And, yes that’s a kind of praise, and yes that’s a kind of prayer, and yes I am still here to say Amen or something like that…

Right now, I am grateful for life, not the abstract kind, but the kind that lets you feel a Brooklyn breeze on the back of your neck and ache for someone who’s still here. Grateful for the fact that living is not the same as being alive, but some days, they meet in the middle & call it enough.

And, then again, from a friend whose voice cracked mid-sentence, grief thick in the air like smoke refusing to leave the room. I think gratitude is just another name for survival. For the way we hold onto the thread of breath even when our hands are shaking.