Day 291
Today when many people are thinking about when they are going to join the throngs of (idiot) shoppers for Black Friday – all while stirring their cranberry sauce and looking at the ads – I am not.
I am thinking not about Pilgrims either … or football … or leftover turkey sandwiches. Okay, a little about leftover turkey sandwiches.
But mostly, I am thinking about being grateful.
I, and most of the people I know personally and closely, are very fortunate. Which makes me think that I either need to broaden my circle of friends or that we are a large group of incredibly lucky people.
We are lucky not only to have the “things” that making living where we do so nice (liberty, opportunity, education, free speech among them) but for the intangibles that we take for granted every day.
I have never been somewhere where people live in war-torn villages … where gathering water is a life threatening endeavor … where walking outside is too dangerous … where if I were female my chances for a full life – or mere survival – would be minimal (at best). I have never been there – but I know these places exist.
I have never known hunger. I have never known tragedy (first hand). I have not been in conflict.
I have a home. I have a family. I have good friends. I have safety and shelter and food and comfort. I am free to choose how I spend my days and nights due to the business I own. I have money in my pocket and some in the bank. I am good.
And I should be grateful EVERY day for these things … and I am … but I don’t notice these things because they are “given”. I don’t wake up and say, “Oh, I’m so grateful for my home and the food on my table and my ability to buy whatever food I want on that table.”
These things are in a different category of gratefulness … the part that your soul knows how lucky you are. Your conscious mind is then free to be grateful for the smaller things. Like acorns and tree frogs and puppy breath.
What I do notice every day and that I am grateful for every day are my relationships … I have a loving family. I am truly blessed with two wonderful kids. I have fabulous, fun and supportive friends. I have unconditional love from my four-legged roommates.
I am also grateful for my laugh lines. It means I’ve had fun and good times and laughed a lot in my lifetime. And I have.
I am grateful for the ampleness of my body … a few too many pounds … but it means I do not go hungry. (Quite the opposite!)
I am grateful for my aging body – I am not Quasimodo (yet)! I can still function.
I am grateful for my abilities: I am a consummate communicator, have good gut instincts, set a gorgeous table, and I can unclog a sink and make a fabulous wine sauce (preferably, not at the same time).
I am grateful I know how to do a myriad of tasks. And I am grateful I know my limits.
I am grateful for a memory (though limited at times) that enhances the past good times … and helps fade the bad ones.
And though there is so much more … I am also grateful for cloudy days and birdsong and stars. The smell of bookstores and babies. Lichen and reindeer and full moons. Forests in autumn, first snows, rocky coastlines and … you!
Happy Thanksgiving!