Grattitude Jar

In 2023, Lee-Anne suggested that we keep grattitude jars. I'm kind of a melancholy guy so it's not my usual style to take on projects with such a positive tone, but I agreed to it. We each set out a mason jar and commited to put in little slips of colourful construction paper with statements of gratitude whenever we felt so inclined. I felt the urge to make entries more often than I'd thought. I thought it might be fun to enter them on here and see what I was grateful for over the past year. 

I will omit identifying information and add context in brackets where needed. Because these are just notes thrown in a jar, they will not be listed in chronological order.

1. Living near an ION Light Rail station
2. Having polite upstairs neighbours
3. Our landlord turned out to be cool (we never met our landlord previously. We'd communicated over email and the previous tenant gave us the tour. We'd contacted him for support and received it, but it was only this year that we met him in person)
4. Getting the garden put in: sunflowers, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas (the lettuce and radishes wound out to be a bust, but we had success with the other crops)
5. The engagement photos turned out nice
6. Finally going to the Clay and Glass Art Gallery
7. Finally getting the charcoal chimney to work
8. Finally getting the spice rack up (I truly drew these three in a row)
9. Finding the non-espresso Stockyards light roast "Second Wind" (local coffee supplier. We prefer light roasts and for awhile I could only find the espresso light roast, even though I was sure I'd seen one for drip at some point. Eventually I found it, and felt very validated)
10. Lee-Anne getting accepted for "Come to Work" at CNIB (her current job)
11. Lee-Anne giving Better Call Saul a chance (prequel to the show Breaking Bad, she didn't like the later seasons, so I was surprised she committed to the prequel)
12. Getting some snow peas in the garden
13. First tomato in the garden
14. My PoGo buddy giving me a bouquet the day after the wedding (In Pokemon Go, there's a chance that your Pokemon will give you a gift randomly. It's usually from a set list. Somehow, after the wedding, I was given a bouquet, which is not an established gift and I haven't seen it since)
15. Comparably affordable rent
16. Access to Victoria Park
17. Finally tried chicken and waffles
18. Lee-Anne supporting me to get healthy (really ironic those came one after the other. She also supported me to try the chicken and waffles)
19. Living near a Lifelabs (place I use to get bloodwork done)
20. Finding the creepy doll when most people thought it got lost (there's a tradition at work where we hide this little creepy doll somewhere. After a long period with no one finding it, it was popularly thought to be gone for good. But then I found it)
21. Learning how to do group texts & edit photos on my phone
22. Ensuite laundry (my previous place didn't have this)
23. The wedding turned out to be the same day that the first Courtland sunflower blossomed (Courtland is where I used to live. I decided I'd ask Lee-Anne out if I could make a sunflower blossom there, which is something I'd failed to do years previous. The wedding was sunflower themed. We had not planned it to be the same day that I decided to ask her out, but on the day of the wedding I got a Facebook notification reminding me that my first Courtland sunflower had blossomed that same day in 2019)
24. The red rose taped to a post at the start of our home street when we got back from the wedding (another weird sign of good fortune after our wedding)
25. Having a family doctor
26. "Pokemon or Medicine" category for trivia night (the staff team went to a trivia night and the first category was extremely catered to my knowlege set. I got every question right)
27. Having a boss that is cool about my ADHD
28. Finding my favourite type of sandals in Wal Mart in my size
29. The DSP conference ended early and I got to do Swinub Community Day (DSP stands for Direct Support Worker. We attended a conference which might have interfered with a Pokemon Go event, but it ended early so I got to participate anyway)
30. Having insurance for meds
31. Mom's roast beef and alfredo sauce recipes, which I took from sticky notes from her cupboard (used the alfredo sauce, never got around to the roast beef)
32. Lee-Anne finishing Breaking Bad and Lord of the Rings
33. My Gryphood blog with 50+ recipes (link in the blog title)
34. Having Lee-Anne's courage (sentiment that courage can be shared, learned in Mali)
35. Having the ambition to apply to be a mediator (a position I applied for at work. Didn't get it)
36. Living walking distance from work
37. Getting back into a workout routine
38. Tulip and daffodil bulbs coming out for the 2nd year
39. Living by the Iron Horse Trail
40. Having two affectionate cats
41. Relatively free healthcare
42. Tarot Tuesdays (I was doing tarot readings for people on Tuesdays for awhile)
43. Getting back into reviewing with Lord of the Rings and Thor: Love and Thunder (on my reviews blog, link under title of this blog)
44. Living near Belmont Village (shopping area with lots of independent businesses)
45. Central Air Conditioning
46. Living near a pharmacy
47. Getting wooden spoons to match our wooden bowls (I've got a friend that makes wooden bowls, and we met a guy that makes wooden spoons)
48. Getting to go to the Central Art Walk & meeting neighbours (this is where we met the spoon guy)
49. Meeting Mike Morrice (Local Green MP, met him at the Central Art Walk)
50. Catching up with old friends from college
51. 1st sunflower blossoming at the perfect time, day of wedding shower (my coworkers threw us a surprise wedding shower. I already explained why the sunflower is a relevant romatic symbol for us. While we were having the shower, the first sunflower of the season blossomed)
52. My friend being willing to give a speech (didn't pan out. One of my friends that was going to be a groomsman and speech-giver couldn't make it)
53. My brother's pants coming in & not needing to be hemmed (custom clothes for the wedding, time was running thin)
54. My 5-Year work anniversary flowers and Indigo card (got a gift for 5 years of employment)
55. Better Call Saul and The Walking Dead finally coming to Netflix (still need to watch the last season of The Walking Dead)
56. Our local grocery is independently owned
57. My cast iron pan & wok (although Lee-Anne broke my wok later this year...)
58. My A1C going from 10.5 to 5.9 in 6 months
59. Got a shundo Conkeldurr (It's a Pokemon. A really good one)
60. My C. Reactive Proteins fixing themselves (bloodwork thing)
61. My mom and brother watching and liking Encanto
62. Finally getting to try Korean fried chicken
63. Found the Radiant Wise Spirit tarot, pretty well the same as the Rider deck (I accidentally wrecked my Rider-Waite tarot deck. Couldn't find a direct replacement, but this Radiant Wise Spirit one is fundamentally the same)
64. My mother and brother watching & liking coco
65. Castor & Pollux wound up being gentle with Thor (my mother and brother got a couple of kittens when they still owned a 20 year old cat. Despite my apprehensions, it went well)
66. Successfully getting the joint banking account set up (a savings account for wedding donations)
67. Pokemon Snap finally had a sequel (I think I was just happy that it happened, even though I didn't have the means to play. My brother gave me the console and the game to play it as a wedding gift, proably after I put in this grattitude)
68. The wedding photos came out nice
69. My eyes are in good condition (If you're diabetic, it's recommended you get your eyes checked once a year. I still have 20/20)
70. Thor's long life and peaceful death (the aforementioned over-20-year-old cat. He passed in a very peaceful and comfortable way)
71. Getting 5 Pokemon Go Routes published, one being my walk to work
72. The WALES wedding shower
73. Coworker's fun WALES BBQ