30 Days of Thankfulness Day 2

Today I am thankful for my grandmother.  We always called her Granny.  It was by her own choice that she was called that and I'm sad to say I don't even know why she chose that.  I know when speaking of her maternal grandmother she always referred to her as Granny, so I'm guessing it had something to do with that.

Growing up, my grandmother was my primary caregiver.  My parents were very young when I was born.  (I was born a year after they married and they married at eighteen.)  Their primary focus was on making money.  I was dropped off very early in the morning at my grandmother's house, long before school started, and after school I was at my grandmother's house until my parents got home from work.  Often my parents would go away on the weekends and leave me with my grandmother.  Honestly, this was for the best.  My mom will tell you to this day she was never cut out to be a parent.  In all honesty, my parents should have never had children.  Be that as it may, my grandmother provided me with a stability I would have never had otherwise.  She also taught me a lot. 

My grandmother was a strong Christian and from as early as I can remember church, the Bible, praying, vacation Bible school, church camp, etc were a part of my life.  For this I am very thankful.  If not for my grandmother, I know I would not be saved today.

My grandmother also instilled in me the importance of learning and gave me a love for learning.  She helped to develop my mind and push me to excellence.  My grandmother was the one person who never said I was stupid when I was growing up.

She also gave me my love of reading.  My grandmother read constantly.  She often said if she didn't have a book to read then she would just read a phone book.  I have to laugh because I have often found myself reading the cereal box when I'm trying to eat quickly and have deprived myself of reading material.  Growing up, we used to go to the library at least once a week.  We checked out tons and tons of books and we read every one of them.  My favorite books were the horse books by CW Anderson.  There was a series, Billy and Blaze, and I loved them!  He had other horse books outside of the series that I loved as well.  To this day, I wish I had his books!  They were just lovely and I spent many long hours enjoying them.

Correspondence is another gift only my grandmother could have given me.  I love to write letters.  Growing up I had pen pals and, to this day, I still correspond with my friends.  Yes, I use email, but some of my family and friends will also get a handwritten letter from me.  I can't count the number of times someone has said to me that they are so thankful to have received my card because it was just what they needed at that moment.

So, yes, today was all about my grandmother in my thoughts.  She's been dead many years now, but the gifts she gave to me are timeless.  What has been mentioned here is only a smattering of the many gifts she gave me.  There is so much in my daily life that I can attribute to her teaching and influence.  I am glad she picked up the slack and raised me.

30 Days of Thankfulness Day 1

It's hard to believe it is already November 1st!  I'm afraid this has been a very busy, sometimes trying, year.  Unfortunately, there were many times I lost focus on the good things and let ungratefulness creep in.  In light of that, I'm actually happy I'm now at the beginning of  November and again thinking of what I am thankful for.  In all honesty, it wasn't until I was writing out Thanksgiving cards this morning that I even decided to do this again!

The idea to do this again just kind of snuck up on me.  I was sitting at my dining room table writing out Thanksgiving cards.  I know sending cards is a very old fashioned thing to do, but I love to do it.  I can't tell you how many times I've had someone tell me it just made their day to actually get something other than a bill or junk mail in the mailbox.  And as I was working on the cards I started thinking about how great the people I was sending these cards to had been over the year.  These are the people who wrote to my son while he was in boot camp.  These are the people who were there for me when I was dying because my son had left home to pursue his own path.  These are the people who have welcomed me into their homes and lives and accepted me for who I am and love me in spite of my shortcomings.  These are the people who have encouraged me, consoled me, and just been there for me.

So today, I am incredibly thankful for my friends.  I am thankful for the love and acceptance of true friends and I appreciate their willingness to accept me as I am.  I am especially grateful that they love my son too.  My son is the most important thing in my life and I am glad that they accept him into our friendships as they have. 

New Year 2015

And here we are at the start of a new year.  It seems like 2014 went by so quickly.  And now we're looking down the barrel of 2015.  How does that happen?  Why do some years seem to go so much faster than others?

2014...

Some parts were great.  Other parts not so much.  I don't think I'd ever want to go back!  Unfortunately the bad parts seem to overshadow the good parts.  I learned that people will lie to you and hurt you without a second thought.  But that also taught me something about myself.  Although I have even less trust in people than I did before, I found I can still be kind to people and help them.  I guess doing for others doesn't require that I trust them.  Kinda sad.

2015...

My main goals this year are simply for myself.  I want to view the world with less cynicism and I want to be more accepting of others.  I think these two go hand in hand.  Of course, I want to continue to reach out and be kind to others.  This world is dark enough and unforgiving enough.  I don't have to add to it.  There are a lot of people who just need a little kindness.  Why not give it to them?  I also want to get in the habit of looking for and finding the things in people that make them who they are.  The good things.  The talents.  Too often we overlook the good in favor of focusing on what we don't like.

I know these are not really lofty or even normal "resolutions", but these aren't really resolutions.  I simply intend to make these a daily part of life.  Resolutions tend to be temporary.  I don't want these to be temporary.

I hope each of you have a blessed New Year.  Remember, we're all in this together.  Find opportunities to be kind to others and love yourself.