30 Days of Gratitude Day Fourteen #30daysofgratitude

Today I am grateful for the greatest of all British things: the NHS. The National Health Service is one of the greatest things in Britain, no, the world. Full of hard working people and funded by taxpayers because healthcare is a basic human right. I dread to think how much I have cost the NHS over the years. Founded in 1948, it is the largest and the oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is not perfect, I had my son on the NHS and I cannot say it was a wonderful experience, but I got an emergency C section in the end, by a wonderful female surgeon, and I have no doubt that they saved the life of my son and I. Because that is the thing about the NHS; it is not perfect, but it is always there in a crisis, always there when you need it the most. Dear NHS and everyone who works in it: I LOVE YOU.

30daysofgratitudeNHS

Catch up on other days:

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Day 10,

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Day 13.

What are you grateful for?

 

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Thirteen #30daysofgratitude

Have you ever heard a baby get the giggles? If not then you haven’t lived. My son gets the giggles quite a lot. Occasionally he will even wake himself up giggling. It melts my heart. Sometimes we go to restaurants and my son will be laughing and the other diners will be looking around, wondering what the noise is. Most people have babies who cry in restaurants, our baby likes to laugh. So today I am grateful for my son’s laughter, and how happy it makes not only my husband and I, but other people. We don’t put identifying pictures of our son on social media, but here is one of him in his reindeer outfit crawling. I hope it gives you a moment of cute.

Lukereindeercrawling

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Day 12.

What are you grateful for?

 

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Twelve #30daysofgratitude

Yesterday I had quite a stressful day. If only I made a list of things I was sick of, I thought, it would be so much easier than my gratitude list. After I thought this I began to wonder if it was true. Life is hard for all of us, no matter how it looks on the outside. We all have problems and stress. Sometimes our inner world is full of pain and turmoil will those on the outside look at us thinking we have it all together, or envy what we have. There are some emotions I never allow myself to indulge in: envy and jealousy are two of these. If someone has something that I want, I either go and get if for myself, or I deal with it in a mature way. We don’t all get what we want, and neither should we. So today I am grateful for what I do have. As I write this the sun is coming in through the blinds and some beautiful roses my parents bought me for my first Mothers’ Day are on the table. It is a Saturday so my husband is at home. This is when I am most happy: when I have my family around me. So today I am grateful for being loved enough to be sent flowers, grateful for my boys, and grateful just to have so much to be grateful for. Even if, on bad days, I feel that it can not rival all of the things getting on my last nerve.

gratitude, grateful, roses, white roses, flowers

Catch up on other days:

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Day 9.

Day 10,

Day 11.

What are you grateful for?

 

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Eleven #30daysofgratitude

Today I am grateful for friends. I have amazing friends and for that I am lucky. They know who they are. I love all of you gals and guys.

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Lynn and Steve.

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Hen night fun.

keshinimisha

Keshini.

I am friends with Holly even though she looks like this in a bikini. That is real friendship.

I am friends with Holly even though she looks like this in a bikini. That is real friendship.

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Margaret.

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What are you grateful for?

 

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Ten #30daysofgratitude

Today I am grateful for the small pleasures in life. One of my small pleasures is coca cola in a glass bottle. There is just something about coke in a glass bottle that makes it more enjoyable and taste better. It also looks cool and retro. It is more expensive than ordinary cola but there is just something about it and if you can buy yourself a little bit of joy, then it is completely worth it. It is one of my favourite things and I love how satisfying it is when you take the lid off with a bottle opener. It is a rare, but much appreciated treat.

coca cola, coca cola glass bottle, cola in a glass bottle

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What are you grateful for?

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Nine #30daysofgratitude

Today I am grateful for cats. I love the furry little creatures. I have had four cats in my life. Rusty, Gizmo and Beauty have all sadly died but Trigger is still alive. He lives with my parents as he is the family cat and he recently met my son. My son had never seen a cat before and loved Trigger and stroked him. My husband also had an amazing cat called Natasha who died recently. We hope to get another cat soon so Luke can have the gift of growing up with a pet. We had Rusty for fourteen and a half years and we still remember her and how amazing she was to this day. Here is to cats. They are the best.

awesome cat pictures cat picture

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What are you grateful for?

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Eight #30daysofgratitude

Today I am grateful for books. I have loved reading all my life. There are very few pleasures in life as great as reading a good book. My love of reading has also given me a career that I love, and broadened my view of the world. Reading is great for the imagination and it makes you smarter. Some of these books are written by Frost contributing editor Margaret Graham and some others were written by me. Margaret is a bestselling author for Random House so she is on another level. I hope I get there one day.

good books, author, writer, Margaret Graham, Catherine Balavage, bestselling author

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What are you grateful for?

 

30 Days of Gratitude Day Seven #30daysofgratitude

Today I am grateful for good food. My husband and I are both foodies. Food is the only thing I really spend money on other than my son. And it is so worth it. We eat out when we can (it helps that we review restaurants) and we buy the best food we can afford. My husband is also a great cook. So I am grateful for my husbands culinary skills as well as good food in general. The below picture is dumplings from Hakkasan. One of my favourite restaurants in London. Yum.

dumplings from Hakkasan

Catch up on other days:

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What are you grateful for?