I did not need it but I took it anyway.  She offered me two slices of pizza to take home.  I already had dinner planned but I took the pizza and said “thank you”.  I realized that was her way of thanking me for all the things I brought for her apartment.  I let her do it.  It was just the gracious and appropriate thing to do.  Accept her gift.  Whether or not I needed it.  It made no difference.  You need to let people thank you for gifts you bestowed them.  It is the right thing to do.

I watched and listened to the Carolina wren, which alighted on a branch just outside my kitchen window.  I stood there for what seemed an eternity and was serenaded by its song.  I had never seen one from that spot or that close up or even heard one.  It was a small gift I was given today.  Thank you.  I hope you can find some food in this snowstorm.

Every once in a while a quack emanates from my pocket and I smile.  I keep a little yellow duck in my pocket that quacks as well as lights.  And sometimes it goes off accidentally.

It is a little toy and sometimes I bring it out and act silly with it.  I do not care.  People take themselves too seriously.  And when it goes off in my pocket I laugh and when my wife hears it she laughs also.

My wife gave it to me when I had lost a small piggy toy that oinked.  We were traveling and we met a foreigner who gave it to me for a gift.  I treasured the pig key chain but I lost it.

I also have a lighter I keep in my pocket that flashes multicolors.  It does not always work as a lighter but I love showing it to people for it catches their attention.

It just lightens up my mood.  I can take myself, sometimes, too seriously.  Sometimes I act as if the whole world is on my shoulders.  The world does not really revolve around me.  And my little toys help break my somber moods.

The love we share of music is only by serendipity.  My wife and I both intensely love music.  We grew up listening to the same artists and groups.  She is also a musician, which I am not.  The only area she knows better than me is R&B, which I never went out of my way to listen to.

She is the recipient of my DJing every day.  And to me there is no greater joy than to share a beautiful piece of music, especially something she never heard.  Both of our tastes in music are eclectic:  we listen to a broad range of music.

I was responsible for her falling in love again with Peter, Paul & Mary.  She listened to the ninety minutes I put together of them on cassette repeatedly.

I have put together dozens of anthologies on cassette culled from my extensive music collection.  I must do a good job.  The cuts usually blend pretty well and she can’t tell always tell when they have come from different albums.

I have always gone deeply in particular groups and individual performers I have loved.  I sometimes surprise her with the material I have recorded of performers she knew well.

I turned her on to British folk rock–a world she had no idea of–Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.  And performers from England like Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and John Tams for starters.

She was the third woman I turned on to Richard Thompson.  The second one divorced me.  The first one was a friend.  And we have gone to several of his concerts.  She has fallen in love with his songwriting and guitar playing.  We never get tired of him.

To be able to share my deep love of music with my wife is a gift.  And I never forget that.  It is a real treat.  When I am home, the stereo usually is on although I have to admit when I go out, silence reigns.  I never take that love we share for granted.  It is a real gift.

My wife is truly my serendipity.  God gave me my present wife.  I was not looking for another.  My first marriage had broken up.  She came along when I least expected it.

There is so many reasons I can give why she is a blessing but I will only quickly state a few.  She encourages my writing and is also a fine editor.  She also makes me laugh.  She is not perfect but close.

I could not imagine a life without her.  We both love music and grew up in the same time frame so both of us love a lot of the same music.  All that is a gift.

She certainly is a “better fit” than my first wife.  Most of the time we like each other and laugh a lot together.  I consider her “serendipity”.  I did nothing to deserve her.  This is our seventh Christmas together.  She truly is a blessing.

And may I never forget that when there is any tension or conflict between us.  When I told my doctor my wife was driving me “crazy”, he said “Don’t all wives do that?!”

All I pray for is for the gift of gratitude. I want to be satisfied with what I have and with the abundance of the Lord. It is so easy to want more and more. There really is no end to that desire. I want to be satisfied with what I’ve got. If He wants to give me more, fine. I want to thank God for everything I have and have the gift of gratitude. That is no small thing.