What A Day!

It felt so good to hit the snooze alarm and sleep in. But then…

I realized how much I need to do today. Shop, cook, clean house, do yard work, pay bills, etc., etc. And I’ll be sure to turn on the noon news to find out who has been killed and learn about wars, rumors of war, and nasty politics. And I need to try to catch up on all my unread e-mail messages and work on that manuscript and - etc., etc., etc..

What a day!

But wait!

Okay, it’s time to take a deep breath and focus on all I have to be thankful for instead of complaining.

I can afford to buy food, and have a stove and refrigerator. I have a car that will take me safely to the store. I have a house and yard, and utilities. I’ll see lovely trees and plants in my yard and I can communicate with people all over the world on the internet. I have friends and family and live in a nice neighborhood. I can see, and hear, and taste, and smell, and eat, and think, and talk and walk, and read, and write, and …..

I could go on all day about the good things.

What do you have to be thankful for?

It's Not Fair!

Normally I blog about words, books, and kids, but today I'm making an exception. This is a gripe!

In Northern California where I live the weather isn't too hot. In fact it's unusually cool for this time of year. But early in July we had extremely high temperatures and those could return since August is usually the hottest month of the year here.

Normally I wear clothes made of cotton or rayon and polyester during warm weather, but when it gets extremely hot I switch to pure cotton, linen, or rayon since those fabrics are much cooler than synthetics.

But all of those kinds of cloth need to be ironed. And ironing clothes or even using a steamer requires heat and raises the temperature where the work is being done, and that's not how it should be. The cool fabrics shouldn't be the ones that need heat to care for them.

Of course I can iron clothes in the evening when the temperature has cooled off, or early in the morning before it warms up. And I do have air conditioning so that extra heat is not really much of a problem.

Come to think of it, I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear, electricity, clean water, adequate food, and lots of other things many people in the world don't have.

It's so easy to gripe and complain about little things that don't really matter when I should be grateful about the things that do matter.

From now on when I must iron clothes, even on a hot day, I'll try to use that time to think about all the good things I have and to say, "Thanks."

Giving Thanks

Yes, I know the traditional time to talk about giving thanks is at the end of November, but it's a good idea to express gratitude all year long.

A few weeks ago I was crossing a street where work was being done and traffic was only allowed through in one direction at a time. Since there was a break in the traffic I thanked the woman who was directing it and she was amazed. She said a few minutes earlier someone had called her a name which I won't repeat here because she'd made them wait.

Once a lot of work was being done on a street in front of a house where I used to live because wires were being moved under ground and some repairs were needed. Every few days a crew from a utility company would dig up the street, work in the hole for a while, and fill it in until the next crew came out to work on it, usually a few days later.

The work had been going on for weeks when I called the city public works department to ask if they knew when it would all be completed. After getting the estimated date I mentioned that I appreciated the landscaping they had done a few blocks away.

There was a moment of silence. Then, with a choked voice the man told me that was the only expression of gratitude he had ever gotten. Usually he just had to listen to complaints all day long.

Both those people were thankful for my thanks and reminded me how important it is to express gratitude to those who serve us even if that service is sometimes an inconvenience. The mail carrier who brings bills, the cashier who takes extra time helping a customer in line, the police officer who gives a ticket, and those who repair our streets and utilities are not only doing their jobs. In a small way they're helping to make the world a better place.

Please join me in thanking them and all the others who deserve our gratitude.

Thank you.