I start each and every day by going for a walk.

In addition to getting in the weight-bearing exercise I need, I have a greater purpose to my daily walk.It's my time to say thank you.Thank you for another day of life.Thank you for a perfect day. (They're all perfect, even when it's cold or rainy.) There is something to appreciate in everything nature offers.Thank you for the birds that sing.Thank you for the beautiful world and for keeping me safe.While I am filled with gratitude on most days, lately it's been especially keen.I am absolutely high on life and filled with thankfulness for everything in it.When I can walk, (that's not always physically possible) I'm thankful for every step I take.When I walk, I look at the world around me and lap up all the beauty I see, just like a cat contently lapping up milk.If that half-hour of walking in gratitude isn't a mood lifter, I don't know what is. For me, my early morning walk is like taking a happy pill. Lately, thinking about all the things for which I'm grateful has been making me giddy with happiness.I can't think of a time in my life when I didn't feel I had significant cause to be beyond grateful. Now that I am considerably older, my gratitude has increased proportionately. I think the older we are, the more we are filled with gratitude for things past and present.Coincidentally, the interview I did this week turned into a story about that very topic.I wasn't looking forward to the interview when I was asked to do a story on a 103-year-old woman. A hundred and three? I figured her mind would be gone and I wouldn't get much out of her except a few syllables here and there.I was wrong, wrong, wrong.Louise is lively, quick-witted and a joy to be around. I'm telling you the woman could have her own talk show.Can you believe Louise practiced her golf swing at a putting green last week, goes to two drum circles a week and is looking forward to going with her daughter next week to line dancing class. At 103, no less. I know people half her age who aren't that active.She claims that to her knowledge, longevity doesn't run in her family.So, to what does she attribute her incredible vitality after she became a centenarian?"Well, I know what keeps me happy," she says."Keeping a positive attitude and being steeped in gratitude."When she insisted she always had "a good life," her daughter looked dubious. "What about your childhood when your mother died at 13? What about how you had to take care of your younger siblings?"Louise explained her father was a commercial fisherman who was often away for two weeks at a time. After her mother died, it was up to the 13-year-old to do everything at home, including driving her siblings to school.Instead of recalling the hardship of being a motherless child whose father's work took him away a lot, Louise starts telling funny stories about being in charge of her younger siblings."At 13, I had to drive the younger kids to school," she recalls. "My younger brother kept tattling to our father whenever I hit a tree. He thought he should be the one to drive. He was about 8 at the time."Expect a lot of laughter when you talk with Louise.Expect, also, to hear about the fun she has always found in life."We always lived on the water, and that's a wonderful environment for a kid - and everyone else, for that matter."One story that illustrates how she turns a negative into something positive is what she did when advancing macular degeneration took away her ability to safely drive a car."There was no reason to keep my car when I couldn't drive. So I sold the car and looked around my empty garage, realizing I could put the space to better use."She turned it into her version of a neighborhood welcome center by adding white wicker furniture, rugs on the floor and paintings on the wall.At 7 a.m. each day, she opens her garage door to welcome anyone - friends and strangers alike - who wants to drop in for coffee and goodies. In the evening, she offers neighbors a gin and tonic."Some good did come out of not being able to drive anymore," she says. Her eyes sparkle when she talks about all the new people she met, thanks to her very own hospitality center.She says she thrives on being with others and having new adventures with her daughter and friends.How's that for someone who just had 103 candles on her birthday cake?I enjoyed talking and laughing with her for a bit over two hours. No matter what she talked about, her conversation was filled with optimism and gratitude for her life.If you're still in doubt about the added benefits of being a grateful person, read the studies that show those with a strong sense of gratitude tend to be happier and healthier.Makes sense to me.It's impossible not to be happy when your heart is full of gratitude.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.