.
And that my dad is going all out to help her.
I'm grateful for my extended family.
Grateful that I'm in love.
That my children are strong and healthy and clever and kind.
That I have a loving church community.
That I have girlfriends to hang out with
that I'm going to go see a movie with Steve and Soph tomorrow
and that every day I have a few perfect moments : those moments of pure joy that just arrive out of the blue, when I hear something or see something - maybe the way the light catches a leaf, maybe a bird flying over the lake - and time stops still for just a second and I think - life is beautiful.