How often do we give thanks for our breath? Which is the same as giving thanks for our life isn’t it?. Without breath we are just a lump of dust. But that is the bottom line. What about being able to walk, talk, see, hear, smell, think and all the etc,s . I know that I take them so much for granted and instead of appreciation I moan when my joints creek (pretty common these days) or the base in a passing car blasts my ear drums. Oh how I can grumble.

But this week I was shook rigid when my Mum went technically blind in one eye.She may be a couple of months off eighty eight but she has always led a very active life, does all her own house keeping and gardening. One day she was fine and then the next she had a black hole where her vision should have been in her right eye. Just like that. It was a hemorrhage behind the eye.These things are often age-related we know but then age creeps up on us all when we are not looking doesn’t it?

So it has made me stop and think big time. O.k so mortality is just around the corner for us all – no exceptions. But limping towards it is a glum thought. And it is not just the limping it is limping in flatties instead of a pair of those delicious killer high heels that I can’t wear any more. But what if I couldn’t even walk? So instead of dwelling on my aches and pains, creaks and groans, flab and falling boobs, I am saying a few silent thanks for having breath so that I can give my mum a hug, and do all the things I do.

This reminder to be grateful may dim a little in time, but I hope not. I am going to try really hard to stay conscious about what I have – and give thanks for it. Evert day whatever!