Ten Things of Thankful

Everyone’s story as to why and when creating a blog seems to be a good idea will vary. It was the example of my daughter, who had already created her own blog, and her encouragement as well as a little technical assistance to walk me through setting up my blog that was the impetus I needed. 

Recording a portion of my life experiences had already been a pattern for almost 37 years, starting when our children were young, via writing in journals. For a couple of years I made copies of weekly letters I wrote to our son while he was serving a church mission overseas. (That time was an extremely busy time in my life, so just making copies of the letters I wrote on the computer seemed to be a time-saving plan.)

Toward the end of 2011, the year I set up my blog, I posted only five times to the blog. None of the posts were to the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop which didn’t even exist yet. Then I took a hiatus because life got in the way.

In the middle of 2015 my daughter told me about the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop she was participating in and how she thought I might enjoy doing that too. I already knew the advantages that come from trying to see the sunny side of life even when life looks a little dismal at times. At that time I was trying to recover from a recent back surgery and was also dealing with the fact my mother now needed to live in a long-term care facility when we had anticipated being able to continue caring for her. I needed to be feeling a lot more positivity and gratitude from my own outlook as well as reading those things expressed by others, so I hopped on board. 

The Ten Things of Thankful blog hop broadened my perspective of people and of the world in which we live. In some ways this particular blog hop is much like a neighborhood which ebbs and wanes. Neighbors may move away and one doesn’t see them for years, but then when you do see them again, it is just like old times. That is what is fun about the Ten Things of Thankful birthday celebration! As I understand it, we may get a visit from Lizzi, the creator of the blog hop as well as old timers from the Finish the Sentence Friday blog hop which I also started participating in about the same time in 2015. 

There is nothing new here today as this is a smattering of my old TToT entries I have posted throughout the years. I smiled at some of them when I realized how relevant some of them are today. In addition, if you click here it will take you to  My Forever Long Birthday Celebration story I posted on Finish the Sentence Friday back in August of 2015 with a picture of me eating cake even. After all this is TToT's birthday and FTSF and TToT are doing a mashup post today. Thanks Kristi of Thankful Me and Kristi (a different Kristi) of Finding Ninee for doing this mashup celebration!

1. There are so many ways people can brighten the lives of others.  I often visit my mother in a nursing home.  She, along with others there, suffers from varying degrees of dementia and Alzheimer's.  Fortunately there are people in the area who regularly go to the nursing home and share their musical talents.  Many times, "the lights come on" when people with dementia hear music, especially musical pieces they may have heard earlier in their lives. This week a woman in her 70's went to the nursing home and played music on her accordion. One of the residents asked if she could play any Lawrence Welk type music.  She promptly started playing one of the signature pieces that was often heard on his show.  To see the absolute joy and enthusiasm on the face of the man who had made the request was just priceless.  I'm thankful for those who bring joy into the lives of others as they share their talents. 

June 20, 2015

2. This is kind of a crazy thing to be thankful for, but I'm thankful for fly swatters tonight.  For some reason, we have had a lot of flies in the house tonight.  I'm not sure if the door was left ajar sometime today or what, but we have killed a lot of them tonight.  And this is just an aside, but those new light bulbs, that last forever and are cool to the touch, don't kill flies that land on them! 

September 19, 2015

3. Some couples find it difficult to let their spouses have some time to themselves  to develop talents or do things that are not so enjoyable to the other.  My husband will do somethings with me that are not a hot item for him, but I would never ask him to spend an afternoon going into antique shops or clothes shopping, because I know he would not enjoy that. Likewise he doesn't expect me to watch football games on TV with him.  He is not hurt if I choose to do something else during game times.  That doesn't mean that I never watch any football.  He often plays back some of the funny plays or outstanding plays for me to see, and I do enjoy that sharing he does with me.  I'm thankful for the relationship we have. 

February 15, 2016

4. When I was growing up, my parents had a sofa that was kind of a blue-green color.  Years later when the sofa needed to be reupholstered, my Mother chose another fabric, but in kind of the same color.  I guess that color has had quite an influence on me, because to this day, I love blue-green colors.  That is why when I saw some unusual berries on a vine in our friend's garden I was quite smitten.  She explained that it was a porcelain vine.  It is a grape-like plant and produces beautiful porcelain looking berries. Unfortunately, the vine can be quite invasive, especially with the help of birds dropping the berries here and there.  I'm thankful for similarities between parent and child.  I'm thankful for beautiful colors making life so much more interesting than living in an all black and white world. October 30,  2016

Porcelain Vine

5. Living in this great land

Perhaps it is because of when I was born and becoming aware that our country was in a world war when I was very young, that made be feel such a sense of gratitude for living here.  I knew that there were children who were suffering from the war that was being fought in their countries.

There was a conversation I had with my mother once when I was a child where I distinctly remember asking her a question about why it was that I was born in this land.  I wanted to know why some people are born in one country and others born in yet a different country, ones which may have been lacking in so many advantages, at least from my point of view.  I somehow felt that there must be a reason. Mothers are often asked hard questions that are difficult to explain, especially if they do not even have a hint of an answer.  I nevertheless continued to feel extremely blessed to have been born here.

November 20, 2016

6. Seeing similarities in the lives of my ancestors and my own always make me feel happy.  I suspect I may have already seen this similarity in the past, but I rediscovered it this week. One of my great grandmothers had a twin sister. She and her twin have the same birthday (month and day) as I do.  My mother was young, under six, but she remembered seeing my great grandmother, Sarah H. Andrews Boyd, and spoke of how she sometimes went over to the next state to visit family.  After the research I did this week, I suspect that she went to visit her twin sister.  Knowing how close twins feel toward  one another I feel firm in my conviction that was the case.  I wish I could find a photo of my great grandmother.  If I ever do, I'm sure that will be a 'thankful' on my blog. 

February 19, 2017

7. Poetic thoughts (I think)

One blustery day a few days ago, the wind seemed to have blown up some little leaves that crossed my path in front of the car. That prompted the following thought.

Dead leaves seeming to skip across the road from the brisk wind, enjoying the ride, leaving their earthen bier if but for a moment. Will their form change through this energetic endeavor and mix with the atmosphere and become a new kind of life, or will they settle just as quickly back to their earthly grave? Are we ready for that exit from our bier, or urn, when it is time, and become a more perfect version of ourselves, or do we suppose this is all there is?

January 23, 2018

8. Getting a haircut 

After some time of letting my hair grow and watching it become bushier and harder to control, I opted to go back to the shorter style. I had to laugh when the woman cutting my hair said after trying a couple of hair products on one part of my hair, "It's just going to do what it wants to do." I was hoping the experience would be a little more helpful, but instead she said she was going to go home and google it. (Actually I'd already tried that and hadn't found anything helpful.) So, my hair has a mind of its own, and now it has been confirmed. 

March  19, 2018

9. Walking under and through the pines

There is something awesome about walking through acreage where years ago my husband planted young pine seedlings. Now of course the pines are towering above our heads and provide quite a different habitat than was the case when we moved here. The deer seem to be enjoying it too, as they have left several impressionable highways through the understory.

April 28, 2019

10. That this world is made up of families and that I have my own family with whom to live, learn, and grow in knowledge and understanding of how to live and love

January 17,  2020

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