Pollyism of the week

Last year was one I will never forget. It was sort of like a burning bag of dog poop on my front doorstep mixed with an episode of ModernFamily.

But 2017 is over and I refuse to be ungrateful because years like smoking animal excrement are often also times where you meet wonderful people and experience spiritual awakenings. So prepare for the list of things I am grateful for.

I’m grateful my gorgeous mother and gorgeous Aunty Heather are alive and kicking in their 80s. They’ve taught me valuable lessons. My mother has taught me to look after my skin, take magnesium, walk, embrace superfoods, and never leave the house without makeup and a sparkly something. Aunty Heather has taught me to have an opinion, that women are valuable educators and that being a minimalist is something one should embrace.

I’m grateful I learnt to budget. In 2017, I’ve learned the value of the dollar. Who knew in a country full of cheese and butter, we have to pay a fortune for it? I was an idiot. Now I look at every packet of butter with squinty-eyed suspicion.

I’m grateful for wonderful nurses, doctors and midwives. I witnessed things this year that are the stuff of cliffhanger plots in Grey’s Anatomy. I am in awe of our women’s health workers. They deserve to be honoured and paid far more money. If I drank, I’d right now raise a huge glass to New Zealand nurses and midwives.

I’m grateful for my man, who although he has his faults, seems to forgive mine so easily. He looks at me with adoration, and tries all the time to treat me with kindness and love. Many times last year I felt talentless, stupid and unlovable. He made me feel loved and special.

I’m grateful for my children, who are fine, good people. I’m grateful they all have strong characters, tease me relentlessly and refused to tell me who they voted for – but I like to believe they listened to their mother’s political lectures and took some of it to heart.

I’m grateful I have an exhusband I see almost every day and work with happily. I’m glad we can share memories, children, laughter, tears, stories, political ideals, memes we find funny, and a history rich with both happiness and tragedy. I’m grateful he’s a great father, with a beautiful new wife and delightful stepson. I am grateful for our friendship.

I’m grateful for my jobs. I think that’s all I need to say about that. Thanks, guys!

I’m grateful for a sense of humour that allows me to treat everything that happens to me with a degree of hilarity. Everything is a story and will eventually be smiled about.

I’m grateful for my friends, fans and followers who have carried me through a year that at times I thought might just kill me off. I’m not sure if you’ll ever truly understand how that support acted as a lifeboat that kept me floating so many times. How bloody lucky am I to have that? So many people go through hell without an army of brave soldiers fighting off the enemies and dragons.

Thank you for being one of the very finest things about it. I truly love you and I honestly call you friends.