To India, With Gratitude

This post is long overdue. We visited India a year-and-a-half ago. Not a day goes by that I don't think of that trip. It was amazing and intense on so many levels.

But life gets busy and goes on.

A couple of days ago I came across some notes I'd jotted down for this post. Yesterday, I talked to my dear friend Heather, who just returned from a medical mission trip to India and Nepal. She commented on how much we have to be grateful for here in the U.S. She mentioned clean air. I had an AHA moment, I need to publish this post. Clean air was the number one thing I missed while in India.

So here goes. Thank you, India, for helping me fully appreciate: 

1. Clean air

2. Clean water that we can drink right out of the tap

3. Fresh, organic produce

4. Personal space - there are SO many people in India, and your personal space is constantly invaded

5. Traffic patterns/lanes - this might sound crazy because we complain so much about the traffic in Seattle, but the traffic in India is CRAZY. Sometimes, I'm not sure how we survived it.

6. Garbage collection - seems mundane but in the absence of garbage collection, life is messy!

I am so grateful for our opportunity to visit India. It's interesting how travel helps us grow, opens our hearts and minds, and sometimes helps us realize we have it pretty good!