Issue #33 The Gratitudes 1 - 25
Welcome to A Most Unreliable Narrator, the slice-of-life newsletter of GenXer around town, Lisa Rabey. I talk about anything and everything with a bit of swears. I’m glad you’re here.
I was cleaning out my /lisa/Documents folder the other day and I found a folder called Practical Bliss. Practical Bliss was an idea I came up with a few years back to do a touchy-feely website dedicated to holistic mental health. I bought the domains, started the work, and it eventually petered out as I got so overwhelmed.
Since I was still blogging over at Exit, Pursued by a Bear at the time, I started a weekly "gratitude and happy list" to take stock of my life (I was feeling particularly low) beyond the "the sun for giving me the light" bullshit. The response was so great, I PDF'd the complete list for people to use as starting off points for their own lists.
I haven't read these lists in over two years.
Not much has changed in the things I am grateful or what makes me happy and I can definitely add to the list since the first inception. Since it's spring, the time for renewal (and where in the fuck is Persephone??), I thought I would send out the list again every week with 25 gratitudes/happy items as a reminder to me, and an inspiration to you, how beautiful life can be.
A lot more is going on over in these parts and in addition to the weekly list next week, I'll write that juicy update.
Shine on my crazy little goblins,
Gratitudes
My therapist for understanding
I am not physically ill
I have a large support network
I am tenacious
I have killer hair
I have a big heart
I try to do good things for others
People who have faith in me
I am thankful for my parents for without them there would be no me
I am thankful for the life I’ve been able to experience
I am grateful there are preventatives for my allergies so I won’t be dead
I am thankful for Kate, the person whom if I tell her I shot a man in Reno to watch him die, she would shoot him again to make sure he’s dead and then ask me where we’re going to bury him
I am thankful I can often make people laugh
I am grateful my body is strong and healthy to let me move the way I need it to
I thankful my car is paid off
I am grateful for my champions when I went back to college, for without them I would not have excelled or continue my education
I am grateful for Natalie who gets my Jane Austen obsession and who can really make me think
I am grateful I have the capacity to share all different kinds of love with all different kinds of people
For the family, I have chosen
For previous lovers who let me view and share in their worlds
For those I have met over the years who have helped shape me into the person I am today
For my pets who showed me what unconditional love really is
For Caravaggio for allowing me to not only fall in love with his work but to finally get what art history really means
For understanding that a million decisions brought me to this point in life
For crazy drugs to allow me to be healthier rather than crazy(ier)
Happiness
The smell and taste of pineapple juice
Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered pretzels
The “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials
Key & Peele shorts
Wearing my grey old man cardigan (I have two in separate styles)
Wearing my Black Phoenix Alchemy scents, especially Bliss
Long, near scalding, showers
Long soaks in a bathtub when I can read until my skin is pickled
The way my body feels after I moisturize it with coconut oil
That first snowfall
Gerbera daisies
When I finish my to-do list for the day and everything is completed
The smell of just out of the oven baked goods; even more so if I have baked them myself
Sleeping with my teddy bear
The first kiss of a potential lover
Getting cards and letters in the mail
An unexpected phone call from someone I love
Writing letters and the joy people have when they receive them
The smell of fresh cut grass
The feel of clean sheets
Glitter gel pens for making me smile when I write
Chocolate. Because chocolate.
Good burgers
Making snow angles
The way my skin feels after moisturizing it
You've just finished reading A Most Unreliable Narrator,
the spill-your-guts newsletter by Lisa Rabey.
If you dig this, pass me on to a friend!
Comments? Questions? Want to say "Hi!"?
Just hit reply and send me a note!
(Fuck fascists and Nazis!)
You've just finished reading A Most Unreliable Narrator: the slice of life newsletter from the GenXer about town, Lisa Rabey. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky if you're so inclined. I am everywhere. Copyright © 1996 - 2025 by Lisa Rabey