What I am thankful on this day

I could say friends, of which there are many.
My job, my work.  The life it affords me.
My home, my family.  Those things received in the past,
and that which is surely to come.  But I want to be more specific.
That ordinary litany, while true, seems like a pageant answer.
Today, what I am really thankful for are these things:
Sleeping well into the middle of the morning, my knee healing in the sleep.
This day with it's bright blue sky, so warm I could feel the sun on my back.
This rose, still hanging on for a late November bloom.
The call from Johanna saying, "Thank you for the beginning friendship."
Anne asking if she could mow my lawn for me.
Seeing my mother's handwriting on a recipe card.
That magic moment when a roux turns liquid silky then thick.
The man at the gas station who laughed at me.
Hearing Sheridan's voice outside.  Imjung too. 
And Helen's raspy alto voice, the way she always joins the grown-ups.
The meal set before me, and the people around me,
not feeling so much on the outside anymore.
Each one of us older, but somehow softer.  The easy laughter. 
20/20 vision.  The sight of three sisters together.
The smell by the firepit.  The smell of the turkey.
Teenage boys with short haircuts.  Fiestaware orange.
Seeing the ribbon of genes so clearly.  The dog finally laying by my feet.
The drive east along the lake.The front porch light on to welcome me home.