It's Simply Thursday June 12, 2025

Gratitude

I hit 5000 entries today. I’ve been at it since January 2021. Every morning for the past four and a half years I open my gratitude book and write down three things I was thankful for the previous day. Some days are easier than others because, well, life. Real life. Not Instagram life. Mentally scrolling through the previous day forces me to look for the pearl, even when it feels like I’ve been under far too long in search of a tiny nugget to be thankful for.

As I’m scrolling in my mind, I may be reminded of how the sun rose or set in all her glory or how the moon shown through in the crack of the curtains when I made it through a particularly hard day. I might have seen an American Goldfinch or Indigo Bunting or the mother of all my favorites, the Pileated Woodpecker. A new to me wildflower may “suddenly appear” in my daily path to feeding and watering the chickens.

This isn’t a positive Polly Anna let’s shove down and ignore the difficulties. Not at all. Most times I acknowledge that the previous day or the current season is tough. Some days it’s simply thankfulness that I got through it. Sometimes the list looks like this:

1. Tests that reveal

2. Doctors who care

3. Insurance that covers

Was I thankful for the torn meniscus and needing surgery during the height of gardening season. Nope. Not at all. But I was thankful for those things listed.

Finding the pearl takes effort and awareness. Just this morning a Carolina Wren sat outside my office window and sang the most beautiful song. No matter how the rest of my days goes, tomorrow morning I can write personal ballad sang by the sweetest Carolina Wren.

My mother-in-law was ironing clothes one Saturday morning as was her usual and back in the day before material was wrinkle free. I said something to the effect of that routine getting old. (Oh, the joys of being young and not lived life with responsibilities.) She told me the story as she ironed Al’s shirts and pants for work the following week of when she was younger and complaining about having to iron all these clothes. Her mother very quietly said, At least, you have someone to iron clothes for.

You see, she had lost her husband in an accident when their three kids were very young. She never remarried and had to work hard and sacrifice and would have loved nothing more than to have someone’s clothes to iron.

That story has popped up in my mind often through the years. When I had boat loads of clothes to wash every week because having five kids who were all in sports necessitates lots of washing to be done. Instead of grumbling (which I did my fair share of…I’m not a saint for goodness sake!) I would be grateful for the washer and dryer that was always running and the kids who were able to play sports.

When I made beds each morning, instead of feeling sorry for myself that this is what life has come to and everyone had scrambled off to their fun filled lives, I would be grateful that we all had a bed to sleep in. I still do this when I wake up sometimes. I stretch and feel the crispness of the sheets and listen to the birds outside.

These past four and a half years have brought all manner of things both good and bad, happy and sad. There have been things to celebrate and things to mourn. There have been hard conversations that led to healing and some that led to more confusion. There have been times when I’ve been hurt and when I’ve hurt others. Life has been a joy and a jumbled mess.

Through it all, I found three things I could be grateful for each day. It’s a practice I hope to continue for a very long time as it helps me keep a better perspective no matter what life throws at me. (Except cicadas…I have a hard time being thankful for those. We all have limits.)