A raging torrent of rain has passed. The deluge too great for the underlying Carolina red clay now hovers in masses of puddles in all the low lying places from which it could not run off. A glance out the front window of the old farm house gives witness to cardinals, and one woodpecker feasting on the critters finding their way to the top of the soil to avoid the penetrating swale of water coming their way. For some of nature’s own, this weather is a treat whereas for others it brings life risking challenges above which a few may not rise. The proverbial “mixed bag” seems not so mixed for some. Living with the “mixed bag” of chronic disease presents life challenges for which one must learn to accommodate. Medication is one form of accommodation for many. Adjusting to physical limitations and challenges is yet another form of accommodation. An occasional diminution of symptoms which requires less accommodation may be taken for granted since one’s pre-symptomatic life was relatively void of reasons to accommodate. As untoward symptoms re-emerge, it is not uncommon to have them accompanied by various aspects of grief. This semi-professional accommodator to symptoms and grief therewith has grown to understand and appreciate the necessity to exercise routine and consistent thanksgiving for all abilities and levels of accommodation. Gratitude has become that friend whose comfort I would not be caught without. When challenges seem to overwhelm, that friend named gratitude emerges to remind me that all abilities, whether great or small, are gifts and keys that open a plethora of still unused abilities!