Gratitude – The Joy of Surprise

My resolution/goal/to-do/self-improvement for January is to write about something for which I am grateful.

When I thought about what I was most grateful for yesterday, the first thing that came to mind was Steve cooking dinner for us. As some of you may know, one of the Christmas presents he gave me this year was a massive cookbook. His real “gift” was to cook a meal of my choosing once a ?? (He says he said once-a-month, I say he said once-a-week!). 🙂

So, yesterday morning, he asked if I’d chosen a recipe. I told him not to worry about it this week, as we hadn’t had a chance to grocery shop for my choice.

“Let’s just start when we get back from Disney World,” I said as I kissed him and headed off to work.

On my drive home from work, I wondered about what to cook for dinner, as I often do. I hadn’t taken anything out of the freezer and frankly, I was tired of leftover black-eyed peas.

Hmmm…maybe salmon would thaw quickly enough to cook.

Maybe my new Instant Pot will thaw and cook pork chops.

Maybe I’ll just make tuna sandwiches.

Let’s just go out.

But nothing sounds good.

By the time I pulled into the garage, I simply wasn’t inspired to cook, or even eat dinner.

Then . . . I walked into the house, greeted by the scent of garlic and onions.

What is that? Did Steve find a new-flavored popcorn to snack on?

But no, it was far too strong and wonderful a scent to be anything but something cooking. Cooking! But Steve doesn’t cook. And we agreed he wouldn’t start my “Christmas gift” until we returned from Disney World.

I walked into the kitchen and found him standing over the stove, the kitchen splattered with chopped vegetables, sour cream, chopped beef and spices. The back pockets of his black jeans were marked with white-flour hand prints.

Last night was wrapped up in a sevearl things to be grateful for:

• Steve’s Christmas gift
• Being married to a man willing to try new things
• I didn’t have to cook dinner
• The ability to enjoy different scents
• Walking into a warm home filled with the aroma of dinner cooking
• Savoring flavors

But the gratitude that rose to the top of the list was something I don’t experience that often, and that was “surprise” — sheer joy when I walked through the door to the scent of Steve cooking dinner.

And for that, I’m grateful.