Ten Things of Thankful

Come on in, pull up a chair, and read a while. This is another post to the blog hop, Ten Things of Thankful, hosted by Dyanne of Backsies Is What There Is Not. It is good to see others joining in by sharing those things for which they are grateful. Although this post is wordier than many of my past posts, I guess I was just in a reflective mode, and your own posts are not limited to a certain length or a format as Dyanne points out. 

1. A time and a place

Early morning when I am alone, before intrusive thoughts begin to stir, I wait. Sometimes I wrap a blanket around me as I settle into a a comfy spot on the sofa, and other times I go sit in a rocking chair where I can catch a glimpse through the window of the frost on the grass glistening while it waits for the steam to rise from radiating Mother earth as she is awakened by the sun’s rays.

A doe's favorite place to hang out

2. Quiet space

There were many years when it seemed a quiet space was a rare commodity and when it happened I was exhausted from the activities of the day and evening, so what could have been the outcome or benefit of that revery departed to find a more alert and attentive subject. For me, reading scriptures is a type of communication with my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ with the Holy Ghost bringing confirmation of the words through deep felt impressions that I am able to sense best when I am in a quiet space. These quiet spaces often include pondering, or deep thinking, when trying to resolve a problem, or how to be of help to someone and do not necessarily require being inactive as long as the task doesn’t require your full attention and you are able to be safe in you quiet space.

3. Movement

Life is full of opposites as well as opposition. If I remain in one position too long, my body lets me know that I am not being very nice to it and it uses the only way it knows to jar me to my senses by giving me a little pain. . .okay, a lot of pain sometimes. By going back to some of those lessons I have learned and then strayed from when things got better, maybe this is the time to not give up, but to keep devoting some time(s) each day just to do the kind of stretches and other exercises I need to enable me to more fully enjoy life.

4. Reconnecting with distant relatives who are also family history researchers

This one would take a whole other blog post, so I will keep it short, by just saying how happy I am to have reconnected by phone with someone who is the granddaughter of my great grandfather and someone else who is the great granddaughter of my great grand uncle (or brother of my great grandfather). It is just easier to say they are both considered part of the family and it was really fun to catch up on what we know about our ancestors’ lives.

5. Those who have been able to heal

Thankfully our son was vaccinated and boosted, so when he came down with COVID, although the symptoms were not pleasant, he was able to isolate at home and will be able to return to work this coming week. His teenage daughter got it first, a couple of days before she was scheduled to get her booster shot. She too was able to fully recover at home and will get her booster after she has waited the designated number of days.

6. An opportunity to help two people whose families had been estranged make plans to see one another after having lost all contact

Being able to put two cousins in touch with one another after a rift among one’s father and the other’s great grandfather made me feel extremely thankful for the ways I was able to know of each other’s existence and how to contact them and put them in touch with one another. They are hoping to be able to see one another in person later this year.

7. Words

Words and their various meanings and the connotations that are sometimes lost when they were translated into other languages has brought misunderstanding and confusion for centuries, but I am thankful for words. They can inspire or discourage, invite acceptance or denote disapproval, love or hate, etc. We get to choose what we say and how we say it, and there are good or bad consequences depending on what we do as well as what we say.

8. Podcasts

A couple of years ago my husband and I each wrote a book just for our family filled with stories of our lives. I enjoy hearing stories about other people’s lives, so when I learned that the company that published our books was starting a podcast and

sharing some stories from individuals who had consented to the request, I began following the podcast. 

Are there stories that are waiting to be shared with others in your family? Even two siblings telling about the same event have different perspectives of what actually took place.

9. Being able to laugh at oneself when what was said wasn’t what you thought you heard

Humor comes in different forms and through different experiences.  At this stage of our lives, mishearing what has been said often brings miscommunication at the very least and sometimes laughter to the point of tears. This week, I thought he said “feet” in his comment to me and he really said “tea.” I won’t share the whole scenario, but it was hilarious at the time. Oh, how glad I am that there are things that cause us to laugh, not in a derisive way, but just in a way that lightens the moment and the mood.

10.Express cooker

It took so little time to cook a beef stew in our express cooker this week, and once again, I found myself wondering why I don’t use it more often. It was such a time saver.

11. Not to be forgotten

Vic and our family and all those who have been a part of my life and who have enriched my life from the experiences we have shared or the lessons I have learned through knowing them

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