Today I am thankful

Today, I am thankful for my big, yellow umbrella. 

When I was in college, back in the heyday of AIM, I had a daily practice of putting one thing I was thankful for in my profile, under the heading, “Today, I am thankful.” I can’t claim credit for the idea. My best friend Maggie and I both had huge friend crushes on the girlfriend of a friend of ours. His name was Steve, and we knew him through a better, long-distance friend named Craig. Craig called him “Steve-o,” and we never actually met or learned the name of the latter’s girlfriend, so she became “Mrs. Steve-o.” Somehow, we learned of her screen name and would each periodically check her profile and away messages (guys, the days of AIM made us all into major creeps). She would occasionally post her own “today, I am thankful,” and so I took it on thanks to her lead. For more on the subject, see here.

I was walking home from dropping Liam off at school today and I couldn’t stop thinking about this. It was misting out when  he and I left the house and so I almost left it behind but thought better of it and brought my big umbrella. I am something of an umbrella enthusiast, I have several and really appreciate one with a nice wooden handle or an interesting design. This one features neither, it’s got a big plastic handle and is only one solid color, but you’d be surprised how much a yellow umbrella can alter your mood for the better on a rainy day. It’s a bit of sunshine in the gloom. And because it’s a giant golf umbrella, it really does it’s job keeping you dry. After years of collapsible umbrellas that fit in your purse, I am so pleased with this monstrosity that is a complete nuisance to its carrier when closed. I could write poems about it. In fact, here’s a little haiku for you: 

Yellow umbrella 

You keep me so safe and dry

On my rainy walk 

Guys, I know it’s a little silly to rhapsodize about an umbrella, but that’s what being thankful is about. It’s about the little stuff as much as the big stuff. More than the big stuff, really. Walking uphill on a rainy day in January in New England sucks, but my umbrella makes it...not fun, exactly, but a lot less awful. And today it made me feel super happy, in a way that only a silly little thing can. 

I hope to post more things in here this year, more things I’m thankful for. We’ll see how it goes. For now, I hope anybody reading this has their own big, yellow umbrella in whatever kind of rainy day you’re experiencing. I’ll see you next time.