Count your blessings - November 2026

1. A new fridge is installed in the kitchen after weeks of improvising with the tiny back-up in the basement
2. A stork sitting on every lighting pole on the Brussels ringroad between Machelen & Grimbergen (nice view to admire in a traffic jam!)
3. Walk home with Beertje from a scouting afternoon and listen to his enthusiastic non-stop rambling about the activities they had done
4. Ordering a Japanese ramen soup for my birthday. Ah Asiatic comfort food.
5. Lunch with a friend
6. Kabouter returning to judo competition with a lot of stress but winning twice for the first time in U15 competition. What a great smile on his face.
7. Yearly mammography checks that are fine
8. Beertje leaving for 4 days to Flanders Fields. 
9. Sitting in the back-row of 2 seats on my own, comfortably and spacy for my long haul flight to Canada
10. Having friends and relatives in Canada freeing up time to pick me up from airports and drive me where I need to be and offer me a bed so that during my hole trip I don't need a taxi, hotel or restaurant booked. 
11. Being together with my Canadian host sisters and their family as they prepare the celebration of life of their father.
12. Being listed and treated as a 3rd daughter in the family
13. Meeting some classmates and teachers and old friends again, although extremely briefly and masked up
14. Having sufficient connection time each time to not stress about delayed flights.
15. Lounge access at the airports.
16. Hugging my other host father and having lunch with my Canadian cousin in Victoria.
17. Spending some time in the beauty of the Kootenays on gorgeous autumn days
18. Paracetamol and Ibuprofen...to keep my fever attacks down while in Canada and while having to travel back on another 5 flights. 
19. My doctor ordering me to log my stubborn self off from work and give in to much needed rest. Giving in my fight and crawling into bed for most of the next 48 hours. 
20. Kabouter's birthday party at the OHL game 
21. The foresight of more vacation in the sun to recover my fatigue and virus
    
    

This is a monthly list of simple things in my life that make me happy or that make me smile.  

As the world often seems full of negativity and disaster, I want to pay attention to these small things that make me happy in my daily life and be grateful for them. You can find all of them via this link