Giving Thanks

Things I’m grateful for

Neighborhood walks

June. Black guy sitting on his front porch steps, a toddler’s legs over his shoulders, the child’s hands clasped around his forehead. I can’t help smiling. “You like my new hat?” he asks. “It’s very cute,” I reply. Toddler pays no attention, is so clearly comfortable.

September. It’s an old city neighborhood, streets narrow, houses built close to each other on short front yards, many with cozy porches so when you pass on the sidewalk—often uneven, cracked by tree roots—you’re only a few feet from people enjoying the cooler weather on those porches. A young retro hippie couple call hello, celebrate with me that there’s no smoke and it’s not 95°. Further on, an old black woman grins, rocks forward in her chair to call good afternoon.

My local library

October. Ford Warren Library, two blocks from me, serves the remaining minorities in this gentrifying neighborhood, its computers always full of young Hispanics and Blacks. The regulars come every day, have no computers, no wifi at home. One of those young men had his 21^st birthday today. Library staff decorated his favorite computer with balloons, cards, gifts and a sign saying “reserved” so on this day, he’d have his computer.

Continuing the blog

Patti, in Gunnison

November 14, 2021. My dear friend Patti Bippus’ birthday. I think of her around her birthday, it being so near Phil’s. After she died in 2018, her daughter Stacia was in town and I wrote a blog about Patti’s inspiring last days as Stacia reported them to us. This morning, three years later, I get a note on that post from Stacia: “I have read this many, many, many times. Thank you.” Hold this note close. Responses like it are why I write.

https://patriciadubrava.com/?p=1120

This marriage

Since Covid, Phil & I have done the grocery shopping together. A routine has evolved. We both compose the shopping list, remind each other to wear masks, arrive early to avoid crowds. Phil handles list and cart and I take point position, seeking our targets. Ah-ha: they’ve got currents this time! The list is written in blue or black. Phil crosses things off in red as we acquire them. In produce, he circles all the items on the list to be found in that section. I come back to the cart with a cucumber. “What are you doing?” he demands. “Getting a cuc,” I reply. “You can’t do that,” he snaps. “It’s not on the list.”

Love this guy. I put the cucumber in the cart.

The “it could be worse” category of aging

Crocodile shagreen is a faint network of degenerative corneal opacities in a pattern resembling crocodile skin, according to Vogt, who named it in 1930. “Shagreen” is rawhide, sharkskin, so a skin with a crocodile skin design? The name seems redundant. One in thirty, says the optometrist. Not rare, but not that common. Innocuous. Slowly progressive, so by the time it interferes with vision I’ll be long gone and won’t care. If I must have something degenerative, which by my age is inevitable, give me a cool name. I’ve got crocodile shagreen. I tell everyone.

Good news from the world, Colorado edition

Horrific stories every day, but also stories that make me grateful every day. These are a few of them, with links to their articles.

Immaculate Conception

On an early Mass Sunday morning, church-goers found the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver badly vandalized, red paint still dripping. Christianity and maybe especially the Catholic branch of it, has a lot to answer for, I know. But not this beautiful cathedral or those who come to worship there. Parishioners, mostly women in their Sunday best, got down on their knees, began cleaning it up.

https://denverite.com/2021/10/12/denver-cathedral-basilica-vandalism/

Many have aided the new Afghan refugees. This is the story of a former soldier who helped bring his Afghan interpreter and family to Colorado and how volunteers prepared a home for them. They even hung a framed photo of Afghanistan mountains and stocked the kitchen with Halal-certified groceries.

https://www.dailycamera.com/2021/09/29/broomfield-residents-afghan-interpreter-will-soon-call-community-home/

Five years ago Denver made a list of the 250 homeless people most often involved with jail, detox centers and emergency rooms—and offered them housing. Myth: people choose to be homeless. Offered housing, people took it, stayed and made progress. Researchers found that 86% of the people in the program remained housed after one year.

While homeless, the 250 participants had cost us $7.3 million per year as they cycled through emergency services, the criminal justice system and detox centers. The cost of supportive housing was less than half that.

Shifting the focus from providing expensive emergency services to offering preventive care saved money. And lives. In the link below, I find hope in the photo of Maurice in his living room, his thriving houseplants behind him, a proud look on his face. I am grateful for him too.

https://coloradosun.com/2021/11/19/denver-social-impact-bond-expands/

Should you wish to add something you’re grateful for, please do so in comments on the blog, not on Facebook or email, so I can save them. We are in a time when saving such things is vital.