I remember years ago watching an Oprah show featuring the topic of gratitude. Says Margaret Cousins: "Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary." Perhaps Oprah had read this very same quote because her show was all about keeping gratitude journals. She urged viewers to write down every day something for which they are grateful. A periodic journal keeper myself, I gave it a try. I wrote for a few days then found myself letting the practice slip. Was it too hard to find gratitude in my every day? Was I just too busy to find time to sit down and write? I don't remember what led me off track but now, about 10 years later, I've decided it is not too hard to practice the art of giving thanks. And I do have time in my schedule to put my thanks into written words. I have time to speak these words too.

I once heard someone say that many of us are just one day away from catastrophe. It's a subjective word -- catastrophe -- but it can hit any one of us, at any time. It may be a lost job or home, a major and necessary repair, an accident, a serious illness, death. Any one of these life circumstances can knock the wind out of our sails and send us reeling. So why not appreciate what we have, while we have it? It's good for the soul to be mindful of the good in our lives. Breast cancer survivor Sandee, author of the blog I Will Survive ends each of her posts with a message of thanks, even though she has reason to be plenty mad -- she has been fighting cancer for eight years and has chemotherapy as a constant companion. I like Sandee's spirit. I want to be like her.

I'm jumping back on board. Starting today, I'm writing down one thing for which I am grateful -- right here, Monday through Friday, for all to see. I urge you to join me in this endeavor. Involve your kids, your friends, your family members. Because according to William Arthur Ward, "feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."

Today I am grateful for my two healthy children. Even though cancer stopped me from having any more, I am happy. Really happy.