So, this past week I decided to follow the advice by Toni
Birdsong in “More than a Bucket List” and practice gratitude, so here’s my list
for the week.
Monday: Today, I
am thankful for co-workers who are more like close friends than just
co-workers. I am lucky enough to work
with people that allow me to can cry on their shoulders at any moment of the
day and support me however they can. And these are friends who I rarely, if
ever, hang out with outside of work, but I love them like friends I’ve had my
whole life. In just a short 2 years (not
even quite 2 yet), I know I could call or count on them to be there for me
whatever the need. That’s pretty
special, I’d say.
Tuesday: Today, I
am thankful for the gift of being able to see people in a new light, a new
perspective. It’s so easy to settle into our first impressions of others or to
simply allow conversations with those who know others well to affect how we
view someone, often before we’ve even met them.
Today, I got to know some new people just a little bit better, and I was
so pleasantly surprised to see them on nothing but a positive plane, even though
I had been led to see them otherwise. It
was nice to know that I have the ability to set aside what others have said or
seen in a person and decided to share with me and view them the way I think God
would have me to see them. Yippee…I feel
a little bit closer to heaven today. J
NOT TO SAY that this is something I am able to do every day, or even regularly,
but it is nice to know the ability is down inside me somewhere.
Wednesday: Today,
I am thankful for parents who willingly give so much of their time and energy
to coach our kids. My son’s basketball
team has been coached for the past 2 years by a mother of one player and the
sister of another. The head coach took the team on last year because if she
hadn’t, we wouldn’t have had a team at all because there was no one to coach.
Then, she took it on this year simply because. And even though she didn’t PLAN
to coach, she gave it 110% along with her high school assistant coach, and it
warms my heart to see how much she cares and what she has done for these kids.
Coming from a small island where EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYONE, I expected a slightly
less personal touch or connection to my child’s sports coaches and programs
(especially since it was a Parks and Recreation program, not a department I
actually worked for like on the island), but in many ways, it was more special
because I didn’t know the other parents from “Adam,” so to speak, and I felt
their hearts and appreciated their dedication even more than those I spent
every day with on the island. I guess a
small town is a small town, wherever it is.
Thursday: Today,
I am thankful for not having to run in the rain and for my dog, Gunner, who
gets me out there to exercise and enjoy the fresh air, even when I really just
want to go sit in my recliner and veg out in front of the TV. It has been rainy
and foggy and cold here for a while now. The snow around New Years was awesome,
but the black ice was not, and now I’m tired of the cold and the rain. So, it was nice today to have a break. I was
able to run with my dog without having soaking wet shoes at the end or having
to stand in front of the fire at home to warm up and dry out. I am thankful for that. If it wasn’t for my dog, I KNOW there would
be many days I wouldn’t get out at all.
Thanks to him, I do run in the cold, rain, fog, light, dark, extreme
heat, and even snow. Best day ever was
running in the snow, surprisingly! It was “SNOW” much fun! Lol.
Friday: Today, I
am thankful for purposeful work. I have often said that when my work does not
have purpose, I have to seek that purpose elsewhere, such as through volunteer
activities in the community. So, although it may have taken me a little while
to find it here, I am feeling much more purpose in my work here now. Today, I
stayed an extra hour and 45 minutes over my time (not being sure whether or not
I’ll get paid for that extra time) because I felt what I was doing had purpose
and meaning for the people I was working with, so I stayed, paid or not. That’s a good day for me, when I want to be
there to finish what I started because it means something. I never would have
thought that teaching, that working with children, that being a government
employee would have been my fate. I’m a writer. That’s all I wanted to be when
I was young, but now, I’m not just a writer…I’m supporting the work of the US
military. I’m helping families do what they need to do to keep our country
free. I’m making a difference in the lives of many, many children of all
ages. And most importantly, in my mind,
I’m supporting and assisting the caregivers in providing the best they can to
all the children and families they serve.
Saturday: Today,
I am thankful for the funds to make those small improvements to the house, to
go out to dinner, and to indulge in little luxuries. My husband and I picked
out some new hardware for our bathrooms to upgrade what the house came with
when we bought it a couple of years, and we purchased some things to help
organize the garage, etc…It’s not things that are necessary, that we absolutely
needed, but I am thankful we can invest in our home in these ways. I am also thankful we could go out to dinner
tonight at a new Hawaiian restaurant I have been wanting to try. It was a nice date night that brought us back
to the islands we have been to visit so many times when traveling back and
forth from our island home to the states all those years.
Sunday: Today, I
am thankful for my husband and his handy man abilities. Without him, I wouldn’t
have been able to do anything with the new hardware and garage organizers we
purchased yesterday. He spent most of the day working hard to ensure our new
bathroom hardware was installed correctly and the garage was put together most
efficiently. He also changed the oil in my car and is always taking care of
little things around the house. His entire list was home chores that I would
have had to hire someone to do, so I am very lucky to have him.
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