This post is part of the Gratitude Giveaways Blog Hop sponsored by the I Am A Reader, Not a Writer Blog. Please read to the end for information about how to be eligible for a prize.

Warning: this is going to be an unabashedly sentimental post, in which I list just five of the many, many blessings I’ve been granted.

1. My family – all of them. Three wonderful children, two great sons-in-law and a wonderful daughter-in-law, four superb grandchildren, including the newest, a healthy grandson who arrived in May. Despite the fact that his mother had a pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia, Cassian James Deogratias Gerdon was born at 37 weeks, seven pounds eight ounces and quite healthy. Plus there’s another grandchild on the way. And I haven’t even talked about my brothers and sisters, the best group of siblings anyone could      ever ask for.

2. A wonderful husband and forty-four terrific years of marriage. No, it hasn’t always been roses and kittens. We’ve had disagreements and arguments, but we’ve worked through them. We had times when we were so poor we had to decide which bills to pay that month, but we survived that too.

3. Good friends, including some who’ve been part of our lives for more than thirty years and feel as much like family as my real family.

4. Reasonably good health. There are some issues, of course. At my age, there always are. But most of it’s treatable and I generally feel pretty good most of the time. I walk a mile or two most days.

5. The ability to create books, novellas and short stories that have appealed to various editors enough to get published and have been well received by readers.

I’m offering two print books and two ebooks of the winner’s choice from all of the books I have available in those formats. To be eligible, follow me in your favorite social media way: follow this blog by email, “like” my Facebook page, or follow my Twitter feed or Pinterest Boards. You can use the buttons and links to the right to accomplish this. One new follower will be selected to receive the prize.