Gratitude Coles Notes for a Busy Week

LULA, who dines with us sporadically now that she works and enjoys the company of her boyfriend and coaches, listed a few gratitude items this week.

• grateful for her job - not because she loves to work but because she loves her new laptop the paycheck helped her buy
• Grateful that work went by quickly so that she could move on to the company of her boy.
• Grateful that her sister is selling Avon. it's always good to have a direct line to makeup and fashion when you are 15

KJ, has had a very difficult week. What 13 year old girl hasn't? There have been report cards and tantrums, a detention and a stolen bike and gratitude.

• Grateful that she got to make cupcakes with her best friend
• grateful that Friday is a day off school
• grateful that her first Avon order arrived, That was like Christmas, those cardboard boxes with her name on them just waiting to be riffled through, organized and delivered
• Grateful that Mom's food doesn't taste like poo! (She’s been incredibly nasty towards me this week so Daddy chose her to supply us with a "what I like about Mom" as well as a grateful one evening.)
• Grateful that she got to stay and watch the school volleyball game.
• Grateful that Mom's phone interview with her teacher didn't result in personal humiliation...yet!

***What I Like About You*** is a new feature we recently added to our Gratitude routine. Each evening we reveal a redeeming quality or trait we appreciate about someone else at the table. This was created to counteract the "you smell like cheese" comments that are hurled continuously in our home. There's only so many cheese stink, fat head, ugly butt comments a person can take.

E-MAN, greatest challenge this week was being responsible for the theft of KJ's bike.

• Grateful for hockey school, even though this week his skates pinched and he took the stick that was too long
• Grateful that his best neighbourhood friend was allowed to play outside. I'm not sure why people insist on keeping their kids inside. Do they prefer them to vegetate in front of the tv or computer?
• Grateful for Trick or Treating and his teen buddy who makes a very great surrogate big brother he upped the Trick or Treating cool factor by taking him door to door sans Dad.
• Grateful for report cards and parent teacher interviews. Grade 3, this is probably the last year he'll be grateful for this one.
• Grateful that KJ offered her forgiveness over the bicycle incident. Although he is grief stricken with guilt it helped that he approached KJ to apologize. It helps more that she accepted his apology with compassion.

MICHAEL, most often needs reminding about the "your grateful can't be about food or dinner" rule. Pressed for other items he manages some great reflections

• Gratitude for his new IPAD. A purchase for work but a fabulous toy for home too!
• Carpooling with my stepfather to and from work. I think he enjoys the company.
• Grateful that the car for carpooling actually fits into our garage Monday to Thursday
• Grateful that the attitudes of the under 18 crowd in our home have taken a turn for the better as the week progressed. I'm not sure we are living in the same house.
• We let him have one food gratitude this week because we all share his sentiment "chocolate"

MYSELF, There have been trials; the learning curve of a new job, hormone rage conflicts with teens, stolen bicycles, school holidays...and gratitude.

• Grateful that I survived my first days of work and that the prospects of full time hours are closer than first imagined.
• Grateful for a lovely dinner with friends, we don't always make the time
• Grateful for store return policies and the ability to correct impulse buys and budgetary faux pas
• Grateful for the power to modify behavior through confiscation. Removing cell phones and computer privileges, denying modeling classes and sleepovers has an amazing ability to make kids like you. or at the very least feign civility towards you. 
• Grateful for my friends at work who always make me smile, a sweet old man who brought me Flemish beauty pears and my good friend Karma who chose to send me a gentle reminder to forgive and be gracious to those who irritate the living crap out of us and generally make our lives a misery. When I picked my name for our secret Santa gift exchange for work, I drew the name of the one person in that fast food joint that boils my blood. 

All in all it's been a pretty good week. Lula is on line. KJ is in-line. E-man is still cool. Michael is thinking about things other than food and I have a great new office job that I didn't get fired from in my first week!

Now the only question remains; what do you get a pain in your arse for Christmas?