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Blessings: A to Z

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Pull up your pants, folks!  Just when you thought I was gone for good, I'm back again for more torture!

Over the course of the past couple of weeks, Habibi and I have upgraded our home.  We moved from our apartment in the cookie-cutter upper west end of town to something with more character on the "lower east side."  (For those of you who know where I live, stop laughing and pretend for two seconds that we live in a big city.)

Needless to say, these past few weeks have been somewhat hectic.  Hell, life hasn't slowed down since half-marathon day in September!  We have had a number of surprises and changes come up since Christmas.  However -and I say this knowing you will be terribly disappointed- you will have to wait for future posts to learn about those.  (No, I am not knocked up.)

At any rate, to get my creative juices flowing again, I thought I would reintroduce myself to blogging in a simple, concise manner.  So, here goes....

As you may already know (from my incessant complaining), I have been dealing with knee injuries since November.  This has prevented me from doing the one thing that truly allows me to decompress:  running.  So, in lieu of one of my favorite pastimes, I have taken up cycling.

Yes.  Cycling is the poor man's running.

This morning after I left home for the gym -to spend 45 minutes tolerating a machine that gets me nowhere- I realized that I had forgotten my iPod at home.  Curses!!!  This meant that the time allotted for biking would shortly become an eternity.  As I contemplated ways to pass the time more amiably, it suddenly dawned on me how blessed I am.  I mean really, if my biggest problem is forgetting my iPod at home when I go to the gym, then I have it pretty good, n'est-ce pas?  So, I decided to spend my biking time going through the alphabet and coming up with at least one blessing for each letter.

Not a bad way to spend a morning...

A - My family's last name begins with A, and I am truly grateful for them (both the A and T sides!!).
B - Betty, of course!
C - Coffee and croissants.
D - My dad.
E - Escalators - I couldn't care less, but Habibi loves them and they never fail to make him happy. :)
F - Friends and France!
G - My sister's fiancé's name begins with G and we're eager to have him join the family!
H - My health and -more importantly- my grandma, Helen.
I - The Incredible Hulk who always has been and always will be my most favorite Avenger.
J - My mother-in-law's name begins with J.
K - My sister Bait's real name starts with K.
L - Lebanese food!!! (BOOM shakalakalaka!)
M - My mom.
N - Nelson is my friend's last name.  She had her husband just gave us a couch!!!
O - Oven mits - I can't tell you how many times I've burned my hands.
P - Habibi's real name starts with P.  Also, pancakes and pizza - my two favorite foods.
Q - My freedom to question things and to think for myself.
R - Running - even though I'm currently out of commission.
S - My in-laws' last name starts with S...coincidentally, so does my married name!  Also, Stonehenge.
T - Tea and tulips - my favorite flower!  Also, triangles are my favorite shape.  Shut up.
U - Underpants.  Need I say more?
V - Vacation!!!
W - Wine.  I refuse to elaborate on this one.
X - XP = chi rho (Greek letters) = Christ
Y - Yesterday - lessons learned and memories made.
Z - ZZZZZ - what I'm about to do right now.

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