Well it's two days before Thanksgiving and Facebook is inundated with people stating all that they're thankful for this year. It's lovely to read them. Sometimes it's an eye-rolling good time for this closet cynic (closet?) But even if it's corny or contrite, I think it's lovely (there's that word again) that these writers are putting themselves out there, baring their soles, making us roll our eyes...I mean making us take stock of ourselves and our lives and publicly thanking whatever greater being they offer thanks to. Honestly, I don't know that I'd be able to come up with 28 things to be grateful for and want to put on Facebook. I think it's cool. Here's some of mine, 'cause I know you're waiting for them...
I'm thankful for sore muscles; it means I've been staying on task with working out.
I'm thankful for Fridays when for the next two days the house will be filled with my favorite people.
I'm thankful for Mondays when I get my house back to myself and send my favorite people packing.
I'm thankful for Caller ID.
I'm thankful for free premium channel weekends.
I'm thankful my mom is getting past her horrific health issues faster than I certainly could have!
I'm thankful for Pinterest and all the craftier-than-I contributors.
I'm thankful for the village that helps me raise my children.
I'm thankful for my children.......and my IUD.
I'm thankful for hair dye....the really good kind that hides the gray.
I'm thankful for Spanx...not that I wear them....
I'm thankful for my Church and the people in it.
I'm thankful for the roof over my head and the food in my cupboards.
I'm thankful for sneakers.
I'm thankful for sneakers. Oh, wait...no, I'm keeping it; I'm really thankful for sneakers.
Okay, that's enough. The rest are either too obvious to mention or too sappy to admit to. There's so much out there that we can be thankful for it's hard to say which gets a mention and which gets a pass. The things I listed are neither most important nor least; especially the sneakers...did I mention I'm quite thankful for sneakers? Yes, well.
The point I'm trying to make (eventually), is that I think we should make a conscious effort to bring even the smallest of things to mind and appreciate them; even if for just a split second. Like I just ran my fingers through my hair and thought of how thankful I am that my hairdresser gives the best shampoo massage in the world! Just a random thought normally but this time I was thankful for it.
So what are you thankful for? Your stylist who gives good head? Your trainer for kicking your ass on a daily basis? The village in your life? Your sneakers? Don't make Thanksgiving the only time to really reflect. I'm not going to keep an Oprah-inspired Grateful Journal, that's too much work. I'm not going to list one daily on my Facebook page, that's too much pressure. I'm just going to look daily at the things in my life and consciously be grateful for them. It might be a juicy grapefruit that I got on sale at ACME (yeah, right, like ACME puts their grapefruit on sale EVER.) It might be that my mom's biopsy came back clean. Two different ends of the thankful spectrum, but both worthy of a fleeting thought I think. And that's the key; it's what I think about MY stuff and what YOU think about YOUR stuff and NOT what YOU think about MY stuff or what I think about....okay, you get it, right?
Happy Thanksgiving all! May you have a day, season, year, and life worthy of giving thanks for.
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop
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