Be Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it's a hard concept to grasp. I have been so busy with work assignments and life in general that I haven't had much extra time on my hands lately. Today I have to finish work, clean up the clutter in my house -- which is raging out of control right now! -- as well as bake, tidy and prepare for an overnight guest on Friday.

My husband is currently working on fixing up our upstairs bath. It's not a "gut" renovation -- our budget cannot afford that right now -- but a major spruce up: New fan, paint, floor, toilet and light. He is also adding some shelves. The bathroom is a teeny tiny bathroom. Very, very small. But it is our only upstairs bath and we all share it. Luckily we have a full bath in our basement with a shower, and a half-bath/laundry off the kitchen. We have plenty of places to wash up and primp while the work is in progress. But there is stuff all over this house where it doesn't belong right now, and today I'm hoping to deal with a little of that mess today.

And then there is the upcoming holiday season, the decorating, the shopping, etc. I do love the holidays, but I don't love the madness. I am feeling slightly cranky about all that needs to be accomplished. I have a good chunk of my shopping done, but not all of it. I am constantly looking at my list and seeing what can fit in the budget this week.

It is helpful at times like this, to put all of these feelings in check with a little reminder. You all know I love my Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I came across this little essay she wrote for a newspaper back in 1916. 

I suppose I should be thankful for what we have, but I can't feel very thankful when I have to pay $2.60 for a little flour and the price still going up," writes a friend, and in the same letter she says, "we are in our usual health." The family are so used to good health that it is not even taken into consideration as a cause of thanksgiving. We are so inclined to take for granted the blessings we possess and to look for something peculiar, some special good luck for which to be thankful.

I read a Thanksgiving story, the other day, in which a woman sent her little boy out to walk around the block and look for something for which to be thankful.

One would think that the fact of his being able to walk around the block and that he had a mother to send him would have been sufficient cause for thankfulness. We are nearly all afflicted with mental farsightedness and so easily overlook the thing which is so obvious and near. There are our hands and feet, - who ever thanks of giving thanks for them, until indeed they, or the use of them, are lost. We usually accept them as a matter of course, without a thought, but a year of being crippled has taught me the value of my feet and two perfectly good feet are now among my dearest possessions. Why! There is greater occasion for thankfulness just in the unimpaired possession of one of the five senses that there would be if some one left us a fortune. Indeed how could the value of one be reckoned? When we have all five in good working condition we surely need not make a search for anything else in order to feel that we should give thanks to Whom thanks are due.

It's always good to be reminded to count your blessings, especially when one is feeling that one does not have any.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back posting regularly next week!