I've Moved

I will no longer be publishing posts here.  Check me out at my new website, www.thankyoudaily.com.  I hope you'll join me over there.

Disclaimer

Gratitude is different for everyone.  "I am thankful for lemonade", "I am grateful for lemonade", "I am happy to have some lemonade", "My life would be missing something if there were no lemonade"; it's all the same to me.

I am aware that not everyone believes in God and unlike some, I have no problem with that.  I do not intend for this blog to be about God or any other deity.  This blog is about being thankful, period.  Being thankful for the big things like life and family and being thankful for the little things like lemonade and air conditioning.  I don't really care who you are thankful to.  It's not my business.  And I'm not here to make you believe the same thing that I do.  I know who I am thankful to and how being thankful is making my life better. I'm not always happy and I will never pretend to be, but looking for things to be thankful for makes the rough times a lot shorter than they used to be.

My sincere hope is that by reading this blog, you will begin to be more actively thankful in your life.

One Man's Testimony

I woke up this morning feeling pretty tired, but nothing was hurting so I counted it all joy.  In that moment, I decided that today is going to be a good day, even though what I really wanted to do was to go back to sleep.

As I walked Tildy, I was looking for something beautiful to snap a picture of so that I would have something to share on Instagram.  It's funny how since I started being really active with this notion of thankfulness, I now look for little things to give thanks for and to share with others.  It's kinda cool.  Anyway, my neighbor's sunflowers were particularly pretty this morning, but Matilda was off to the races, so I didn't get a chance to snap a picture.

On our way back to the house, a familiar green truck flagged me down.  It belongs to one of my neighbors up the street, but I had never met him.  He pulled over, rolled down the window, and his yellow Lab/Retriever mix tried to say hello before the man could utter a word.  Matilda went crazy.  I had to pick her up to keep her quiet and calm.

The man's name was Roberto.  He was wearing a sunshine yellow humane society shirt and a smile as broad as his nutmeg colored face.  He told me that he sees me walking my dog all of the time and he had some questions.  The dog in the car is the first dog he's ever had and he had questions about the cost of shots and how often he should put out food.  The mixture of his smile and sincere excitement was contagious.  He told me that his life was a mess and then God sent this dog just for him and now he doesn't feel so alone.  He was definitive in his belief in God and told me that he believes the Father and the Son have conversations with each other.  He said that his belief came later in life but that it has had a strong impact on him.  He told me how he was reading the scripture and how he now believes that we were made in His image.  He struggled for his next words because his English wasn't the best, but he managed to connect his prior statement about image to his next thought; "If I show hate towards someone, I look like a demon and that scares me.  So I try to show love so I look like Him."

Right before he left, he told me I should drop by sometime for coffee.  He told me bye with another bright smile and waved as he drove away.

My encounter with Roberto made me so happy I could have skipped the rest of the way home.  I am so thankful that I met him.  He filled my morning with sunshine and happiness and he made it a morning that I won't soon forget.

Furry Smiling Face

Who wouldn't be thankful for this furry smiling face?  She stayed by my side all weekend and made me feel less isolated.  I love her so much.

Happiness

I just got a call from one of my oldest and dearest friends.  I'll call him Sam.  Even though he attended a funeral today, he said he had a really good day.  He sounded genuinely happy.  I haven't heard that from him in quite awhile.  His happiness made me happy.  I'm so thankful that he found happiness today.

It's over.

It's been a long and tiring day at work. Today, all I have the energy to say is I'm thankful that this day is over.  I'm heading to bed and it's not even 7:00.

My iPod

I love music.  If you want to give me a message and have me remember it forever, set it to music and make sure it has catchy tune or a funky beat.  "Schoolhouse Rock" was made for kids just like me.  Had it not been for those little tunes, I probably wouldn't be able to recite the preamble of the Constitution or tell you what year women earned the right to vote.

Music is intoxicating to me.  There is nothing else in the world that I've ever experienced (or wish to experience) that makes me believe that I could sing with Prince or dance with Janet.  If you ever pull up next to me at a stop light, you'll see what I mean.

For more than a year, I have been without a laptop which meant that I couldn't listen to any of my cds because I don't have a cd player in the house.  It also meant that I couldn't update my iPod.  It also meant that I really couldn't buy any new music because I wouldn't be able to listen to it.  Well, this weekend changed all that.  I now have a working laptop and I have bee jammin' ever since.  I've listen to music that I've owned for a long time, but had never played. 

I am still amazed at the technology involved in the iPod.  It is an awesome thing to be able to have all of the music that you own in one place.  Maybe in the next couple of years, I'll decide to upgrade to one that has Bluetooth, but for now, I am very happy with the one I have.  It's not even half full yet.

Today, music got me through the day.  I am thankful for a working laptop, my iPod, and the music.