In case you didn’t catch last Sunday’s post or the excitement, terror, and continuing business of the past week has made you forget about it, these Sunday posts in November are inspired by a challenge to be grateful every day for our many blessing. My friend poses a question each day about what brings gratitude to our hearts and these are my responses.
Grateful, Naturally
What in nature are you grateful for?
I am grateful for everything in nature. I love the shade of the trees and their fruits. I love the peaceful calm of a gently flowing stream, but I also love shooting out over the rapids when I am floating along. And, of course, I love cute little animals. I was actually contentedly watching a fox watch me on my walk one morning until a rumbly car came along and broke our silent reflections on each other.
Now if I could only bring some of that peace and calm into my house. Keep in mind that letting a little fresh air wash through your house is strongly encouraged right now to let your own germs be vanquished on the winds.
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Gratitude Starts at Home
I am grateful for my mom’s patience as I trundled around under her feet in the kitchen and watched her cook. Despite their complaints that I made them fat, I know my roommates always appreciated the skills I learned at her feet.
I am grateful for those few times my brothers and I were all getting along and playing a board game or watching “Fraggle Rock”. Otherwise, we would probably never talk to each other. A few good memories are better than none after all.
I am grateful for warm blankets made of fuzzy cats. You can never feel unloved when the felines are hungry or cold.
I am also grateful having “the cart before the horse” because the pie was always ready before the turkey.
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Friends Fill Our Hearts With Gratitude
I can’t pick just one friend that I am grateful for, but I can narrow it down to about six. Without naming names, I am grateful to them for many reasons including: no matter how long we go without talking, we end up dissolving in giggles over topics that mystify others; no matter how many times I call to complain about crappy people, those friends still pick up and listen no matter what is going on in their lives; they are willing to drive hundred or thousands of miles to help me eat birthday cake, even if life won’t actually let them; and of course, they never judge me for being the weirdo that I am, in fact, they love me for it.
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Music of Thanks
I am grateful for most music, particularly what one roommate referred to as whiny chick music, which includes Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Jewel. I also love hits from the 80s, as long as I don’t ponder the lyrics too closely.
During quarantine though, I have been appreciating a coupe of bands that have taken the time to perform live shows online. With two toddlers, I wouldn’t be able to see them at all in person, but I can listen to them with my toddlers in my living room when they livestream to Facebook. If you are friends with me, you may have noted that I have shared the musical stylings of The Clarks (a Pittsburgh band), Bill Deasy (another Pittsburgh crooner,) and my friend Greg. We creative types need to stick together and produce some joy in these tough times. (Still hoping this blog is helping to keep the blues at bay for my loyal readers.)
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Keep Dreaming
When I heard the description of the television show “The Pretender”, I thought that sounded like the perfect life for me. I have been interested in a variety of professions, but I always bounce back to writer, where one can at least write about being anyone or anything, though research is often required to make that believable. The image of Louisa May Alcott’s Jo from “Little Women” comes to my mind quite often. I wish I could disappear into a tiny room up in the gables of an old house and sit at my desk in my special writing clothes. I wish I could get down all these wild and crazy thoughts that flow through my head. But I don’t have time for that, so here I sit in November, adding word after hard fought word to my project of the month for National Novel Writing Month. So today, a little gratitude for words, those who employ them to wonderful ends, and those who encourage the creative spirits to share word after word no matter what form they take.
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Be Thankful to Be Employed
I am grateful that my little bosses are as cute as they are bossy. Being a stay at home mom can often be a thankless jobs, but those tiny hugs are totally worth it. And I never at a loss for tasks to perform, so I can’t be bored. Being bored in times like these can give one a little bit too much time for reflection and introspection. Be kind to yourselves and stay busy, friends.
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Thanks for All the Knowledge
I am thankful for things I know to be true, including that I am a child of a Heavenly Father who loves me, that my best is more than good enough, and that families can be together forever, even if some of them are driving us a little crazy right now.
Just so you know, Heavenly Father loves you, too. Whether you believe he exists or think you are worthy of divine love, you are loved.
And you are definitely good enough. Sometimes we let ourselves get bummed out because we wish we could do more. Ad long as you are doing your best, you are more than enough. Keep pushing forward and leave the world better than you found it.
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Dear loved ones,
As Thanksgiving approaches in the wild rollercoaster ride that is 2020, I write to you from the bottom of a grateful heart. I want you to know that I am grateful for you. I love your smiles and your hugs. I love learning from you and occasionally teaching you something new.
But most of all, in this time of COVID and isolation, I am grateful for my true friends. I am grateful for people I can call despite having not speaking to them for months and talk to them as if we are sitting across from each other with a glass of milk at one hand and a fork in the other—a fork loaded down with chocolate cake or pie, which is more appropriate for the season we are in. I am grateful for the friends who truly listen and truly care. They don’t judge me. They don’t tell me I need fixed, unless, of course, I have just asked them to share their expertise about subjects at which I struggle.
I am also grateful for people I can connect with virtually. The ones who read the excessive number of words I use to describe a given situation and remind me to look on the bright side. They respond when they can, not six weeks later after having posted at least a half dozen times a day in response to their true friends. (Honestly, if I didn’t think it was petty, I would thin my friends lists down to only the people I feel think of me as a friend. But that is ungrateful.)
I am grateful for my friends who read and write and sing and play and create beauty through a variety of physical formats. I am trying to be better, friends, at reminding you that you are amazing instead of just asking for reassurance that someone besides me cares about my words. Thanks, dear readers, for taking the time to read my words and give me honest feedback on how they touched you. I am hoping to connect and exchange better with my fellow creators in the new year, but trying to work that out will have to wait until after I finish 50,000 words for Nanowrimo and probably until after Christmas. ’Tis the season to be perpetually busy, isn’t it?
I am thankful for those few moments of down time I manage to snag. I have to get up early and sneak out into the pre-dawn chill to do it some days, but it is needed in this time when I am blessed with so much time with my family. I am grateful for the fact that they like me enough to vote me off the island on days when I am not the queen of happy and joyful.
And, of course, I am grateful for those who came before me. From time to time, I climb my family tree and find a little bit of me in the stories I find carved on the branches. I love the newspaper story about a great great great uncle who still mowed his own lawn at 101. I love hearing about ancestors who loved to create because it helps me feel a connection with them. And any time I hear about a relative that likes to bake or tame animals, I nod my head and think how great it is that those attributes are clearly genetic.
Feel free to share what you are grateful for with me, your family, and other loved ones.
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