I feel rich when...

...I have herbs growing in my garden.  I feel rich every time I step outside to cut some rosemary or basil or sage to use in cooking.  The possibilities!  Almost endless!

...I get to share those herbs with young children.  The first Sunday that our little flower girl was in town, she and I spent some time exploring the herb garden...naming them and cutting them and scratching them to release the oils and smelling them.  Lots of smelling them.  And cutting.  Lots and lots of cutting.

...I have bread dough rising on the counter.  If that "bread" dough happens to be croissant dough resting in the fridge, I'm a king!  Er...well...queen.

...I have ideas of things I want to create AND everything I need to make them become a reality.

...I have ideas of things I want to create and a plan for a time to do them.  Such as the cake that I'm making for a Kaizan event at work next week.  Or the toasted raviolis the sisters plan to make.  Or even the cake decorating lesson planned with one of the sisters.  Ok, well, she really just wants to learn how to frost a cake without crumbs, but that's like Cake Decorating 101, so it counts in my book.

...I have homemade toffee and/or peanut brittle on hand.  Which I don't today, and it's too cloudy today to change that situation, but I do have a few store bought toffee bits on hand - which is totally not the same, but I have snacked the occasional handful from time to time over the last few days.  Confession - it's good for the soul.

...I have memories and I'm concious of them.  Which I am today.  See, I have this birthday coming up.  It's one of them milestone birthdays.  As in The. Big. 5. 0. 

That's right.  Fiddy.  Fiddy.  Fifty years.  If you were able to read the inscription on the Something Old spoon for S a couple posts back, you would see that I was born in 1961. 

1961. 

Just look at that number.  It even looks old.  As in "you know you're old when you are on a website that is asking for your birthdate, and you have to scroll DOWN in the list of years that pops up to find yours."

But I digress.  This post is about feeling rich.  And being aware of good memories is definitely akin to riches.

I am working on two new blog post series in preparation for said birthday coming up.  I love me a good Top 10 list every now and again.  And I will be posting two such lists:

• The Top 10 Things I've Learned From My 50 Years on This Planet
• The Top 10 Funniest Memories From My 50 Years on This Planet

The Top 10 Things I've Learned may remind some people of the book All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten but it really isn't.

And the Top 10 Funniest Memories may not actually be the very funniest of my whole life, but I want to only share the ones that hopefully don't embarass anyone.  And there's also a Deb Disclaimer that comes along with this one:  sometimes funny does not mean funny hah-hah but can mean funny bizarre - like sometimes I look for the camera wondering if I'm part of a Twilight Zone episode. 

Both of those lists should start in the next few days, since we are now 27 days away....

There is one other thing that I plan to post about between now and then.  I have said for years that I would be launching the bucket list with this birthday.  Stay tuned...

So to close, I feel rich when I remember to appreciate.  Simple things, like herbs and bread and ideas and memories.  And yes, even birthdays.  For therein is a celebration of life.  And that's rich.