Thanksgiving

Why Gratitude Is Great Every Day

It is fantastic to set aside a day annually for giving thanks, and we should. However, there is so much more meaning to be gained from an attitude of gratitude in the midst of ordinary days. We live by grace, everything flowing to us freely. Much of what happens and what we have, we did not plan.

The parking space that opens up on a day when walking hurts.
The child arrived after a long period of waiting.
The place where home is found.
The friends who love despite the flaws.
The technology that eases each day.
The books that let us travel away.
The pets that bring smiles and laughter.

All these and so many blessings enhance living, gratitude journals are a wonderful practice to indulge in thankfulness. What they give us is mindfulness of how full our lives are. Maybe it raises the spirits and keeps complaints at bay.

Try to take at least a few moments to recognize your extraordinary life every week. When you know what you have you may find yourself more content.

Life is a bountiful adventure abundant in every way. I hope you find reasons for gratitude all along the pathway.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Means

I have been meaning
To explain who I am, may be,
Is not always who
Strictly I mean as defined
By this voice, words, these two feet.

My eyes carry clues,
But even they lack evidence
Because the heart-beat
In my chest and the preserve
Of my mind go further, deep.

What you see is not
Often what you get, riches
Are hidden in doubt
Covered in terrible fear
Holding back, choking on tears.

I cannot stand here
Yet, I do, as I believe
I must. Why? Because
Someone should do what it takes
To wake the community,

Convey mentally ill
Can live without most restraints
Doing possible
Like anyone, though made harder,
Complications, divergent ways,

Creativity
Finds a flowing flood falls fast
Dipped body whole
Going within and without
Never giving up or in,

The voice louder, in
Color brighter, some wilder,
Linked like all others,
Human, as someone newborn,
Those long-lived; loved thoroughly,

The same/different,
Untamed, giving, love alive,
God placed – no mistake,
Painting history’s pages
With sharing, reach, making much.

Gratitude List

I am thankful:
1. I have been waking earlier.
2. I am enjoying my corded keyboard and mouse.
3. I have recently finished several books.
4. I created art this morning.
5. I appreciate that I have a home.

Prompt
Think about your life and the human condition and pick an instance that appeals from which to create a written or artistic work.

Thoughts Amassed

A VERY OLD BOOK

Riffing off an Amazon review title, I so propitiously encountered.

A VERY OLD BOOK

Reader beware, herein lie
Monsters of dastardly mien,
You may be captured, captivated,
Made prisoner for the space
Of these many pages.
I would not read it were I you,
I did not, in truth, finding its words
Many syllabic, poetic, strange
To my modern eyes and sensibility.
It seemed akin to Dickens, Emerson,
Perhaps Poe and Thoreau, whom
I thought all left in the distant past
When what I read was for lessons,
Not for pleasurable entertainment
Initiated on my fancy whim or choice.
No, dear reader, hear, hear,
This tome is best left shoved
To the back of the shelf, covered
In ages, layers of sooty dust,
Let it be, let it lie, you have no need
Of it, nor would ever I, it is a burden
To be left without perusal alone.
Do not open the covers, do not see,
What treasures I could not ascertain,
Join me in my startling refrain
This is a VERY OLD BOOK,
Herein lie dastardly monsters
Of highly developed vocabulary,
Read At Your Own Dire Risk.

Tuesday

It was an interesting day my friends. It started early, so I stayed up all night.

I went to the Ford dealership and got the reset I hoped and prayed for without having to pay.

The Explorer did not pass emissions. I was informed if I drove fifty miles at 55, it would likely pass later. (Have you gone 55 on an expressway lately? I felt like I was sitting still.)

Before trekking off, I stopped at Chick-Fil-A (Also known as God’s Chicken Place) for brunch. I sat there in an empty dining room, reading the NYT on my phone and crying over the news. Get your Covid shot, everyone.

The manager at BAM was my friend, so I stopped at the mall. I walked through Dillards and was accosted by a dress of Scarlett O’Hara Curtain Dress GREEN. A salesperson and I discussed it: beautiful design, but all out of my budget. If only!

My friend no longer works at the book store, but the staff knows me, so we chatted. I managed to leave without buying anything. (This is an incredible accomplishment for me, especially since the latest by Stephen King tried to wend a way into my hands.)

I drove to my hometown. I stopped and photographed my “Church in the Wildwood” and the Little White Church on the Hill. Both of these had hosted weddings of mine. I also stopped by the house I was buying when my world skidded into the deep.

The trip had not run up fifty miles, so I got back on the expressway and headed in the opposite direction. Everything on the road passed me. The trucks that appeared to have eating my rear bumper as their appetizer in mind, were a bit frightening.

When I returned to my home exit, I stopped at my cellular provider because my phone did not do data well, nor phone service. The young lady said she probably could not help. A male customer had just cursed her out for the same issue with the same make and model phone. I apologized to her for his nastiness. I asked her to try anyway. She did, and her fix was great.

I ate an early dinner of a green burrito, which cost $1.34 at Del Taco. Then I went back to get emissions done again. One of my club friends was there, and we talked. He has been going through a lot, and I tried to console him. Seeing him was like an angelic intervention. I was so happy. The Explorer passed emissions.

I went back and told the young lady that her fix worked fine on my cellphone. I told her not to let anyone else treat her disrespectfully.

I drove home and almost could not enter my house for Maui. All the dogs let me know their overwhelming displeasure with my being gone. I walked the three, and the day settled back towards normalcy.

Maybe that all seems ordinary, but I rarely go out and rarely encounter so many beautiful humans.

Be kind. Love is why all of us are here. People are precious treasures. You are included.