Friday Five

From RevGalBlogPals

A simple Friday Five for a busy part of the year; indulge me by sharing two fives:
As you look back over 2011 share 5 blessings, they can be as grand or as simple as you like,if you year has been like mine they are probably a mixture!
As you look towards 2012 share 5 hopes- again, anything goes!
Pictures and songs welcome!

Blessings--I have so many it's hard to choose just five.

1. Being alive. A friend wrote of her feelings of vulnerability after being diagnosed with cancer. The way having cancer changed me is to show me in very uncertain terms how fragile life, my own life, is. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about how close to death we all are.

2. Family and friends. I have so many friends who are there for me, who keep me company and entertain me from a serious and funny clergygroup to my bridge group to friends in Cleveland to friends scattered all over the country. (I am thankful for Facebook, much as I hate its control over with whom I share things.) My family who also love me. A great family wedding, a chance to see my favorite uncle I haven't seen in years and an aunt. Time with a niece and great niece (in both senses of the word). A great time with second cousins in the NC mountains. Catching up with another second cousin at the RevGalBlogPals cruise. I'd rave about my son, but that would embarrass him.

3. Travel. This year has been full of travel. Lots of trips, lots of wonder. Two wonderful dive trips to the Pacific. Manta rays and reef fish. Learning about different cultures. Visiting Vietnam and thinking about the war. Visiting Hiroshima and thinking about war.

4. My house which I love. Though I long to live in San Anselmo or even the East Bay, my house is perfect. It has a lovely outdoor space which I may actually use this afternoon if it doesn't rain.

5. God's world. I love oceans and mountains and quiet trails and noisy cities. Each speaks to me in a different way.

My blessings are pretty much consistent year to year as are my hopes for the next year

Hopes--world peace and thin thighs.

1. That the economic situation in the world improves. That those without work will find work that pays a living wage. That children have enough to eat and the opportunity for an education. That all have access to health--from clean water to medical care.

2. That I can achieve a level of fitness so that I can bike the Danube this summer. And if I am lucky enough to win the Yosemite High Sierra Camps lottery I am strong enough to hike it.

3. That an upcoming get together with second cousins and sisters and first cousins will be as great as this years. I am grateful to Kitty for getting us together.

4. For the health of a new nephew and perhaps more new kin.

5. To find some meaningful way to volunteer. I have missed the work I did as a volunteer and am finding it hard to get connected in Memphis. It's all complicated by the fact that I travel so much and so I can't commit to anything on a regular basis.

Happy New Year!